Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Chili

Remember how I was promising you an actual food recipe? I finally came through! I’ve had a few cooking victories recently thanks to the blog Plain Chicken, and of course, random stuff I find on Pinterest. This recipe was the first I had ever tried from Plain Chicken. It was delicious, but as with most recipes, I tweaked it to better fit our preferences. Since my mom and I are the only ones in our house that eat this, we went back and forth until we came up with this version. If you want to find the original recipe, click here: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-cream-cheese-crack-chicken/

As you can see, most of the ingredients are canned. I didn’t picture the chicken and the broth here because I already had it thawing in the slow cooker and I just plain forgot to include the cheese you throw in at the end. There isn’t a ton that goes into it and it isn’t expensive at all. I like to think of this as an end of week meal. The ingredients stay good all week in your pantry/fridge/freezer, plus it’s hearty and filling while going a long way. We always have plenty of leftovers to take to work the following week!

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As you can see from the picture, I used Greek cream cheese. It is a bit more expensive, but as often as I eat this, I wanted to add as much nutritional benefit as I could. Fat free cream cheese doesn’t always work to well in recipes and when I saw this, I had to give it a try. So far, I’ve made it plenty of times with Greek cream cheese and even Neufchatel and it turns out great both ways.

Recently, I got us a new slow cooker for the house. I am obsessed with the Pioneer Woman and her amazing kitchenware. Florals are a favorite of mine so it makes sense I would go bonkers over her collection. I put it on high to cook and it was definitely a mistake. I am paranoid about chicken, but this new slow cooker is so insanely powerful. High was REALLY high. Next time, I am definitely using low! The internal temp is what matters most anyway so get to know your slow cooker before you use it on a new recipe and always use meat that has been properly thawed.

Once your chili is finished cooking, it will look disgusting. Sorry to disappoint, but it gets a 0 for plating. However, you aren’t quite finished yet. Shred your chicken breasts and add in a cup of shredded cheese. Make sure to really stir well until everything is well incorporated. You can go wild and use some shredded Pepper Jack if you like, but I keep it simple with regular old shredded Colby Jack.

Also, the original recipe calls for bacon. You can cook bacon to add or even cook the soup with real bacon bits, but I prefer to microwave a couple slices of bacon and put them into each individual bowl before I eat it so the bacon doesn’t get soggy by the time all the chili is eaten. Sometimes, I just have it as is without the bacon. It’s delicious either way!

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Chili

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can white hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1 can tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
• 1 packet Spicy Ranch dressing and seasoning mix
• 2 1/2 – 3c. chicken broth
• 1 T. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 block cream cheese
• 1c. shredded cheese

Place everything except the shredded cheese into a 6qt. slow cooker, cream cheese on top. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. NOTE: This will depend on your slow cooker. Make sure the meat is completely thawed before cooking and check the internal temperature before serving it.

Once the chicken is cooked, shred the chicken and stir it back in along with 1c. of shredded cheese. Once the cheese is melted and everything is fully incorporated, serve with fritos, tortilla chips, or bacon crumbles.