This is no ordinary chicken and white bean chili recipe. Made very special with Swiss chard and plenty of Italian flavors, the combination makes one great bowl of soup.
The unique combination of the flavors march right up the aisle, all the way to the altar, and to everyone’s surprise, and without much ceremony, join in holy matrimony.
Giada served this up a couple of months ago on her show, Giada at Home. I went to Food Network and bookmarked the recipe and vowed to give it a try.
First of all, I’ve never seen chard in a White Chili Recipe, nor have I seen Parmesan Cheese. After all, to us here in the Wild West, chili usually comes with ground beef, tomatoes, pinto beans and topped with grated cheddar.
This Italian version of chili brings us a healthy white chicken chili option using ground chicken, and the flavor with Italian spices is out of this world.
This chicken and white bean chili recipe includes chard. Chard is about the most beautiful vegetable to prepare. Those deep rich green leaves with the red veins and those luscious colored stalks. It just makes me feel good about adding it. I think my New Year’s Resolution might be to get to know Chard a bit better.
Adding sweet corn adds a nice sweet crunch. Plus I must say that this Fall I froze a lot of delicious fresh Colorado sweet corn, cutting the kernels off the cob and saving them for special recipes such as this.
We truly thought this was the best white bean chicken chili recipe we’ve had.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cannellini white beans: 2 15-ounce cans
- Onion: 1 large sweet or yellow onion
- Chicken Broth: 4 cups
- Garlic: 4 cloves
- Ground Chicken 2 pounds
- Swiss Chard
- Frozen Corn; 1 1/2 cups
- Parmesan Cheese: 1/2 cup, grated
- Flat Leaf Parsley: 1/4 cup chopped
Spices You’ll Need
- Ground Cumin: 2 Tablespoons
- Fennel Seed: 1 Tablespoon
- Oregano: 1 Tablespoon
- Chili Powder: 2 teaspoons. Choose a good quality chili powder for maximum flavor.
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes: 1/4 teaspoon
Ingredient Swaps
- Ground Chicken: Substitute ground turkey for the ground chicken for Turkey White Bean Chili.
- Chili Powder: If you’re out of chili powder, but have chile powder (a single blend red chile powder) feel free to switch it out. New Mexico red chile powder is a good choice, or Ancho chile powder, a milder red chile powder.
- Cannellini Beans: White Great Northern Beans will work just fine in this recipe.
Step by Step, How To
- Step 1: In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
- Step 2: Sprinkle the flour over the chicken mixture and stir.
- Step 3: Add the white beans, chopped Swiss chard and corn to the chicken mixture.
Step 4: Add chicken broth, stir well and simmer for about an hour until liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add red chile flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan and chopped parsley.
Tips and FAQ’s
Absolutely! Follow steps 1 and 2 for browning the onions and the chicken. Then add to a slow cooker and continue with the steps. Cook on low for 4 hours. This technique would be great for a make-ahead to feed that hungry football crowd.
Great idea! Remove the skin and bones from a rotisserie chicken and cube the meat. This will allow you to skip the browning process for the chicken. Please take the time to brown those onions however. The enhanced flavor from browning onions is well worth the time.
This is one of those recipes that will taste better the next day! And the next. Keep this in the refrigerator for 5 days. Freeze any leftovers in an airtight container (freezer zip lock bags work best) for up to 3 months.
Cornbread is a always a great side dish for this hearty soup. Or lighten things up with a Simple Side Salad.
You can easily find ground chicken breast in the meat counter at the grocery store, but remember, every step that the butcher takes to break down any piece of meat is charged to the customer. To save money, you can easily purchase boneless skinless chicken. Just cut it into large chunks and add it to your good processor. Pulse it until the chicken is ground.
Giada’s White Bean Chicken Recipe
I hope you give this chicken and white bean chili recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite white chicken chili recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Chili Recipes
- Bourbon Beef and Bean Chili, A unique mixture of flavors that come from a slow cooked chuck roast, bourbon, red kidney beans and lots of roasted Hatch Chile peppers.
- Hatch Green Chili with Pork, This chili is comfort food at its best and one of our favorite Hatch green chili recipes. An award winning recipe.
- Award Winning Beef and Bean Chili, A combination of my Kansas family chili recipe with some unique additions. In the end you’e got a beef, pork, sausage, bean chili recipe which became an award winning chili recipe in Colorado.
And don’t miss my soup and stew category, you’ll find a ton of irresistible slurp worthy recipes. Including the most popular soup recipe on my site for Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Style Chili, A richly flavored, hearty beef chili stew featuring beef chuck and New Mexico Hatch Chiles and Poblano peppers.
Like this recipe? Join the Cooking On The Ranch Community (it’s free to join) and I’ll send you even more comfort food recipes just like this. Join HERE.
Giada’s White Bean Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 pounds ground chicken
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more for seasoning
- 2 Tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 2 cannellini or other white beans 15-ounce cans, rinsed and drained
- 1 bunch Swiss chard about 1 pound, stems removed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 1/2 cups frozen corn thawed
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
- Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, Swiss chard, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened.
- Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Ladle the chili into serving bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Giada’s Chicken and White Bean Chili Recipe…It’s What’s For Dinner
Wowza…that is some high praise! And of course, now I wish I had a bowl…. 🙂
It’s pretty darn easy to make. I’m going to be posting another soon. This just may NOT be the best White Bean Chili. As always, thanks for stopping by
‘I don’t own a Panini press, but I do own a grill pan and a brick.’
The best sentence I have ever read on a food blog! You have put a smile on my face 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog Mr. P. Always love new visitors
Such a great and unique combination of ingredients, you have to love Giada. Thanks for joining us at Souper Sunday this week! The round-up is now posted.
Aloha,
Deb
I love Souper Sunday. Thanks for stopping by Deb.
I never would have thought to make an Italian version of chili, but I trust Giada implicitly. And you. These pictures are beautiful! What a great presentation.
I agree Joanne. She’s got great recipes. As always, thanks for stopping by.
I love white bean chili. I’ll be giving this recipe a try!
Thanks for stopping by Kristi
That sounds like a great “black and white” chili. Whenever I hear chard, all I can think about is the move Zulu! because one of the main characters was Lt. Chard. He wasn’t Swiss though, he was Welsh 😉
Giada rocks my world! I’ve never been disappointed with any of her recipes.
Thanks for stopping by. I agree, I’ve saved so many of her recipes. Have only made a few and they are delicious.
That looks really good. I’ve never found a great white chili – I am going to try this soon!
You shouldn’t be disappointed. Thanks for stopping by
Sounds wonderful! I love Giada, I will have to try this soon.
She puts out some yummy stuff that’s for sure. Thanks for stopping by Natashya
I make a Wicked White Chili that has 4 1st place trophies, and was in the local( not a chili cook off either!) newspaper for third in a city wide cook off.. If you want the recipe, E-mail me! Key ingredients- cooked cubed chix breast, sweet Italian sausage, Jalapenos, and Alfredo sauce..
YOU BET
Hi – I’d be very interested in seeing your chicken chili recipe.
I love hte sound of this chicken and white bean version of chilli. I always associate beef and kidney beans with chilli so this is a nice alternative! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by NQN. I think I’ve never met a chili I didn’t like, unless it just too doggone hot.
This sounds so good – I love the spices. Chard grows well up here in Montana and I usually freeze some at the end of summer. What a great winter use. I am adding this to my soup recipes. Very nice post – you made me grin (as usual).
Let me know how you like it. Thanks for stopping by Vic