Ground Chicken Chili (GF)

Recently I posted a White Chicken Chili recipe, so naturally today I must post a ground chicken chili recipe because the more chili, the better, right?? I made this on the same snowy day as the White Chicken Chili and my helpful kitchen mini chefs declared each recipe ‘very very good.’

‘Very very good’ is the mini chef’s version of a Michelin 3-star rating, so you know this is a gooood chili recipe.

While I love a good beef chili recipe, I admit my favorites are those made with chicken (or turkey, which you can sub in this recipe). I love the light, fresh flavor of chicken chili. It has all the good flavors of a beef-based chili but feels a bit lighter on the stomach.

And if you love chicken recipes as much as I do, then you’ll want to check out Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas, Instant Pot chili, and Instant Pot Chili Mac and Cheese.

Why You’ll ♡ This

• Quick and easy. This is a one-pot meal that cooks in just 30 minutes.
• It uses common store cupboard staples. No hard-to-find ingredients in this chili, nope.
• Versatile. You can adapt the flavors to suit your taste, and even easily adapt to a mak it a low carb chili (see the how to section below).
• It is ZERO WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS. Yeap, that fact deserves capital letters. If you use a calorie-controlled cooking spray instead of oil, this contains 0 Weight Watchers Blue Plan SmartPoints.

Tools Needed

Ingredients Notes

• Ground Chicken – Feel free to use ground chicken breast, a mix of ground dark and white meat, or swap in ground turkey instead of chicken.
• Chicken Stock – You can use vegetable broth or even water instead of the chicken stock.
• Balsamic Vinegar – A must-have! This adds complexity and great depth of flavor to this dish.
• Chopped Tomatoes – This recipe calls for plain canned chopped tomatoes. To add even more flavor, you can use canned diced tomatoes with green chilis. Or if you happen to have fresh tomatoes on hand, feel free to use those instead.

How To Make Ground Chicken Chili

Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

• Heat oil in a pot over medium heat, add the onion and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes until softened.
• Stir in the garlic, followed by the ground chicken, making sure to break it up.
• Once chicken is browned, add in the beans, spices, chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, and salt, stirring to combine.
• Cover the pot (leaving slightly ajar) and simmer for 25 minutes until slightly thicker and liquid has reduced.
• Add toppings of your choice and serve.

Recipe Tips

• You can substitute the kidney beans with black-eyed beans, Borlotti beans (cranberry beans), pinto beans, etc.
• Like it hot? Add cayenne pepper, diced jalapeño, or a dash of hot sauce.

Flavor Variations

Try some, or all, of these tasty topping ideas:

• Tortilla chips
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sour cream
• Grated cheese
• Chopped green onions
• Black olives
• Avocado slices

Meal Prep and Prep Ahead

• Prep Ahead – This ground chicken chili recipe is so easy to make. And you can prep and store the ingredients, ready to dump and start in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake them. 
• Store – Store in an airtight container inside the fridge for up to 5 days. 
• Freeze – Allow to cool down completely then transfer into Ziploc Freezer bags. Squeeze out all the extra air and seal the bags. Label the bags and then lay them flat in the freezer. Store in the freezer for 3 months.
• Reheat – Add to a saucepan and reheat on the stove for 10-12 minutes, or until warmed through. 
• Meal Prep – Easily double or triple this recipe to feed a crowd, or as part of your weekly meal prep. 

FAQs

How To Make Chicken Chili Slow Cooker?

To make a chicken chili slow cooker version, follow the recipe until the end of step 2. Then transfer everything to your slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Soooo easy!

How To Make Low Carb Chicken Chili?

To make low carb chicken chili, substitute the high-carb beans with a low carb vegetable, such as cauliflower or zucchini. Use 2 cups (215g) of chopped vegetables instead of the beans. You can also replace the beans in the recipe with black soy beans which are naturally low in carbs.

Serving Suggestions

• Instant Pot Brown Rice.
• Instant Pot Pumpkin Cornbread (folks, this recipe is sooooo good!)
• Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potato.
• Easy Polenta Fries.
• Jalapeno strawberry margaritas.

More Chicken Recipes

• Smothered Chicken.
• Easy Chili Chicken. (a different take on chicken and chili)
• Instant Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Potatoes.

Weight Watchers Points

There are 0 Blue Plan SmartPoints in a serving of this if you replace the oil with a calorie-controlled cooking spray.

Thank you for reading my ground chicken chili recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue to slice, dice and dream up affordable Air Fryer recipes, Instant Pot Recipes, Southern Recipes and more. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, food blog.

Originally published Feb 2018.