Labs
Supplements
Log in
Register
Scan Me!
Nutrition Snapshot
- About 38 grams of protein in one bowl, from chicken thighs and pinto beans, and a teenager’s larger bowl carries half again as much.
- Pinto beans and corn bring about 9 grams of fiber, and the beans and tomatoes bring potassium, which athletes lose in sweat.
- The trade-off: canned beans and tomatoes make this a moderately salty pot. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.
Boneless chicken thighs are cut small and browned in a pot with onion. Then cumin, chili powder, two cans of pinto beans, a can of tomatoes, and a bag of frozen corn go in. The pot simmers until the chicken is tender and the chili is thick. It sits on low heat until everyone is home, and it is better for the wait.
Bowls go out with the toppings in the middle of the table: shredded cheese, yogurt, hot sauce, chopped scallions, and tortilla chips for whoever wants them.
Why This Chili Is Great for the Meal After Practice
A teenager in a growth spurt who also trains most afternoons needs more food than anyone else in the house, more protein, more carbohydrate, more iron, more of everything. The meal that decides whether they get it is the one right after practice.
That is the meal most often skipped or replaced with cereal, because it lands at seven or eight, when the cook is tired and the teenager is too hungry to wait for anything.
A chili that is already done solves the timing. It holds on the stove for an hour without harm, it is eaten from a bowl in five minutes, and a second bowl is no more work than the first.
Enough Protein in the Bowl to Matter
It also carries what an athlete needs: about 38 grams of protein in a standard bowl, and a teenager’s bowl, a half again as large, carries about half again as much. Pinto beans and corn bring the carbohydrate that refills what a two-hour practice burned. Chicken thighs bring iron and zinc, which teen athletes, especially girls, run short on more often than any other group.
How much more a teen athlete needs than the adults at the table is in One Dish, Two Plates: Feeding Adults and Children From the Same Recipe.
Why the Pot Waits and the Teenager Does Not
Chicken thighs are the reason this chili can sit. Chicken breast dries out and goes stringy after twenty minutes of simmering. Thigh meat has enough fat and connective tissue to stay moist through an hour on low heat, and it gets more tender the longer it sits.
That makes this a pot to start at five and eat at seven, or at seven and at eight-thirty when the late practice ends. It reheats without loss, and the frozen portions are for the week when practice runs late three nights in a row.
One Pot, Two Sizes of Bowl
The pot is mild on purpose, so a younger child eats the same chili, with the heat added at the table from a bottle. Younger children get a small bowl with cheese on top; the athlete gets a big bowl, a spoon of yogurt for another 3 grams of protein, and the chips.
The same chili over a baked potato or rice the next day is a second dinner with no cooking. A tortilla wrapped around cold chili and cheese travels to a game.
Chicken Thigh Chili With Corn
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook the onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, stirring now and then, until the pieces are no longer pink on the outside, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, corn, and broth. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, until the chicken is tender and the chili has thickened, about 25 minutes. Stir once or twice.
- Taste, then add the salt and pepper. Hold on the lowest heat up to 1 hour, or turn off and reheat.
- Serve in bowls with the toppings in the middle of the table. Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 months frozen.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Gluten Free
Chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, and the spices are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, check the chili powder and cumin for wheat flour used as a filler, and the canned beans for wheat-based thickeners. Tortilla chips need a gluten-free label, since some are made on shared lines. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.
Go deeper
- One Dish, Two Plates: Feeding Adults and Children From the Same Recipe (food.nutriscape.net)
- School-Aged Kids (nutriscape.net)
- Sports & Athletics (nutriscape.net)
- Protein & Amino Acids (supplement-sciences)
