Smoky Chicken Chili

I am writing to you from the comfort of my office chair during dinner time.  The reason being is my amazing husband is making dinner for the second night in a row.  This isn’t as amazing as it might be for some of you – he actually likes to cook and we usually cook together.  But I just have to take this opportunity to remind myself how lucky I am.  Don’t worry, this post is about a recipe.  A good one at that. 

If you ask me, chili is one of those things that goes hand in hand with fall.  I am a big fan of chili especially because it can be modified to be healthy but still flavorful and filling at the same time.  I have made this recipe with ground turkey and ground chicken in the past put stepped it up a notch and used ground chicken breast.  It’s not the cheapest thing you can buy for a pound, but it is nice for a change.
Don’t forget to top your chili with insane levels of cheese and have some dippers on hand. Anything will do really, but tortilla chips work pretty well with this one.

Smoky Chicken Chili
adapted from Rachel Ray’s Indian Summer Chili
Ingredients
-2 tablespoons olive oil 
-1 pound ground chicken breast
-4 tablespoons dark chili powder, 2 palm fulls
-2 tablespoons grill seasoning blend, any brand, 1 palm full
-1 tablespoon cumin, 1/2 palm full
-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
-1 to 3 tablespoons taco sauce like Ortega
-1 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce like Cholula or Tabasco
-3 to 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped, plus 1-2 tablespoons adobo sauce
-1 large onion, chopped
-2 large peppers, any color combination, red, yellow or orange, chopped
-1/2 bottle beer, about 1 cup (go ahead and drink the rest while you are cooking, you have my permission)
-1 14-oz can tomato sauce
-1/2 cup smoky barbecue sauce, like Famous Dave’s Chipotle BBQ sauce
-1  15 oz. can pinto beans
-2 cups frozen corn kernels optional

Directions
Heat a dutch oven over medium to medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and ground chicken breast. Season the meat with: chili powder, grill seasoning, cumin, Worcestershire and both hot sauces. Break up the meat with the back of a wooden spoon into small crumbles.
Add onion and red bell pepper. Brown meat 5 minutes, then add onions and chopped bell peppers and cook 10 minutes more. Add beer and deglaze the pan, scraping up the drippings and cooking off the alcohol. Add tomato sauce and barbecue sauce and bring to a bubble. Add corn kernels and beans. Let chili simmer 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings and heat level to your taste. Remove from heat and serve.