Ingredients

  • 2 slices bacon, chunked (my personal favorite these days is Vermont Smoke & Cure)
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1 can (28-oz.) diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups cooked cannelini beans (I prefer to soak & cook my own, but if you do canned, 1 can will suffice)
  • 2 cans (4 oz.) diced green chiles (hot or mild, depending on your personal preference)
  • 1/2 cup Cotija cheese
  • chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. In a hot Dutch oven, cook the bacon to render its lovely fat and brown the meat up.  Next remove the bacon and set it in a dish to the side.
  2. Season your chicken breasts with salt, pepper, cumin & paprika and brown them in the bacon fat.  At this point you need not cook them all the way through, just make them easy to chunk up.  Once  browned, remove the breasts and let them rest on a cutting board while adding the onion to the pan and reducing the heat, and cook the onion until it begins to be translucent.  When it’s almost there, add the garlic.
  3. Add the bacon back to the pan. Cut your cooked chicken into bite-sized chunks and add it to the mix.  Stir  in the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, white beans, and green chiles. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a slow boil and cook, uncovered, stirring as needed until the liquid has reduced to your level of preference.
  4. Serve with crumbles of Cotija cheese and fresh cilantro on top (and maybe a piece of bacon).

Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen.

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