This creamy white chicken chili is the ultimate easy weeknight meal! It's full of shredded chicken, beans, and corn; then topped with sliced avocado, jalapeños, and green onions. It's cozy, comforting, and super easy to make in the slow cooker!
You might also like this classic beef chili or this chicken corn chowder!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make this creamy crockpot white chicken chili!
Chicken - You can add chicken breasts to the crockpot to cook in the chili. But if you have leftover rotisserie chicken, you can shred it and add it in towards the end!
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!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Serving Suggestions
This creamy white chicken chili is great on its own, but even better dressed up! some of my favorite toppings are:
- Sliced green onions
- Fresh cilantro
- Sliced jalapeños
- Sour cream
- White cheddar cheese
- Avocado slices
- Lime wedges
- Tortilla strips
How to Make White Chicken Chili
Slow cooking the soup is the best way to get super flavorful chili with perfectly tender chicken! To make the chili, I like to first sauté the onions and peppers. Then just combine everything in a Crock Pot and let it hang out all day! Super easy!
In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the diced onion, poblano, jalapeños, bell pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until translucent and fragrant.
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).
Then add to the slow cooker along with the drained corn, navy beans, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, and chicken breasts.
Add in enough vegetable stock (or water) to cover the top of the ingredients.
Then stir in the salt, pepper, and cayenne.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
About 45 minutes before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork. Add the shredded chicken back into the chili along with the cream cheese. Cover and continue to cook until the cream cheese is fully melted.
Mix in the lime juice, cilantro, and green onions. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
Serve immediately and top with your favorite toppings! I love sliced avocado and jalapeños!
Stovetop White Chicken Chili
If you don't want to use a slow cooker, you can make this white chicken chili on the stovetop 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 (if you don’t want to use wine, just use ½ cup of vegetable broth).
- Add in the drained corn, all the drained and rinsed 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.
- Remove and shred the cooked chicken breasts and add back to the chili.
- 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.
- Stir in the cilantro and green onions and serve immediately.
Recipe FAQ's
Store the chicken chili without toppings in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. It reheats great in the microwave!
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
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large poblano peppers, diced
- 2 medium jalapeno peppers, diced
- 1 large orange bell pepper, 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
- 4 cups Vegetable Stock
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 8 ounces cream cheese, add at the end
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup green onions, thinly sliced
Serving Suggestions
- sliced avocado
- lime wedges
- fresh cilantro
- sliced jalapeños
- sliced green onions
- sour cream
- white cheddar cheese, shredded
- tortilla strips
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the diced onion, poblano, jalapeños, bell pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until translucent and fragrant.
- 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).
- Then add to the slow cooker along with the drained corn, navy beans, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, and chicken breasts.
- Add in enough vegetable stock (or water) to cover the top of the ingredients.
- Then stir in the salt, pepper, and cayenne.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- About 45 minutes before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork. Add the shredded chicken back into the chili along with the cream cheese. Cover and continue to cook until the cream cheese is fully melted.
- Mix in the lime juice, cilantro, and green onions. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
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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