Santa Fe Chicken – A Perfect Freezer-Stuffer!

Earlier this week we made a huge batch of Santa Fe Chicken to stock our freezer. We use this for lots of different meals. It can be eaten as an entree by itself, or it can be a very versatile dinner base for other recipes. And it freezes perfectly!

We use it in tacos, taco salads, burrito bowls, tostadas, quesadillas, or nachos. So, even though this recipe makes enough to feed an army, it doesn’t seem like the family is eating the same thing over and over.

This is a fabulous recipe to make with your kids! Even very little ones can sort and rinse dry beans and go to the pantry to get cans. Medium kiddos can open cans and bigger ones can pick chickens and measure spices. Everyone can dump or pour things into the mixing bowl. And we had several sets of {clean-ish} hands in there stirring and tasting.

18 cups cooked, chopped chicken (equivalent to 4 whole, cooked chickens, de-boned) (We picked up 4 rotisserie chickens from Sam’s Club.)

9 cups black beans, cooked, drained, and rinsed* (approximately 2 pounds dry beans, or 6 (15 oz) cans)

9 cups black-eyed peas, cooked, drained, and rinsed* (approximately 2 pounds dry beans, or 6 (15 oz) cans)

9 cups pinto beans, cooked, drained, and rinsed* (approximately 2 pounds dry beans, or 6 (15 oz) cans)

70 oz. Ro-tel Tomatoes a.k.a diced tomatoes with green chiles. (We subbed out a few cans for regular diced tomatoes, because my kids can’t take the spiciness of all the Ro-tel just yet.)

90 oz. picante sauce (mild or medium to taste)

Mix all together in the largest clean vessel you own. I bought a restaurant bus tub for this purpose. A large roaster for a turkey or a huge stock pot or mixing bowl or sanitized Rubbermaid dishpan may also work, but you may need to mix half in one and half in another. The best tool to stir this with is your hands. It’s kind of messy, but fun, and much more effective than any spoon or spatula.

Next, go ahead and label your gallon-size zip-top freezer bags with a Sharpie marker. Fold the top of the bag over and down toward the outside, to get it to stay wide open. Then, use a large glass measuring cup to scoop about 6 cups of the mixture into the freezer bags. We got about 8 bags worth from this batch. If this is too much to feed your family in a given meal, measure out smaller portions and make more bags. Then you have more dinners already taken care of! Carefully close each bag, squeezing out as much air as possible. Gently spread each bag flat and place flat in the freezer to freeze. These flattened bags thaw fairly quickly when placed in a tub of very hot tap water.

When you are ready to serve, thaw in the fridge or in hot tap water. Heat through in a skillet or baking dish. Delicious as is or served with any number of fresh toppings: Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado or guacamole, diced fresh tomatoes, green onions, chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime. Serve on a bed of greens with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lime. Serve over rice, or with tortillas or chips.

*I cooked each type of bean separately in the Instant Pot. If possible, plan to start early in the day, or even a couple of days ahead. Each type of bean only takes about a total of an hour from dry to cooked. Sort and rinse 2 pounds of beans. Place beans in Instant Pot, and add water up to the 10 cup line on the inside of the pot. If desired, for extra flavor, toss in 1-2 bay leaves and some onion (fresh, frozen, dried, minced—any type will do). Close and secure lid. Check valve to make sure it is set to Sealing. Set program to bean/chili. Press <+> or <-> to change time to 22-25 minutes. Set to High pressure. Allow beans to Natural Release for at least 15 minutes, if at all possible. Drain, rinse, and set beans aside to use in recipe.