One of my favorite things about winter is making delicious and comforting soups and chilis in the crockpot. Not only does the entire house smell wonderful when I arrive home, but I know I have a healthy, balanced meal ready for me with no effort at all!
Whenever I make crockpot soups, I make an effort to immediately portion them into individual containers, and freeze one or two containers, so that I always have a stockpile of healthy options ready for those nights when cooking an entire meal isn’t realistic. I label each container with the name of the recipe, number of servings (usually 1, so it’s easier to defrost), and the date it was prepared. I always get excited to defrost an “old” favorite!
I’ll admit that I usually just dump as many vegetables as possible, some type of protein (generally chicken, ground turkey, or beans), some broth, and some spices into a crockpot and hope for the best. Last week, though, I made a healthy White Chicken Chili, and the result was so delicious that I knew I had to share!
White Chicken Chili
Prep Time: 25
Cook Time: 480
Ingredients (5 bowls)
- 1 pound raw chicken breast
- 4 stalks celery
- 1 small yellow squash (1 cup chopped)
- 1 medium zucchini (2 cups chopped)
- 1 orange or yellow bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup canned corn (I used corn with diced peppers in it)
- 2 cups kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1.5 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 cup salsa verde
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 can cannellini beans
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
Chop all vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
Place all ingredients except chicken, salsa, broth, beans, and kale in crockpot and stir to combine.
Place chicken breasts on top of vegetables, and pour salsa on top of chicken breasts.
In a blender, blend chicken broth and beans. This provides a creamy base for the chili, without adding cream. If you choose, you can skip this step and add the whole beans, but the soup will be more liquid.
Pour broth and bean mixture over chicken and vegetables.
Cover, and cook on low in crockpot for 8 hours.
30-60 minutes before serving, add chopped kale and stir.
Immediately before serving, remove chicken breasts. Shred with a fork (they should be so tender they fall apart!). Return chicken to crockpot and stir well.
Serve and enjoy!
If made according to these directions, each serving will contain 270 calories, 2g fat, 29g carbohydrates, and 30g protein. I recommend serving with sliced avocado!
Here are all the ingredients laid out in advance:
I’ll let you in on a little secret … I actually chopped all the veggies the night before, and stored them all in a Ziploc bag. Then, the next morning, I just had to dump everything in, blend the broth and beans, add in the chicken, and set the timer!
I blended the beans and broth to create a “creamy” feel to the soup, without using any cream. It worked well, but if you want to skip this step and add the beans and broth separately, I’m sure it would be fine!
Here’s a shot of shredding the chicken – it should be so tender that it shreds very easily!
Now it’s your turn … What’s your favorite type of soup? Do you love your crockpot as much as I do in the winter? Will you try this healthy White Chicken Chili?
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