Easy Chicken Chili Recipe with Roast Chicken

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This easy chicken chili recipe is a gluten free chicken chili that is simple to make using leftover or rotisserie chicken and some simple and flavorful ingredients.

Chicken Chili Recipe with Simple Ingredients

When cooking for our large family, I like to use leftovers and simple ingredients to make budget-friendly meals that taste great, are wholesome, and filling. This leftover chicken chili is a great meal to serve a crowd or to bring to a potluck.

We often enjoy roast chicken on Sundays. Since one chicken isn’t quite enough for our large family, I often roast two or three chickens at a time. This is one way I like to economize my time in the kitchen.

Leftover roast chicken can be used in many different ways. Leftover chicken chili is just one of them. And if you don’t have any leftovers, you could easily make this easy chicken chili with rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

To Make Gluten Free Chicken Chili You Will Need…

Before I tell you how to prepare this gluten free chicken chili, I want to share with you one way to make this meal even more cost-effective. Use dried beans. It is an extra step, but it doesn’t take that much extra time if you plan ahead.

This recipe uses cooked white beans. You can either use your favorite canned brand of navy or cannellini beans or if you plan ahead you can use dried beans.

How to Cook Dried Beans Quickly & Easily

To be honest, I buy a lot of beans to store in our pantry. With the recent supply chain issues in addition to the fact that we live half hour from the closest grocery store, we like to stay well-stocked. If you are interested in starting your own gluten-free prepper pantry, be sure to check out this video.

Dried beans take up a lot less space than canned beans, space that can be used to store other food. They are a lot cheaper, but they have one caveat, you need to remember to soak and cook them before using them.

I have eight children and I am a very busy mom. Needless to say, I often forget to soak my beans ahead of time. Actually, the day I went to make this chicken chili to photograph for this blog post, I forgot to soak the beans.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was also meant to be eaten for supper. Knowing how popular the Instant Pot is, I figured someone had come up with a way to cook beans without soaking them. I got lucky and found a quick and easy method to cook beans for this recipe.

Check out the recipe >>> Instant Pot Beans from Tiffiany at Don't Waste the Crumbs

Tiffany’s recipe makes roughly six cups of cooked beans which is enough to make a double batch of gluten free chicken chili. I used half a batch for the chili and froze the rest to use next time.

Chicken Chili Recipe – Step-by-Step

For this recipe, you are going to need 4 cups of shredded or diced chicken. If you plan on using a rotisserie chicken, look for one that is between 2.5 and 3 lbs.

4 cups diced roast chicken = 2.5 – 3lb rotisserie chicken = 21 oz. raw chicken

In a pinch, you can use approximately 1 1/3 lbs (21 oz.) of raw chicken and brown it lightly in oil before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add oil. Add onions and bell peppers and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring often until slightly translucent.

Add the crushed garlic, salt, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper stirring to combine. If your family likes the heat, feel free to add more cayenne and/or red pepper flakes. Mommy bloggers’ recipes are notorious for being mild.

Add the cooked beans, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and broth. Stir until well-combined. Bring the chili to a boil and then turn it down to low, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure that the chili doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pot.

Remove the lid and simmer uncovered for another 15 minutes. Serve hot, with your favorite sides and garnishes of choice.

Optional Garnishes & Sides

We like to serve chili with a variety of garnishes and paleo cornbread. Some of our favorite garnishes include:

• sour cream (regular and dairy-free)
• grated cheese (regular and dairy-free)
• tortilla chips
• avocado
• freshly squeezed lime

There are a variety of dairy-free options of sour cream and grated cheese available these days for folks like me that can’t tolerate lactose or casein.

If you have corn allergies, try these grain-free tortilla chips.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of our roasted chicken chili and if you happen to make some, tag me @underthreeacres on Instagram.

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