Flavor Without Fat: Kristin’s Wahoo! Chicken Chili

A while back, my daughter was studying the Amazon rainforest. She had learned of some of the concerns there, and one morning, while rinsing out her cereal bowl, she began to tell me how she intended to save the rainforest from environmental devastation. Just 13 gallons of water later, she dropped her bowl into the dishwasher, threw a plastic spoon in the garbage (no clean spoons in the spoon drawer!) and asked if I would drive her to the mall to go shopping for poster board so she could make a “Save the Rainforest” sign.

Yeah. But after thinking about this, I don’t always walk the talk either. If I really understood the cause/effect relationship between food and my size, for example, you’d think maybe I wouldn’t come home from the grocery store with cookies, cakes and pies. Or maybe I wouldn’t choose a movie over moving – you know, like exercising.

So this month, I’m walking the talk and focusing on recipes that have flavor without a lot of fat. Today we’re making Kristin’s Wahoo Chicken Chili. It’s a lot like traditional chili, except it uses ground chicken instead of ground beef. This little change saves about 7 grams of fat per serving! A hearty bowlful has less than 300 calories and about 9 grams of fat. Plus, it’s delicious!

So if you’re thinking about walking the talk with some food resolutions this year, this chili is a great place to start!

j*a*N*e

*I used an online tool to calculate the calories and fat for these recipes. If extreme accuracy is important to you, double check the numbers! I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the tool I used, but I’m sure it’s pretty close.

Kristin’s Wahoo! Chicken Chili

Submitted by Kirstin Garnache (VA)

Ingredients

1 tsp. olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 lb. ground chicken
1-2 tsp. Garlic Garlic™
2-4 tsp. Bacon Bacon™
¼ cup Wahoo! Chili^® (2 capsful)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
2 (15 oz.) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Directions

Sauté first 4 ingredients in a large soup pot until chicken is no longer pink; add next 8 ingredients. Simmer, covered, 45 minutes. Add beans; simmer additional 15 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings.

Testing Notes:

• Most chili recipes are pretty forgiving … which means you can take liberties with the ingredients and it will still turn out yummy!
• In this case, I had a red pepper (not green) and 32 oz. of tomatoes my mom canned (yum!), so I used less chicken broth. I realized late in the game that I had just 1 can of kidney beans, so I subbed a can of pinto beans for the second can.
• You’ll notice that this recipe has both brown sugar and vinegar. Adding a little sugar to tomato-based dishes smoothes out the flavor and cuts any bitterness, usually without adding any real sweetness to the dish. I did notice that this chili actually tasted slightly sweet, so I might cut the sugar to 1 Tbsp. next time. HOWEVER … my husband liked the “sweet ‘n spicy” taste.
• Vinegar is a rather magical ingredient that smoothes out flavors, tenderizes meat and in general boosts the flavor of a dish.
• I have never used ¼ cup of Wahoo! Chili in anything, and I was a little worried. That seemed like a lot. Relax! It was delicious and flavorful! And when measuring, remember that the Wahoo! Chili cap equals 2 tablespoons. Since ¼ cup = 4 tablespoons, that means 2 capsful of Wahoo! Chili for this recipe.
• I was not able to go for the full teaspoon of hot pepper sauce … we like spicy stuff, but I was afraid it would get too hot, so I used ½ teaspoon. It was perfect for our tastebuds!
• My family LOVED this chili! They ranked it a 6 (on a scale of 1–6) and they said it felt a little less greasy or oily than regular chili.
• Now for a moment, I thought, “What?! My regular chili is greasy and oily?!” But after pondering this feedback for a moment, and re-tasting the chili, I think I know what they mean. It just tastes fresher … lighter … somehow a little “cleaner” or less fatty. Both the chicken and the vinegar could be contributing to that.
• The chili was EVEN BETTER the next day!
• You may end up with some leftover chicken broth. I put mine in the freezer. Or cook up some rice using all broth or any combo of broth/water for the liquid. Then tomorrow you can make stir fry and serve it over the rice!

Print Recipe