I had been wanting to make a pot of White Chicken Chili for some time. Although it sounded interesting, I wasn’t sure whether either of us would like it. We are both a little picky in our own ways, usually involving a dislike of different foods. The first challenge was figuring out which ingredients we both liked. I also wanted a simple recipe with few ingredients that were readily available in my kitchen. Brownie points if it could utilize leftovers.

With my regular chili recipe in mind, I worked out the main ingredient swaps. I then added a bit of this and a bit of that, and it turned out fantastic! We both loved it! And it was super easy to make!
Short cut ideas: The second time I made this, I didn’t want to go to town to buy the canned beans, so I cooked a 1# bag of beans in the Instant Pot. I had a large cooked chicken breast in the freezer that I thawed and cut in thin slices. Leftover rotisserie chicken would work great, too. I had homemade chicken broth in the freezer, but using powdered chicken broth mixed in 4 cups of water would work too.
Although I used cream cheese in this chili, other recipes I saw used sour cream and shredded cheese stirred into the chili. The cream cheese gave it the perfect amount of creaminess, without making it a cream soup. I didn’t feel like it needed the twang of the sour cream, nor the extra cheese. The green chilis added a nice flavor, but if you want it hotter, substitute diced jalapenos for the green chilis.
White Chicken Chili
Prep 5 minutes Cook 30 minutes Serves 8 Print recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cans (15.5 oz) Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 – 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilis
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 -3 teaspoons (3 cloves) minced garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
- 4 ounces soften cream cheese
- Optional: shredded Mexican blend cheese
Directions
- In a large pot, add the onions and broth. Bring the broth to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the beans, chicken, green chilis, cumin and garlic.
- Simmer on medium-low 30 minutes.
- Stir in soften cream cheese.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with shredded cheese if desired.
Serve with crackers, cornbread or make my Johnny Cakes.

I hope you enjoy this White Chicken Chili as much as we did!
Robin
I’m definitely trying this one. It looks amazing!
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Thank you! I absolutely loved this white chili!
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I will have to compare your recipe to the one I found and tweaked to suit my own tastes. It turned out pretty good. I’ll get back to you on this! 🙂
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I’m glad you found one you liked. We’re both totally amazed with how good white chicken chili is. The combination didn’t sound all that good to either of us. at first 🙂
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It never sounded good to me either, but I had a Nutrisystem White Bean Chicken Chili and it was pretty good. That was all I had to go on. I figured I could make it! 😉 It was great.
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It’s addicted, too. LOL
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Just dug out my recipe. It calls for onion, garlic, jalapeno, green chilis, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, chicken broth, 3 cans of white beans, a can of salsa verde, cooked chicken, and colby-jack cheese. The cheese is stirred into the pot when it comes off the stove. It didn’t call for cream cheese like yours did. Now I want some. Lol.
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I was afraid the recipes I found would have been too hot for my taste. I subbed cream cheese for sour cream listed in those recipes and skipped the stirred in cheese, just using it for garnish. I’m ready to make another pot, too. 🙂
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I have never had chicken chili before! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
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You’ll love it!
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What?? Great minds think alike?? I just made a turkey chili this weekend!! Thank you for the recipe!! ❤️️
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My pleasure! Was your much different?
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I made a turkey chili this past week. Hmm..maybe I will show on a post. Never have done a recipe post before.
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Thank you! Have you made this kind of chili before?
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Okay Robin, I just posted my recipe for Turkey Chili. No pic ;(
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Your recipe sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Youre welcome Robin. It is good! ❤️️
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Well this is nice, and definitely easy! I don’t do the insta pot thing, but I could have used one 30 years ago!
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It was super easy and tasty. Even my somewhat picky Hubby loved it. The pot of White Bean Chili is made on the stove-top. Only the beans were made in an Instant Pot, because I didn’t have any canned white beans in the pantry, nor any already cooked in the freezer. 🙂
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Wonderful looks!
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Thank you so very much! 🙂
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I’m definitely trying this one.
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We were both surprised at how much we loved it for such a simple recipe. It’s not too spicy, but can easily have more hot seasoning.
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I’m going to try this! It looks so good!
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I was surprised with how good it was and it was sure a nice change from regular chili. Hope you enjoy it as well. 🙂
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I’m not a huge fan of regular chili so I will have to give this a try!
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This is quite different from regular chili. I’m sure you”ll like it 🙂
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