Chipotle Chicken Stew with Chickpeas and Kale

Name: Chipotle Chicken Stew with Chickpeas and Kale
Yield: 3 large servings
Ingredients: 3 bone-in chicken breasts (see notes); salt and pepper; 2 tablespoons oil; 1 small onion, diced; 4-5 garlic cloves, minced; 1 (15 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes (with or without diced chilies); 1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans (chickpeas); 2 tablespoons chipotle-flavored Tabasco sauce; 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (use less for less spice); 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 cup kale, chopped

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A hearty chipotle chicken stew loaded with chickpeas and kale. This protein packed meal is made with smoky chipotle tabasco sauce, only calls for a few ingredients and is so filling! Serve it over a bed of rice, quinoa, or my favorite – farro.

You guys.

This dish has been my favorite for the last couple of weeks – chipotle chicken stew. ♥ Skinless, bone-in chicken stewed in a chipotle tabasco sauce with onions, garlic, diced fire roasted tomatoes, protein packed chickpeas, and oh hey there, you beautiful kale. ♥ Look at those colors together, guys.

Let me tell you the story behind this recipe: my neighbor and ~~good~~ great friend, Fariha, and I have this little thing going where we swap gems, like this recipe. She found this recipe on Foodie Crush. Her and I both have this thing where we cannot follow a recipe to save our lives. No, really. You can give us a recipe, we’ll look at it and automatically start making changes. It’s a most pleasant disease to have. You always end up with food to your liking when you tweak. 😉

She made her tweaks to the recipe, cooked it, and raved about the results. She told me I just had to make it. My first thoughts were: I liked the tabasco part. The chicken part sounded good too. It’s the chickpeas + kale part that worried me. I mean I love chickpeas. And kale and I get along just fine too. It was just the combination of the two with the chicken and the tabasco that worried me. I figured Fariha and I have similar tastebuds and so if she’s saying it’s good, it’s gotta be. And guess what? I fell in love.

Oh baby, I fell hard.

Think tender bites of chicken, with a chipotle flavored gravy/sauce, stewed chickpeas so they’re all nice and soft, and tender kale. Now put all of that on a bed of farro. You take a bite with a bit of chicken, a chickpea or two and just a small sprig of kale. You can sense the bold flavors before the bite even enters your mouth. And when it does, it’s a party all around. Moist, tender chicken in the most delectable chipotle tabasco and stewed tomato sauce that you could just eat by the mouthful, all on it’s own.

We’re starting off with the most important ingredients. The onions and the garlic. The original recipe did’t call for garlic, just the onions. But in our house, garlic is always an ingredients in food. Well, at least in savory food. We don’t like garlic in our desserts, that’s just weird on too many levels.

The original recipe for this chipotle chicken stew feeds 6 people. I did have to scale the recipe back by 1/2 because even though is says it feeds 6, last time I made this chicken stew, Anees and I could’ve probably had this 3 times a day for like half a week. It makes a ton! So feel free to double my recipe to feed 6, but right now it’s scaled for 3 large portions.

The original recipe also called for chicken thighs. I’ve made this recipe with both 1-inch chunks of boneless skinless chicken breasts and with bone-in chicken breasts, both work just fine. I personally am not a big fan of dark meat (yeah i’m the only one out of my husband and close friends) so I wouldn’t make it any other way. Feel free to sub in chicken thighs and legs if that’s your thing, instead.

This recipe is cooked using the ‘basic stew method’. Salt and pepper your bone-in chicken and brown it on both sides in a dutch oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove it from the pan. Don’t worry about any of the bits sticking to the bottom, we’ll get them all out. Get the onions and garlic going together for 3-4 minutes until translucent.

Once the onions are done, add in the fire roasted diced tomatoes (my can of fire roasted tomatoes happened to have hatch chilies too, yours doesn’t have to), along with the chickpeas, tabasco sauce, and for an added kick, I put in some sriracha. The sriracha is optional, but I urge you to try it if you like a little spice in your food. It takes this chipotle chicken stew recipe to a whole new level. Season with a little salt and pepper. And then add in some cumin. The cumin really helps bring out the smokiness of the chipotle sauce. So good.

Nestle the chicken pieces back in there and let the stew come to a boil. Cover, lower the heat, and allow the chicken stew to simmer for 25-30 minutes. If you’re using 1-inch boneless chicken pieces, it’ll take about 15 minutes instead of the full 30. When 15 minutes have passed, add in the chopped kale. If you’re using boneless chicken, just add the kale in with the chicken.

For those that have a fear of kale. Give it a try! Really, you can’t even tell it’s there. If you’re still really scared, replace it with baby spinach. Add it in for just the last 5 minutes of cooking to keep it fresh.

This chipotle chicken stew takes you less than an hour to make and tastes like you’ve been slow cooking it all day. I love meals that give you more credit than you deserve. This is the perfect recipe to gather friends around a warm table. Serve them this chipotle chicken, chickpea, and kale stew with a light salad and some bread of some kind to dip in that chipotle sauce. This meal is healthy and loaded with super-good for you ingredients. I get the most joy out of planning these healthy, nutritious meals for you. ♥

Yield: 3 large servings