Recipe: My dad's twist on chili verde

When you're looking to make a meal for a family of five and money's tight, sometimes you just have to use whatever you can find around the house.

Fortunately, my dad has a lot of kitchen experience and creativity, which led to his twist on chili verde becoming a staple even during times of good fortune.

Traditionally, chili verde features things like slow-cooked meat, garlic, green tomatillos, and green chili. My dad's take is a little different since he used whatever he could find around the house, and it's more red than green, so it should probably be called chili rojo.

Ingredients

Photo of canned ingredients used in the chili verde.

The ingredients tend to change a little bit every time we cook, but the most recent batch of chili verde was made with the following ingredients:

Two (2) cans of mild Las Palmas green chile enchilada sauce, 28 oz each.

Two (2) cans of diced tomatoes, 28 oz each.

Four (4) cans of chunk chicken breast, 12.5 oz each.

Three (3) cans of kidney beans, 15.5 oz each.

Normally, I'd suggest cooking the diced tomatoes as they are, but since my sister is sensitive to texture with certain fruits and vegetables, we blended them first. You can also swap out the chicken and kidney beans for whatever your personal meat and bean preference is.

And while onions weren't included in the most recent batch of chili verde, an average sized onion adds to the flavor profile.

We also cooked rice in our rice cooker with a ratio of two (2) cups of rice to four (4) cups of water. The water can also be swapped out in favor of chicken broth.

There ends up being a lot of chili verde left over even after the rice is gone with these measurements, but that's fine since the chili verde can be eaten on its own.

Cooking

Photo of a ladle held over the pot of chili verde.

The ingredients can all be added to the pot at the same time since the process of slowly cooking everything together is what really brings out the flavor. Likewise, you can choose whether you want to include the juices from each ingredient's can or not. Personally, I think it adds to the flavor.

There's no specific, consistent time frame for this recipe. The key is to heat the chili verde to your desired temperature at your preferred heat level. I admittedly tend to cook things on high to make the process faster, but I'm sure it tastes better when cooked on medium or low.

Likewise, things like this tend to be at their best when they've reached the point where they're bubbling, but that isn't expressly required if you prefer a slightly lower but still warm temperature.

And I definitely don't claim to be an expert on cooking rice. I've always just trusted my rice cooker, and I've never really figured out how long the rice cooker goes on average.

Serving

Photo of a spoon held over a bowl of the chili verde mixed with rice.

Once the chili verde and rice have finished cooking, we usually scoop the rice and ladle the chili verde at our own discretion rather than mixing the two together in one pot. I always thoroughly mix them together in my bowl though.

And that's really it. You can add other things like shredded cheese, sour cream, tortillas, tortilla chips, bread, and whatever else you might want at your own discretion.

I always enjoy eating this take on chili verde, and I made this most recent batch myself after consulting my dad about the ingredients and portion sizes. It's not exactly authentic or restaurant quality, but it's good and I hope anyone who uses this recipe enjoys it.