White Chicken Chili

White Chicken Chili, White Bean Chili, or whatever you want to call it, has to be one of the trendiest soup recipes out there these days. Seems like every food blog I read has a recipe for it. A year or two ago I think I had 3 or 4 different friends send me recipes for it in about a one week time span. All of them were virtually the same recipe with slight variations. So I'm going to share my recipe for it, which is just what I came up with after looking at all 3 of those recipes. I actually don't think I ever do the same thing two times in a row, so that should tell you that the recipe is very forgiving! This is currently Brian's favorite soup that I make. He'd eat it every week if I'd make it that often. He likes it best with a side of cornbread. But not just any cornbread--I dice up a couple slices of pickled jalepenos into the batter first. Makes it super yummy! Sorry my picture of this lacks in a serious way!!

White Chicken Chili
2-3 Tbs vegetable oil
1.5-2lbs chicken (brined chicken is amazing in this! So tender!)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups (2 cans, drained) cooked white beans (cannellini, white kidney beans, Navy beans, all work)
diced jalepeno or 1-2 cans green chilies
1 1/2 cups milk*

Place oil in soup pot with diced chicken, onion, and garlic. Cook until onion is soft and chicken is nearly done. Add other spices and cook a minute or two more. Add other ingredients except for milk. Simmer 30 minutes. Add milk and heat almost to boiling. Serve. A little grated cheese adds extra yumminess!

*Recipes for this all call for different milk products--sour cream, half and half, milk, etc. I tend to use what I have on hand and all have worked fine. Sometimes I put 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup whipping cream soured with a little vinegar (to make it like sour cream). Sometimes I just put milk. Sometimes I put evaporated milk since that is a lot like half and half. You can make your own half and half by using half whipping cream and half milk. All the combinations I've used have been good, so use what you have!

Notes: I have been buying dried white beans in the grocery store or market that are called 小雪豆 (Xiǎo Xuědòu--Little Snow Beans). They look like cannellini beans out of a can. I just soak overnight, then boil them in salted water until they are soft. The bag I buy makes enough for 3-4 recipes of this, so I just freeze the extra in the amount I want after they are cooked and have them for the next time! I have seen larger white beans available, too, but I like the smaller ones, personally. 

As for hot pepper, chilies or jalepeno in this recipe, I just add a couple slices of pickled jalepeno diced up, but it does give the broth quite a kick. Just using the cayenne called for would make it pretty kid friendly in spiciness. My kids don't really eat the broth, just the meat and beans out of it. You'll have to see what works for you. A can of green chilies in the States is not actually very spicy.