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White Chicken Chili Recipe

White Chicken Chili
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: | Makes: 6 to 8 servings

A big helping of this healthy Southwestern chili is the epitome of comfort. Chicken pieces are simmered with spicy jalapeños, poblanos, and red onion, then shredded and added back to the pot for a deep, developed chicken flavor. Smashing some of the cannellini beans thickens the broth, and a squeeze of lime juice at the end balances the richness and heat with a bright kick. Crumble some homemade tortilla chips over a heaping bowlful for a crunchy addition.

Game plan: If you want to tone down the heat in this recipe, remove the ribs and seeds from the jalapeños.

The chili can be made up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated in a container with a tightfitting lid.

This dish was featured as part of our chili recipe slideshow.

Click here to watch the CHOW Test Kitchen’s Amy Wisniewski make this simple chili in our Easiest Way video series.

INGREDIENTS

For the chili:

  • 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, thighs, or a mixture of both
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 medium jalapeños, stemmed and finely chopped
  • 2 medium poblano chiles, stemmed and medium dice
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and medium dice
  • 1 medium red onion, medium dice
  • 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 4 cups (1 quart) chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 2 medium limes)

For serving:

  • 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 3 1/2 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 medium scallions, thinly sliced (white and light green parts only)
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season generously all over with salt and pepper; set aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in 2 or 3 batches, add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until it’s browned all over, about 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer to a large plate and set aside.
  3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the jalapeños, poblanos, bell pepper, and onion to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, scraping up any browned bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot and stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic, cumin, measured salt, and chili powder, stir to coat the vegetables, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  5. Add the stock or broth and beans and stir to combine. Return the chicken pieces and any accumulated juices to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, turning the chicken halfway through, about 40 to 50 minutes total. Turn off the heat.
  6. Remove the chicken to a cutting board. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove the meat and set it aside (discard the skin and bones).
  7. Using a potato masher, lightly mash about half of the beans and vegetables, leaving the remaining half intact. Stir in the shredded chicken and lime juice. Serve with the cheese, cilantro, and scallions on the side.
    Write a review | 7 Reviews
  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    5

    Delicious! I used half breasts, half thighs... forgot to get jalapeños, so I used two chipotle w/adobo from the pantry. More soupy than I like my chili, so I added a cornstarch slurry after smooshing some of the beans. So quick, easy and yummy. Made my family happy.

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    5

    This was easy and really good. Didn't have chili powder. Used 3 whole dried chili's. The lime at the end adds great flavor. Would for sure make this again.

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    5

    This was excellent! I made exactly as directed except I subbed 2 Anaheim chiles because my market was out of poblanos and I waited to add the canned beans until the end. Through this recipe I also learned that most supermarkets incorrectly label poblano peppers as pasilla peppers. I think next time I'll add another can of beans to thicken it more, it turned out more soup-like than I was expecting but the flavor was delicious!

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    4

    Great recipe - i made this with the following modifications. After browning the chicken pieces, I then sauteed some fresh ground chicken and set that aside with the rest - added to the overall body and robustness, i thought. After step 4, I put everything into a slow cooker - the chicken at the bottom, followed by the dried canellini beans (not canned), the sauteed veggies, and poured the stock all over. Closed it, set it for 6 hours on low - gave it a stir every 60 min or so. turned out fantastic. Chicken was velvety soft, the beans were well integrated, did not need the mashing described in step 7. The only learning was that the chicken was so soft and tender off the bone that i had to hunt hard to find the skin and bones and cartilage that i did not want to eat. But not a big deal - next time I would shred the chicken around the 4 hour mark and toss everything back in for another 2 hours. Strongly recommend dried beans - if you use a slow cooker, you can skip the overnight soaking, and the beans are not mushy when done. Kids loved it! If doing for adults, I would (at a minimum) double the peppers :-)

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    4

    This review is really close to the attempt I made to re-create my first time tasting white chicken chili at a chili cook-off a few years ago. I personally would add a cob or two worth of fresh grilled corn kernels to it. I will admit that I never thought of using bone-in chicken so the flavor of the bones seeps into the chili. With this recipe, I even got my kids to eat beans!

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    4

    More accurately, I’d say 4.5 stars. This was my first attempt at a white chili; I followed the recipe pretty closely. Up until now, chili meant “Texas chili”...beef and tomatoes. I used a mix of chicken breast and thighs, 3 jalapenos (left the ribs/seeds in half), 1/2 green bell instead of the poblano (as I couldn’t find them locally), some Tony Chachares in addition to S&P (I’m from NOLA, what can I say) and substituted 1 can of pinto beans for 1 of the cans of cannellini (my mistake at the grocery). Otherwise all ingredients are as listed. I used an immersion blender instead of a potato masher to puree some of the veggies/beans. This dish smelled amazing while cooking, and ended up quite delicious. Flavorful, nice smell/color/texture. Possibly a little watery for my tastes, and I’d prefer more beans. But all in all a very nice dish.

  • White Chicken Chili Recipe
    3

    As with similar recipes, the canned beans need to be added close to the very end - they are usually borderly mushy texture anyway. If you can plan slightly ahead, soak some navy or other white beans overnight and cook them separately. Having made similar before, I'd call this a chicken stew :-). IMO carne con chili means Beef.

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