Buffalo Chicken Chili

Have you seen shirts that say “feed me doughnuts + tell me I’m pretty” or “give me pizza + tell me I’m beautiful”? Well, I’m more of a “give me hot wings + you don’t have to say anything to me” kind of girl. So naturally, I love anything that mimics the flavors of hot wings and the accompaniments.

When I think of eating wings, I think of chicken, hot sauce, celery, carrots, blue cheese and beer (because beer and wings, duh!). Imagine all of those amazing flavors inside of a delicious, piping hot bowl, and you have my Buffalo Chicken Chili! For what it’s worth, this chili recipe won first place at a chili cook off!

Servings Size: 1 heaping cup

Servings: 6

Nutrition per serving: Calories: 283 | Fat: 13.8 g | Carbs 20 g | Protein 23 g

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground chicken

3 large carrots, chopped

4 celery stalks, chopped

medium onion, diced

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp celery seeds

tsp salt

1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes, drained

2 c fat free chicken broth

1 c light beer (you may drink the rest, you’re welcome)

cup hot sauce (start with cup if you don’t like too much heat)

1 15 oz can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

6 tbsp blue cheese crumbles

Directions

In a large pot, add olive oil over medium heat. Brown the ground chicken until cooked through. Drain any excess fat.

Add in chopped carrots, celery, onion and minced garlic.

Cover with lid and allow the vegetables to soften, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Season the chicken and vegetables with the onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, celery seeds and salt, and stir to thoroughly combine.

Continue cooking for about 2 minutes. Add in drained fire roasted tomatoes, chicken broth, beer and hot sauce.

Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir in the drained and rinsed beans and heat through, about 5 minutes.

Serve the chili in a bowl and top with 1 tbsp of blue cheese crumbles.

MTP (My Toddler’s Plate)

This is a meal that I really adapt to make it palatable for my kids! If you have young kids that do not like or can’t tolerate spicy foods quite yet, there is a very simple solution! Before adding the tomatoes and cooking liquids to the pot, remove a bit of the saut ed ground chicken and vegetables with spices (don’t be afraid of the chili powder, you’d be surprised what your kiddos will eat). I just serve the chicken and vegetables to eat alongside tomato slices and apple slices. You could also add the mixture with cheese in a tortilla to make a super quick quesadilla!