What would a recipe be without a story? Well boy does this white bean chicken chili recipe have a story!
You see last week a dog we had never seen was spotted in our backyard.
I didn’t think that much of it, but we jumped to action to chase it off, because, well, that’s just what you do on a farm! What we found when we got to the yard started my blood boiling. There were 2 freshly dead chickens laying there and feathers flying through the air. I picked up a stick and narrowly managed to scare off the dog before he got 2 more birds down near our pond. Sadly we trudged back toward the house to survey the bodies.
The dog had killed a barred rock hen and a big, beautiful dominique rooster. The hen was too beat up to salvage, but the rooster was in good condition (well, if you can consider something freshly dead to be in “good condition.”) Anyway, what I mean is that the meat wasn’t spoiled, so I grabbed that big, beautiful, proud rooster and I headed to the house to fire up the plucker. *affiliate link*
You know how people say, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?” Well here at Green Eggs & Goats, when life gives us lemons, we add tequila and throw a party! I thought you would want to know…
It was right at freezing, so we had to work quickly to get him scalded and plucked on the back deck before the hose froze. I took him in and eviscerated him myself. I’ll admit that although we raised all our own meat chickens this past year, I am always in charge of scalding and plucking. Eric handles the evisceration, so I had never actually done it before.
As it turns out, gutting a rooster was unpleasant, but not all that difficult.
I’m sure I could do a better job with proper training, so Eric has agreed to teach me how to do it correctly when we process our next batch of broilers.
P.S. I sent my kids off to search for this book *affiliate link* to help me, but of course they couldn’t find it because it was right on the shelf where I said it was!
Anyway, the rooster went into the stew pot and became several meals for our family.
- The first night we had rooster and dumplins
- The second night we had the white bean chicken chili recipe that I’m sharing here (incidentally, it would be great with leftover Thanksgiving turkey too!)
- Finally, we still had some rooster stock, so we I made a delicious pumpkin and sausage risotto for a third dinner.
I felt good knowing that we got every drop of goodness and nutrition out of this noble rooster that we possibly could. Yes, his death was untimely, and yes, I would be very happy to never see that dog again, but in the end, I taught my children and my exchange student (who had NO idea what he was getting into when he moved in with us) how to waste not and how to make the best of a bad situation. So maybe our rooster “Son of Runt” didn’t die in vain after all.
I hope you enjoy this White Bean Chicken Chili recipe!
- 1 pound dry white beans
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeño, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped or grated
- 2-3 cups cooked, chopped chicken or turkey
- 2 quarts chicken or turkey broth
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Rinse dry beans well and place in a pot. Cover with boiling water and allow to soak for 1 hour.
- Drain and rinse beans, set aside.
- In a large pot, render bacon over medium high heat until almost crispy.
- Add onion and peppers to pot and cook 2-3 minutes, until soft.
- Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Add beans, chicken, broth and seasonings and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer 2 hours or until beans are very tender. Add more broth or water if needed.
- Add salt in the last 15 minutes of cooking time.
- Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- Serve chili with your favorite toppings. We like cheese and sour cream!
And while we are talking about cooking, let’s take a minute to talk about food safety. Here’s a super-cute video for you:
I was careful to avoid cross-contaminating my kitchen during the chicken cleaning process. Of course after prepping the chicken for the white bean chicken chili (and other recipes) I made sure to thoroughly clean the cutting board I used. Heck, I even mopped the floor for good measure! Here are some other great food safety tips for you in the infographic below and you can even find more at http://www.foodsafety.gov/
For more great recipes and farm fresh stories, be sure to sign up for Beulah’s mooooooooosletter. She’ll give you all the farm news from the cow’s point of view!
***This post may contain affiliate links. That means that a small percentage of the purchase price of items bought through my links goes toward keeping this blog up and running and food in Beulah’s bowl, so thanks!***
So this looks amazingly good. I’m gathering up all the ingredients and making this right now! Serving with fresh corn bread! Yummy…thanks for the excellent recipe.
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