Low-and-Slow Cheesy White Chicken Chili in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven Recipe

This recipe is how you show off your cast iron skills at meal preparation for your family. This is a great Sunday-at-home, all-day-cook, low-and-slow, baby-it’s-cold-outside meal that is easy-easy-easy and will taste like you’ve been…well…cooking it all day.

LINKS TO RELATED RECIPES:

Cast Iron Cream and Beer Cornbread Recipe

Beer Brined Coffee Crusted Pork Roast

I prepare this recipe when the opportunity presents itself. It’s one of my yardarm to yardarm cooks and what I call the Buddy Cook. Let me explain. I love a good low-and-slow cooked pork or beef roast. If I have a roast that I am going to cook in my oven for 6-7 hours, why not cook another, easy-to-make recipe at the same time? After all, it costs the same to cook food in one 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven as it does if there are TWO pots in that oven.

You could create this same recipe in a crock pot. But, you know what…and I can’t put my finger on it…but it does taste different coming out of that cast iron.

We’re going to chop a few ingredients, open a few cans, layer out ingredients, cover that pot and put it in the oven for the next 6-7 hours. Then, we’ll pull it from the oven, shred out chicken, and let it simmer and thicken a bit before we mix in some cheese and serve.

I usually use that simmering time to take care of the food (usually a roast) that I prepared in my other Dutch oven.

My oven is big enough to hold two 5-quart cast iron Dutch ovens or one 5-quart and a 7-quart cast iron Dutch ovens.

The beer to use is a lager-style brew. A Mexican lager is perfect. I found one from Bombastic Brewing with salt and lime. Bombastic is a local brewer here in Idaho and you may not be able to find this same beer. And, that’s okay. Any good Mexican Lager or even many other beers will work perfectly in this recipe. I’d avoid your IPAs, porters, and stouts. Stick with something crips and clean…any easy-drinker should work well.

The Cast Iron

This chili recipe will work perfectly in a 5-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. And, most home ovens will handle two 5-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Ovens at the same time. Many will accommodate a 5-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven and a 7-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven at the same time.

Here’s how we Low-and-Slow a roast: https://beerandiron.com/low-and-slow-roast/

Truth be known, I’d likely not cook this recipe by itself and all alone in that oven. I’d cook just perfect in a crock pot (speaking truth). But, there’s no reason to Buddy Cook when cooking in an oven all day long. Unless we’re cooking something in our 9-quart cast iron Dutch oven, I will buddy cook every time.

Supplies You May Need (Affiliate Links)

Equipment

Cheese Shredder

Colander to drain and rinse the beans

Cutting board for the peppers, onions, and cilantro or the parsley.

Knife

Whisk

Ingredients

Fresh Stuff

2 or 3 Boneless and Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Small Purple Onion (a yellow or white is A-OK)

2-4 Minced Cloves of Garlic

2 Poblano Chili Pepper (could substitute bell peppers but those Poblano chilis hold up much better during the long cooking time)

Canned Stuff

1 4-ounce cans of Fire-Roasted Diced Green Chilies (or one 7-ounce can; I prefer mild)

1 Cup of Green Salsa Verde

2 Cans (or 3 cups of home prepared) White Beans

Seasonings

1 teaspoon of Cumin

1 teaspoon of Oregano

½ teaspoon of Garlic Powder

½ teaspoon of Onion Powder

To Thicken

⅓ Cup of White Flour (Optional)

Before Serving

1-2 Cups of Shredded White Cheese or Pepper Jack Cheese folded in.

To Garnish

Chopped Cilantro or Parsley

Lime

Avocado

Cornbread

Time To Cook

Preparation

First, preheat your oven to 200°F or about 93°C. Then prepare all of your ingredients.

Step 1: Dice up the one onion and mince up the 2-4 cloves of garlic.

Step 2: Chop or dice up the 2 Poblano Chili Peppers

Step 3: Rinse and drain the white beans. You can use 2 cans of white beans or use 3 cups of home-prepared white beans. I usually make a plain-Jane batch of beans the day before to have on hand for this recipe and for other uses as well.

Step 4: Prepare the cans of green chili peppers. Just open and set aside.

Step 5: Measure out 1 Cup of Green Salsa Verde.

Step 6: Measure out all of the seasonings and blend together well. Don’t worry about the flour at this point. We’ll talk about the flour in a bit.

Layer the Ingredients

Get out your 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven. There’s no searing or sauteing in this recipe. We will set this up in layers.

Step 7: In the bottom of the 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven, place a layer of onions with the garlic.

Step 8: Add a layer of the Poblano Chili Peppers

Step 9: Add a layer of the drained white beans.

Step 10: Evenly as possible (perfection is not essential), spread out the seasonings on top of the beans.

Step 11: Lay the chicken on top of what we’ve layered thus far. Just lay the chicken breast out flat. Don’t press it down and under the ingredients. Add the chicken with a gentle push to set it flat.

Step 12: Pour over 12-ounces of a Mexican Lager to the pot. You may think you don’t have enough liquid in that pot. Trust me on this one; it’ll seem to liquid-ey by the time you pull it form the oven.

Step 13: Add a layer of the canned chili peppers. The chicken is rounded and expect the chili peppers to kinda slide to the sides.

Step 14: Add the cup of Salsa Verde on top of all the ingredients.

Cook the Chili

Step 15: Cover the pot. Place the full Dutch oven into the preheated 200°F or about 93°C for the next 6-7 hours.

Now, we are going to pull the chili from the oven and place it on the stove top to simmer.

Step 16: After 6-7 hours. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and place it on the stove top on low heat to continue simmering. It’s going to seem a bit “watery.” Hang on…we’ll tend to that in a bit.

Step 17: Check for saltiness. I usually find that the salt in my canned ingredients provide enough satiness. Nonetheless, this is a good time to check for saltiness and add some if you think it needs it.

Step 18: Pull the chicken from the pot and place it on a cutting board or a larger bowl (expect it to break apart as you are pulling it from the pot). Using two forks, shred the chicken completely. You could chop it, but I like to shred the chicken. Leave a few larger pieces of chicken in there.

Step 19: Before you return the chicken to the pot, ask yourself if the remaining liquid seems a bit too liquid-ey. If so, add ⅓ cup of white flour to thicken things up.

Step 20: Then, return the chicken to the pot. And just let it simmer until dinner time (given your dinner time is within the next 30-45 minutes or so).

Serve the Chili

Prepare the avocados, cheese, and other goodies for dinner as you let the pot simmer and thicken.

Step 21: Fold in 1-2 cups of white shredded cheese into the chili after you take it off the heat and you are ready to start serving. Don’t mix the cheese in; just fold the cheese into the chili.

Time to eat!

Serve this chili with some wedges of avocado and topped with a bit of cilantro or parsley. Squeeze a bit of lime on the top for a bit of a zing to your meal.

I love a nice, big piece of cornbread with my chicken chili.

Summary

If you’ve been following Beer and Iron for any time, you’ll see my pattern of creating recipes with (seemingly) lots of step numbers. I tend to break the simple steps down that most recipe authors include all in one step. There’s nothing wrong with that…it’s just a different way. I like to write recipes out in simple, one-and-a-time, and step-by-step instructions.

And that’s it yall, Low-and-slow Cheesy White Chicken Chili in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven Recipe. If you are going to cook a roast low and slow and there’s room for this chicken chili or maybe another roast, you might as well cook them together.

You all keep on cooking in those cast iron beauties and enjoying those glasses of that fermented barley pop.

We’ll see you next time.

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