I love this recipe. It is one of my favorites. My kids like it, too. My husband does not like it. He is a big-on-texture guy and he can not get past the soaked tortilla chips (I do not want to use the word “mushy”) used in this recipe. I think this chili reads more like a hot dip because of it. But I love dip! We eat this a lot when my husband is at work.

I watched Rachael Ray make this recipe on her talk show when it was on. It looked so easy and good. I could not wait to try it.

And I did. And it was.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts cooked and cut into pieces (I just use a rotisserie chicken)
4 cups chicken stock (1 carton)
3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1/4 cup chopped onio
2 minced garlic cloves (I just use 1 frozen packet)
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 seeded and chopped jalapeno
1 16 oz. jar of green salsa (salsa verde)
1 bottle of beer (anything you have or like)
Juice from 2 limes
Bag of tortilla chips (2 handfuls of tortilla chips set aside)

Optional Toppings

Chopped cilantro
Sour cream
Shredded cheese

I normally would never write down someone else’s recipe that I have not changed. However, there are a few things written in her recipe that I do differently (and that I remember her doing differently on the show). So, I am going to do a step by step.

Pour olive oil in a dutch oven or other pot you use for soups and stews until hot. Add onions and jalapeno. Cook until soft, about 7 minutes. Add garlic. Cook an additional minute. Now add your spices and stir around in onion mixture for one minute.

Turn off heat and add beer. Turn heat back on and add salsa and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Add chicken. (Sometimes I add a can of chili beans). Simmer for fifteen minutes.

In the meantime, grind your handfuls of tortilla chips. I do not have a food processor, so I beat mine with a mallet in a large ziploc bag. No anger issues here. ; )

Add ground or super smashed tortilla chips to pot after fifteen minutes of simmering from the instructions above has passed. Continue simmering with tortilla chips now in pot for eight minutes. Stir every few minutes so tortilla chips do not clump together or stick to the bottom of the pan.

Turn off heat. Add lime juice. Stir.

Serve in bowls topped with cilantro and other optional toppings. We dip our tortilla chips into this yummy indulgence and walk away full and happy.

Thanks Rachael Ray for a recipe that has made us happy for years!

P. S. I shared this on Savvy Southern Style!