Verde Chicken Chili: green, bright, and nightshade-free

A green chili built without peppers or tomatoes still has real character. This one leans on a generous white onion for warmth and a small forest of cilantro and garlic for flavor, with avocado blended in to give the sauce body. The Instant Pot does the heavy lifting: chicken thighs cook down in their own broth while you blend the verde sauce, and the two come together at the end.

Bone-in chicken thighs simmered in bone broth give you glycine and collagen, which support the gut lining, along with zinc that is involved in immune regulation. The avocado is a source of potassium and monounsaturated fat, and the cilantro and lime add vitamin C and a fresh lift that keeps the bowl from feeling heavy. This is steady, real food, good material for a body doing repair work.

Ladle it into a warm bowl, add a little extra cilantro and a wedge of lime, and notice what real ingredients can do on their own. The chicken made this meal possible, and that is worth a quiet acknowledgment before you eat.

Ingredients

Chili base

• 3 cups chicken bone broth
• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder, divided

Verde sauce

• 1 white onion
• 1 small bunch cilantro, leaves and stems
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 avocado
• 3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Garnish and optional mock sour cream

• Green onion, cilantro, lime, avocado
• Optional: 1 tablespoon coconut yogurt per serving stirred with 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Method

• Put the chicken thighs in the Instant Pot with the bone broth, half the salt, half the garlic powder, and all the onion powder. Seal and cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes, then quick release. Verify the time against your own appliance.
• While it cooks, blend the white onion, cilantro, minced garlic, avocado, lime juice, and the remaining salt and garlic powder into a smooth verde sauce.
• Lift out the chicken and let it cool about 15 minutes. Discard the skin if you like, then shred the meat off the bones. Keep the broth on the warm setting.
• Stir the verde sauce into the warm broth and return the shredded chicken to the pot. Taste and adjust onion and garlic, which carry the heat and flavor here in place of peppers.
• Serve garnished with green onion, cilantro, lime, and avocado. For a mock sour cream, stir coconut yogurt with apple cider vinegar and spoon it on.

Stovetop variation

No Instant Pot: simmer the thighs in the broth with the same seasonings in a covered pot for about 35 to 45 minutes, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. Shred, return the meat, stir in the blended verde sauce, and warm through. Times are an untested adaptation, cook to doneness.

*Adapted from asquirrelinthekitchen.com*

*Re-grounded from the source archive file aip-source-archives/a-squirrel-in-the-kitchen/aip-instant-pot-verde-chicken-chili.md (recipe created by Amanda Runnels of Unrefined Junkie, published by Sophie Van Tiggelen). Ingredient list kept as factual reference; method reworded in ARM's own words. The source uses no tomatillos, so the dish stays nightshade-free as written with no swap needed. Servings inferred from 4 thighs. Pressure and stovetop times flagged for verification.*