This creamy white chicken chili is one of my go-to weeknight meals! It's rich, creamy, and a little spicy which makes it the perfect winter soup. It's delicious and filling on it's own but is even better with a side of my Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread!
What makes this chili so easy is that you can just throw it in the crockpot! I honestly don't know how I would survive without a crockpot. It makes weeknight dinners so much easier because Kyle and I both work full time. He works crazy hours and I have a crazy commute to/from DC, so anything I can do to make dinner easier is a win for me!
*I don't have an instapot, but obviously you can use that instead and adjust the cooking time appropriately!
I can completely prep everything for this chili the night before and just throw it all together in the morning before work. When I get home it takes about 20 minutes to bake Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread (which I ALWAYS make with chili) which is the perfect amount of time to add in the cream cheese and let the chili finish cooking.
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Ingredient Notes
- Chicken - Since this chili cooks in the crockpot, I always just use raw chicken breasts. When the chili is done, they are perfect cooked and just fall apart! But if you want to make this chili on the stove and save some time, you can use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or my easy poached chicken!
- Peppers, Onion, Garlic - Using fresh peppers, onion, and garlic adds the most flavor to this chili! I love a combo of poblanos and jalapenos for the best balance of heat and flavor. But you could also substitute a can of hatch green chilies.
- Beans - For this white bean chili I use one can of each: navy beans, cannellini beans, and garbanzo beans. But you can easily sub for more of one or another if you prefer.
- Vegetable Stock - I always use my homemade vegetable stock because that's what I like to keep on hand. But you can use any store-bought vegetable stock or chicken broth!
- White Wine - This is completely optional, I just love the extra flavor it adds to the broth.
- Cream Cheese - Adding cream cheese makes a super rich, creamy chili but you can leave it out for a lighter soup!
Prep: Night before
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the poblanos, jalapenos, bell pepper, onion and garlic in the olive oil until slightly charred and aromatic. Add in the white wine to deglaze the pan and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom and add to the crockpot (if you don’t want to use wine, just use ½ cup of vegetable broth).
Throw the rest of the ingredients (except the cream cheese!) into the crockpot and give it a stir.
Cover and place the crockpot liner in the fridge overnight.
Cook and Serve
Remove the liner from the fridge and place directly in the crockpot base (it's okay to turn it on immediately because of how slowly it heats up).
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
About 30 minutes before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork. Add the cream cheese and stir until mostly melted. Return the shredded chicken, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes (which conveniently is exactly how long this Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread takes to cook).
Serving Suggestions
This creamy white chicken chili is great on it's own, but even better dressed up!
- Sliced green onions
- Fresh cilantro
- Sour cream
- White cheddar cheese
- Avocado
- Lime wedges
- Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
- Tortilla chips
Make Stovetop Chili Instead
- In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, sauté the poblanos, jalapenos, bell pepper, onion and garlic in the olive oil until slightly charred and aromatic. Add in the white wine to deglaze the pan and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom and add to the crockpot (if you don’t want to use wine, just use ½ cup of vegetable broth).
- Add in the corn, beans, and chicken breasts then cover with the stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Stir in the cream cheese, spices, and lime juice and let cook for another 10-20 minutes or until the cream cheese is fully melted and creamy.
Recipe FAQ's
Store chili covered in the fridge for up to 5 days!
Yes! But I recommend freezing the chili before you add the cream cheese.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Creamy White Chicken Chili
Special Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large poblano peppers, diced
- 3 medium jalapeno peppers, diced
- 1 large orange bell pepper, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
- ½ cup white cooking wine, optional
- 1 (15 oz) can corn
- 1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans
- 1 (15 oz) can navy beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 4 cups Vegetable Stock
- 8 ounces cream cheese, add at the end
Serving Suggestions
- avocado, sliced
- lime wedges
- fresh cilantro
- green onions, sliced
- sour cream
- white cheddar cheese
- Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
- tortilla chips
Instructions
Prep
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the poblanos, jalapenos, bell pepper, onion and garlic in the olive oil until slightly charred and aromatic.
- Add in the white wine to deglaze the pan and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom and add to the crockpot (if you don’t want to use wine, just use ½ cup of vegetable broth).
- Throw the rest of the ingredients (except the cream cheese!) into the crockpot and give it a stir. Cover and place the crockpot liner in the fridge overnight.
Cook and serve
- Remove from the fridge and place liner into crockpot base. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- About 30 minutes before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork. Add the cream cheese and stir until mostly melted. Return the shredded chicken, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes.
- Serve with suggested toppings and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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