White Chicken Chili
White chicken chili is the pale, creamy cousin of the red bowl: tender shredded chicken, white beans, and roasted green chiles in a cumin-scented broth finished with cream cheese and a squeeze of lime. Poaching the chicken breasts right in the simmering broth keeps them juicy and seasons the soup at the same time, while mashing a cup of the beans thickens the pot naturally—no flour, no cornstarch. The result is rich but bright, with gentle poblano heat you can dial up or down.
Soften a diced onion, poblano, and jalapeño in olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, then bloom garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano, and cayenne for one minute until fragrant. Pour in 4 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, add a can of diced green chiles and 1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts, and simmer gently for 15 to 18 minutes until the chicken registers 165°F. Shred the chicken, mash about a cup of the drained cannellini beans into a paste, then return everything to the pot with the whole beans and corn and simmer 10 minutes. Off the heat, melt in softened cream cheese and heavy cream, finish with lime juice and cilantro, rest 5 minutes, and serve with your favorite toppings.
- Poach the chicken directly in the broth at a bare simmer, not a boil—hard boiling turns breast meat stringy and dry.
- Mash a cup of the beans before adding them; the starchy paste thickens the chili without any flour, keeping it gluten-free.
- Cube and soften the cream cheese, then stir it in off the heat so it melts smoothly instead of breaking into grainy flecks.
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed pot (5-6 qt)
- Chef's knife and cutting board
- Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- Two forks or a hand mixer for shredding chicken
- Potato masher or the back of a fork
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Ladle
Ingrediënten
Chili base
- 15 ml olive oil
- large yellow onion, diced, about 300 g / 2 cups diced
- poblano pepper, seeded and diced, swap a green bell pepper for a milder pot
- jalapeño, seeded and minced, keep the seeds if you like heat
- garlic cloves, minced
- 4 g ground cumin
- 1 g dried oregano, Mexican oregano if you have it
- 1 g ground coriander
- 0.5 g cayenne pepper, optional
- 950 ml low-sodium chicken broth
- 113 g canned diced green chiles, mild or hot, undrained
- 680 g boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or thighs; see FAQ
- 850 g cannellini or great northern beans, drained and rinsed, drained weight about 520 g
- 150 g frozen or fresh corn kernels
- 6 g fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- 1 g freshly ground black pepper
Creamy finish and toppings
- 115 g cream cheese, cubed and softened, take it out of the fridge when you start cooking
- 120 ml heavy cream, or half-and-half for a lighter bowl
- lime, juiced, about 2 tbsp juice
- 10 g fresh cilantro, chopped, plus extra for serving
- toppings: sliced avocado, shredded Monterey Jack, tortilla chips, sliced jalapeño, optional but worth it
Bereiding
- STAP01
Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, poblano, and jalapeño with a pinch of the salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent but not browned, about 6 minutes.
- STAP02
Stir in the garlic, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute, until the garlic is fragrant and the spices darken slightly and coat the vegetables. Toasting the spices in oil wakes up their flavor far more than dumping them into liquid.
- STAP03
Pour in the chicken broth and the green chiles with their liquid, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper, then nestle in the chicken breasts. Bring just to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until the thickest part of the chicken registers 165°F (74°C), 15 to 18 minutes. Keep it at a lazy bubble—a rolling boil will toughen the meat.
- STAP04
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. While it cools slightly, scoop about 1 cup (170 g) of the drained beans into a bowl and mash them to a rough paste with a potato masher or fork. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces with two forks.
- STAP05
Stir the mashed beans, whole beans, and corn into the pot, then return the shredded chicken along with any juices. Simmer uncovered over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes so the mashed beans thicken the broth and the flavors come together.
- STAP06
Reduce the heat to low. Add the softened cream cheese cubes and stir until fully melted and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, then stir in the heavy cream. Do not let the chili boil after this point or the dairy can turn grainy.
- STAP07
Turn off the heat and stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Taste and adjust the salt—beans drink up seasoning, so it will likely need another pinch. Let the pot rest 5 minutes to settle and thicken, then ladle into bowls and load up with avocado, cheese, tortilla chips, and extra jalapeño.
Make ahead
This chili is a great make-ahead dinner—the flavor deepens overnight. Cook through the simmering step (before the dairy goes in) up to 2 days ahead, refrigerate, then reheat and finish with the cream cheese, cream, lime, and cilantro just before serving. You can also dice all the vegetables and measure the spices into a small bowl the night before to cut prep to almost nothing.
Storage
Cool completely, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days; the chili thickens as it sits, so loosen it with a splash of broth when reheating gently over medium-low heat (avoid boiling, which can split the dairy). It freezes reasonably well for up to 3 months, though the texture is best if you freeze it before adding the cream cheese and cream and stir those in fresh after thawing and reheating.
Variations
Dairy-free white chicken chili
Skip the cream cheese and heavy cream. Instead, blend 1 cup of the beans with 1 cup of the hot broth until completely smooth and stir it back in, then finish with 120 ml (1/2 cup) full-fat coconut milk or cashew cream. The lime and cilantro keep any faint coconut note from reading as sweet.
Slow cooker version
Add the sautéed aromatics and spices (do not skip the sauté—raw onion and unbloomed cumin taste flat) to a slow cooker with the broth, green chiles, and chicken. Cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, shred the chicken, then stir in the beans, corn, cream cheese, and cream and cook on HIGH for 20 to 30 minutes until creamy.
Salsa verde shortcut
Stir in 240 ml (1 cup) of jarred salsa verde along with the broth and use shredded rotisserie chicken added during the last 10 minutes of simmering. It adds tomatillo tang, trims the cook time to about 25 minutes, and needs only a small squeeze of lime at the end.
Serve with
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.
Veelgestelde vragen
Can I use chicken thighs or rotisserie chicken instead of breasts?
Yes to both. Boneless, skinless thighs are actually more forgiving—poach them the same way but give them 20 to 22 minutes, and they will stay silky even if the simmer creeps up. For rotisserie chicken, skip the poaching step entirely: use about 4 cups (500 g) of shredded meat and stir it in for the final 10-minute simmer so it heats through without drying out.
How do I thicken white chicken chili without flour?
Mashed beans are the built-in thickener in this white chicken chili. Crushing about a cup of the cannellini beans releases their starch and gives the broth real body, and the cream cheese finishes the job. If you want it even thicker, blend 1 cup of the finished chili (before the dairy goes in) and stir it back into the pot—no roux or cornstarch slurry needed, so it stays gluten-free.
Is white chicken chili spicy?
As written it lands at a gentle, family-friendly warmth—poblanos are mild, and seeding the jalapeño removes most of its punch. To turn up the heat, keep the jalapeño seeds, use hot canned green chiles, or bump the cayenne to 1/2 teaspoon. To cool it down further, swap the poblano for a green bell pepper and leave out the cayenne; the dairy at the end also softens whatever heat is there.
Why did my chili turn grainy when I added the cream cheese?
Two culprits: cold cream cheese or a boiling pot. Straight-from-the-fridge cream cheese seizes into stubborn white flecks, and hard boiling can curdle any dairy. Let the cubes soften at room temperature while the chili cooks, drop the heat to low before adding them, and whisk until smooth. If flecks persist, a quick pass with an immersion blender on the affected ladleful smooths everything out.
What makes white chicken chili different from regular chili?
Classic red chili builds on tomatoes, red chile powder, and usually ground beef, while white chicken chili swaps in chicken, white beans, and green chiles with no tomato at all, so the flavor leans brighter and the heat is greener and fresher. The creamy finish is the other signature—cream cheese and cream give it a velvety texture you rarely see in a red bowl.
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