Chicken Chili Rice and Beans. A deliciously economical and nutritious way to feed a crowd without sacrificing flavour. Feeds up to six for about $12.

Chicken Chili Rice and Beans.
Pricing is from original March 2016 post.
This blog post was sponsored by Maple Leaf Foods but the opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
As do many of you reading this, I come from a privileged position of never having known hunger. There was always a bounty of food available in our household when I was growing up and the bounty continues in my own home.
Never having to worry about the availability of food is no doubt a major part of the reason that I have been able to explore and develop my love of food into what has now become my job. Looking around my own community, it doesn’t take much effort to see that many others are not so lucky.

Chicken Chili Rice and Beans.
Every year in this province, the Community Food Sharing Association collects over 8 million pounds of food to distribute to 56 food banks. That is an amazing statistic for a province with a population barely over half a million people.
Even more worrisome is that 40% of the recipients of food from those food banks are children under the age of 18. It’s clear that cycle needs to be broken and we can all play a part in it.
Nationally, 1 in 8 families and 1 in 6 children face hunger on a regular basis. In a country like ours, with such abundance, there is no good reason why every person should not have access to nutritious food. Thankfully, there are many good people and organizations in our communities helping to change this.

Chicken Chili Rice and Beans
Why I participated.
When I was contacted by Maple Leaf Foods to Participate in their #FeedItForward campaign, I was also given the opportunity to donate $100 in groceries (via a Visa Gift Card) to the food charity of my choice. I immediately thought of the Community Food Sharing Association.
Through efficiencies in their collection and distribution networks and by partnering with corporate sponsors they are able to leverage the delivery of $430 worth of food for every $10 donated. That fact is quite amazing and really underlines the truth that, when giving, any amount is a significant amount. There are many ways to donate online or in person. Be sure to visit their website to see how you can help.
TIP
Another way to stretch that grocery dollar.

Deboned chicken breasts for Oven Fried Chicken Nuggets.
NOTE: I like to debone my own chicken thighs, (or breasts) so that I can roast the bones and skins for stock later.
I freeze them until I have enough to cover a baking sheet then use the instructions in my post on making Chicken Stock here.
I once compared the price of purchasing de-boned vs bone-in thighs by final weight. Find out my results HERE.
Chicken Chili Rice and Beans, deliciously economical!
With everyone feeling the pinch of high food prices these days, delicious and economical meals like rice and beans are a welcome addition to any weekly meal plan.
Here’s one of our family’s go-to economical dinners that uses less expensive chicken thighs and a few pantry and freezer staples to create a delicious comfort food dinner.
This Chicken Chili Rice and Beans recipe is easy to double to feed large groups or to freeze half for later for a quick meal in no time too. Serves up to 6 for around $12
Looking for more tasty, often budget friendly chicken dinner ideas?
Be sure to check out this newly updated collection of Our Top Ten Chicken Dinners from more than a decade online. These have been made literally millions of times and get the best reviews from our followers.
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Chicken Chili Rice and Beans
Chicken Chili Rice and Beans - a deliciously economical and nutritious way to feed a crowd without sacrificing flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds to 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs well trimmed of visible fat and diced into bite sized pieces. (You can substitute breasts)
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- one large onion diced fine
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (canned)
- 2 1/2 cups kidney beans
- 2 tbsp chili powder or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 cups frozen corn thawed
- salt and pepper to season
- 6-8 cups steamed cooked rice
Instructions
- In a dutch oven, heat the canola oil over medium heat and add the diced chicken.
- Season with salt and pepper and cook until the chicken has lightly browned.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
- Add the onions and garlic to the pot and cook until the onions begin to soften.
- Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the browned chicken back to the pot along with the thawed corn and bring back to a simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
- Serve over the steamed rice.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 587Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 4gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 137mgSodium 641mgCarbohydrates 72gFiber 13gSugar 8gProtein 44g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.



Wanda Cooney
Tuesday 2nd of February 2021
Hello, This recipe has the potential to be really good however the amount of chili powder is way too much! We couldn't eat it, it was too chili hot. Is 2 tablespoons possibly a typo and it should read 2 teaspoons? We will definitely make this again however, we will be decreasing the chili powder to just a teaspoon or two.
Melinda j. Smith
Tuesday 25th of June 2019
Where or what is the liquid? I assume by the description, that the tomatoes are fresh chopped tomatoes, and none of the other items have any liquid. Thank you!
Barry C. Parsons
Thursday 27th of June 2019
Should have specified canned tomatoes. Recipe has been updated.
Shirley
Thursday 17th of January 2019
Thank you for including economical meals on your site. I worked with many families of limited means, the "working poor". Unfortunately, many of them did not know how to cook basic, nutritious meals, and their limited money was wasted on poor quality fast food. J am not laying blame here I understand how this happens. My point is that some family resource centers offer economical cooking programs, and they need recipes like yours to give families variety in their meals. This recipe sounds delicious. Perhaps if you have more economical recipes you could share them with family resource centers. Some of the people I worked with would bulk buy spices etc, prepare meals to give as samples, and provide the seasonings and beans, tomatoes, etc , and the recipe, at the food bank as part of participants boxes. Thanks for sharing your recipes, and your donation.