We had hardly finished off the last of the white bean chicken chili I made a week or two back when we went back to the grocery store. Jeremy popped another whole chicken into the cart, indicating that he really likes it when I make roasted chickens because of the leftovers. So on Sunday I roasted that up, and Jeremy’s been happily eating roast chicken sandwiches from the leftovers. He also requested another batch of white bean chicken chili, and I happily obliged. It’s perhaps not quite as white as it is supposed to be, because of the amounts of red spices mixed in and the bright orange cheddar grated over top, but it’s just delicious, and reheats well for my lunches while Jeremy’s making sandwiches.

White Bean Chicken Chili

The original recipe came from Epicurious, but I made a number of adjustments that worked really nicely for my palate, so I’m rewriting it here for my own benefit.

1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, coarsely minced
2 T olive oil
¼ C unsalted butter
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1 C chicken broth, heated
2 C 1% milk, heated
½ tsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
½ tsp hot paprika
½ tsp salt, or to taste
½ tsp white pepper, or to taste
1 can navy, cannellini or Great Northern beans, drained
1 can creamed corn
2 dried chipotle chilies (optional)
Leftover roasted chicken, shredded (I used one each of breast, thigh and leg)
½ C sour cream
½ C grated Monterey Jack or cheddar (about 6 ounces)

In a soup pot, cook onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat with a pinch of salt, until softened. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Stir in onion and gradually add hot broth and milk, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring, for 3-5 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in spices. Add beans, corn, and dried chipotles, and shredded chicken, and cook mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, 20 minutes. Stir sour cream into chili and heat through. Serve with shredded cheese as a garnish, and some biscuits for dipping.

Notes: The second time I made this, I didn’t have creamed corn, so I just tossed in some frozen white corn kernels. They tasted great, but I noticed there wasn’t quite as much chili, so I’d probably add an extra cup or so of broth to compensate. It’s so thick already that I don’t think that would be a problem.

Update 2/20/09: Nolan loved this, and ate quite a bit. He’s a huge fan of the rotisserie chicken, and also likes beans, corn, onions, and cheese, though the corn seemed to go right through him unfazed.