Crockpot Chicken Bean Chili is a healthy recipe made with three types of beans. Extras make a delicious hot chili cheese dip.
Hot Chicken Chili Cheese Dip with the Fixin’s
Today is “reveal day” for Group D of the Secret Recipe Club, hosted by Sarah of Fantastical Sharing of Recipes. This month, I was assigned to Laura of A Healthy Jalapeno. First of all, I want to congratulate Laura – she just got married to the love of her life, Paul! Such an exciting time in her life. By her own account, Laura is a free spirit, who loves a few beers and a good movie…and she loves football Sundays. She’d fit right into our house full of football loving boys (except no beer for the boys!). Laura also happens to live in my home state Connecticut – I wonder if we’re neighbors.
A Healthy Jalapeno features – you guessed it – healthy recipes that use real food. Laura even has her own list called Laura’s Food Rules. As a healthy living blogger myself, I was thrilled to be assigned to Laura this month and to check out the recipes on her blog. I had intended to try the Peach French Toast Bake for breakfast one weekend, but with the kids’ sporting activities, I just couldn’t get it on the table. So, instead, I decided to make a big pot of Laura’s Cook Sunday Chilifor football Sunday.
Sunday afternoons and evenings are devoted to football in our house – every TV in the house is on with a different game and the boys spread out to watch their favorite teams play. One of our traditions over the years has been to serve “football snacks” on Sundays, so I’m always looking for healthier options that my boys can snack on. I found a bunch of football snacks on Laura’s blog which I’d like to try, including Hot Guacamole Hummus and Disappearing Taco Dip.
I made this Crockpot Chicken Chili a few Sundays ago, and it was perfect for Football Sunday since it just cooked all afternoon and into the evening. When it came time for dinner, I ladled the hot chili on top of baked potatoes and sprinkled on some cheese, added a dollop of non-fat Greek yogurt and a handful of fresh chopped scallions. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of this meal (everyone was starving by the time I actually got around to serving it), but there were plenty of leftovers so I took pictures of the snacks that I made with the extras.
I love leftover chili because it not only freezes well for an easy dinner when I don’t have time to cook, but it makes a great after-school snack for the kids. This chili recipe is packed with vegetables and uses lean ground turkey or chicken, so I don’t feel too guilty serving this as a pre-dinner snack. It is hearty enough to tide them over until dinnertime. Simply top the leftover chili with some cheese, or if you want to go all out, top with cheese, guacamole, fresh tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and scallions.
Simple Chili Cheese Dip as an after-school snack
In fact, I froze the leftovers and plan on pulling it out in a few weeks to make this Chili Cheese Dip for Football Sunday. I’ll be rotating this with my Skinny Spinach Dip, another afternoon snack favorite.
Crockpot Chicken Bean Chili and Chili Cheese Dip
Ingredients
Crockpot Chicken and Bean Chili
- tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground chicken or turkey
- 1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, pureed
- 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can red beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder
Hot Chili Cheese Dip
- 4 cups Chicken Bean Chili above
- 1 cup low-fat shredded cheese cheddar, Mexican blend, or your favorite mix
- 1 avocado smashed with juice from half a lime and a pinch of salt
- 1 to mato chopped
- 1 scallion minced
- pickled or fresh jalapeno slices
Instructions
Crockpot Chicken and Bean Chili
-
Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper and garlic; saute until onion is translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add chicken and cook until no longer red; drain liquid.
-
Place chicken in a slow cooker, and add tomatoes, black beans, red beans, white beans, chili powder, parsley, salt, basil, oregano, black pepper, and chipotle pepper.
-
Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low.
Hot Chili Cheese Dip
-
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Scoop 4 cups of Chicken Bean Chili into a pie pan. Sprinkle with cheese. Heat in the oven for 20-25 minutes until chili is heated through and cheese is melted. Top with smashed avocado, chopped tomato, scallion and some jalapeno slices.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from A Healthy Jalapeno. Leftovers make a great dip for Football Sunday or after school.
So sweet, a huge congrats to Laura and her hubby!
The dip looks fantastic, I love how many veggies are in that chili! Perfect food for snacking.
I LOVE chili and it’s finally chili weather. This recipe sounds delicious, and I love the fact that it’s cooked in the crockpot, perfect for a weeknight meal. Thanks for sharing and happy SRC reveal day!
The chili looks amazing!! Great pick for this time of year! I’ve made a bazillion chili recipes, but I always love finding new ones!
This looks so delicious! The weather is getting perfect for chili, so i’m going to have to try it.
I had your blog for this month’s SRC – I made your pumpkin spice banana bread and it was AMAZING. I almost didn’t want to share it because it was so good! You have such a beautiful blog and it really was a pleasure to look through it and all your delicious recipes!
Thanks for the introduction to a new blog. Love it! Going in search of the Peach French Toast Bake right now!
What a FABULOUS recipe! Great for Autumn! Visiting from Group D and love the recipe you picked! Karen
looks perfectly great Jeanette!!
YUM! This crock pot chili looks fantastic – perfect for cold fall nights!
I am loving this recipe! We have a big football party the Saturday after Thanksgiving FL/FL State game, this chili will be perfect!
Love chili, but love it even more because it’s crockpot chili!
I love a good chilli and this sounds delicious! Perfect for this weather too. Great SRC pick 🙂
I imagine that Football Sundays are a big deal in your house with all those boys! Do you usually make a double batch of chili when you make it? I always do for us and we are a much smaller family!
Looks fantastic! I bet your house smelled amazing!
This sounds delicious! Great pick for this month! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This looks so delicious. I absolutely LOVE chili and I love making a huge pot and living off of it for a week, this time of year.
I’m always looking for ways of getting my family to eat more veggies. This sounds like a winner.
Yum! We are trying this tomorrow. We do crock pot meals on our busiest days! And I was just thinking how my chicken chilli recipe is sooo bland!
Looks rich and hearty, Jeanette. Now that’s what I call comfort food.
YUMMy! I too put lots of veggies in my chili. Great choice…I’m a Fellow Group D’er making the rounds
Ooh, that dip looks so cheesy and delicious! Definitely a great football snack!
this looks delicious Jeanette, I love chili and can’t wait to pull the sweaters out and make some soon!
Looks delicious! Great SRC pick!
Oh my…this looks so good! Still warm weather here (hope you and your family are safe and sound from Sandy!), so I still haven’t done much crockpot cooking, but this looks like a keeper. Hope to make this soon, although my team (The Chargers) isn’t doing very well 🙁
The chili sounds great!
This looks like a great chili — nice SRC choice!
Hi Jeanette!!! What a great pic for SRC, I hope you and the family enjoyed it. Paul and I love our crockpot recipes because you get home and dinners done… it’s a full-time working cook’s dream.
Hope you have your power back too, we never lost it here in Danbury but my mother did on the shoreline. 🙂
That is one good looking bowl of chili! I’m sure my kids would love it.
So glad you’re back and have your power on! Woo hoo! And this chili looks so incredibly comforting. I might need to make some soup tonight with all my leftover produce from our CSA… ’cause it got cold!