Buffalo Chicken Chili with Blue Cheese Crisps

The Bears game last night was ugly, but we at least ate well. With football season underway, chili recipes keep popping up. I saw this one on The Rachael Ray Show website and I wanted to try it because it combines two football favorites: chili and buffalo wings. This recipe is great because it is super simple, healthier than going to b dubs, and is really good reheated the next day. If you are too lazy to make the blue cheese crisps, just smash some baked tortilla chips and sprinkle some blue cheese and it tastes exactly the same. Bears.

Buffalo Chicken Chili with Blue Cheese Crisps
Recipe courtesy of The Rachael Ray Show
Photo courtesy of everythingrachaelray.com

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds ground chicken

2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4 ribs celery with leafy tops, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika

1 bay leaf, fresh or dried

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup hot sauce (I used Louisiana's Pure Crystal)

1 can tomato sauce (15 ounces)

1 can stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes (15 ounces)

1 sack whole grain tortilla chips, lightly crushed

3/4 pound Maytag Blue cheese, crumbled

A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Place a large pot over medium-high heat with the olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add the ground chicken and break it up, lightly browning it for 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, paprika and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 7-8 minutes. Add the chicken stock and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.

Add the hot sauce, tomato sauce and the stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes to the chili and bring up to a bubble. Simmer for 8-10 minutes more to let the flavors come together.

While the chili is simmering, pre-heat the broiler.

Spread the chips out on a cookie sheet. Top with the crumbled blue cheese and transfer to the oven to melt the cheese, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Top each serving of Buffalo Chicken Chili with some blue cheese chips.

We completed our meal with a delicious beer from San Marcos. The brewery is called The Lost Abbey and we had the Devotion Ale. Tasty.