Pulled Pork White Bean Chili

Pulled Pork Chili with White Beans

We’ve had a string of cold days here in the Mid-Atlantic recently so it seemed like an ideal time to tinker with the recipe for pulled pork chili I’ve been working on for a while now. And indeed a bowl of hot chili was just what I needed to beat the winter blues.

I’m also are working on a brisket chili recipe. So for the pulled pork chili I decided to go lighter with white beans and I’ll go darker more Texas style chili for the brisket.

So here is my first attempt at Pulled Pork Chili with White Beans…

1 lb pulled pork
3 – 15.5 oz cans cannellini beans
4 – 14.5 oz cans chili style diced tomatoes
4 – 4.25 oz cans diced green chilies

Chili BEans

2 beers (I used a Yuengling) – 1 for the recipe and 1 for the cook 🙂
4 cups chicken stock
2 small/medium onions or 1 large onion
2 TBS cumin
2 TBS chili powder
1 TBS oregano
2 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS hot sauce (I used Frank’s)
1/2 TBS salt
Minced garlic (I used 6 cloves)

Start by chopping the onion then saute it in a skillet with some olive oil until soft.

Saute Onion

While the onion was cooking I put the tomatoes, chilies, and beans into the big pot I would be cooking the pulled pork chili in.

After the onions were soft I added the cumin, chili powder, garlic, and oregano to the onions then poured in the beer. I left this simmer just a few minutes then added this mixture to the chili pot.

Finally I added the chicken stock, brown sugar, salt, pulled pork, and hot sauce to the pot. Gave it a good stir and left it simmer on medium-low for about 2 hours stirring occasionally.

Pot of Chili Cooking

I usually make my chili a day or two before I plan to eat it because the flavors seem to develop better after it sits for a while. But of course I had to have a little bowl as soon as this was done… and it WAS tasty!

The pork was a little soft so next time I might wait an hour before adding it to the simmering mixture. I’ll report back tomorrow after dinner with a full update.

Update: An unexpected surprise but my taste testers recommend no changes??

We had the chili for dinner after it sat for a day and the taste was spot on. The pulled pork chili had a little zip but not overpowering. The beans were cooked to the right texture. The only thing I noticed was the soft pork that I mentioned last night. Perhaps bigger chunks of pork?

Bowl of Pulled Pork Chili

I may still play with the taste some in the next batch. I had thought about adding diced/minced jalapenos, Worcestershire sauce, ancho or chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, or chile in adobo.

A recipe is never done… I’ll keep you posted.