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Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili is a hearty, one-pot wonder that’s perfect for fall. Set out a bunch of colorful, zesty toppings and let everyone help themselves.
Serve it piping hot from the crock pot for game day, tailgate parties, or after the pumpkin patch. Guests can add their own toppings as they see fit. Then stand back and watch the crowd go wild.
Looking to make White Chicken Chili for a crowd? Click and slide the number next to “servings” on the recipe card below to adjust the ingredients to match how many you’re feeding—the recipe does the math for you, it’s that easy.
White Chicken Chili ingredients:
- Chicken. Boneless skinless breasts work great, but you can use leftover Rotisserie Chicken, too—just add already cooked chicken to the slow cooker when you add in the cream cheese.
- Beans. Canned white great Northern beans (you need two 15-ounce cans for one recipe)
- Corn. Frozen corn, or fresh corn cut off the cob.
- Canned green chilies. Hatch brand makes delicious New Mexican mild chilies. These are easy to find and sold in little cans. (However, if you can’t find mild green chilies, use an equal amount of salsa verde instead.)
- Onions and garlic.
- Chicken Broth.
- Spices: Dried oregano, ground cumin, and chili powder.
- Cayenne pepper. Don’t worry, the cream cheese tempers the heat.
- Cream cheese. Or Neufchâtel cheese, which isn’t too terribly different from cream cheese. Both are creamy, tangy, dense cheeses that melt into soups and stews like a dream.
- Half and half.
- Cilantro. Optional, of course, especially if you hate cilantro.
White Chicken Chili toppings:
- Avocado.
- Jalapeños.
- Shredded or crumbled cheese,
- Sour cream.
- Chopped cilantro.
- Fritos. Or crunchy corn tortilla strips.
- Chopped tomatoes.
- Pickled onions or shallots.
How to make Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili:
How to make white chicken chili creamy? A little bit of cream cheese and a bit of half and half. It’s not overboard, but it is delicious. For this chili, the cream cheese and half and half gets added later, a few minutes before serving, to make this chicken chili a little extra rich.
If you’re looking for a healthy chicken chili recipe without cream cheese, just leave it out. Serve some sour cream alongside the chili for those who want it.
By the way, this how-to doesn’t include specific recipe amounts; it’s just more of a basic walkthrough. Look at the recipe card down below for details!
- First, add the chicken, beans, corn, green chilies (with juice), onion, and garlic to the slow cooker. Then pour in the chicken broth, cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, if you like things a little spicy.
- That’s basically it. Cover the crock pot and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
- When finished cooking, remove the chicken to a mixing bowl and shred with some forks. Add it back into the slow cooker.
- Next, stir in the cream cheese and half and half. Sprinkle in the cilantro, if you’re using it. Cook the chili on HIGH for 15 minutes until the chili thickens.
- To serve, pour into bowls and top with your choice of great stuff.
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili:
Electric pressure cookers are hands-free and make White Chicken Chili easy, all in under an hour. Here’s how:
- First, place the chicken breasts in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add the broth, corn, beans, spices, onion, and garlic.
- Then cover with lid and seal. Switch the valve to the “sealing” position and cook for 20 minutes on manual high pressure.
Once it is done cooking, let it naturally depressurize for 10 minutes then switch the valve to the “venting” position to completely release steam before opening lid. - Next, remove the chicken breasts to a mixing bowl and shred apart with a couple forks. Return the chicken to the pressure cooker.
- Add the half and half, cream cheese, and cilantro, and stir until melted. The cooker usually has a keep warm function that can continue to warm the chili.
Delicious ways to switch up Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili:
- Ro*tel. Who says you can’t have White Chicken Chili with Ro*tel? Throw a can in, juice and all.
- Black beans. If you love black beans in chili, substitute then for the white beans. It will taste the same.
- Healthy White Chicken Chili. Skip the cream cheese and half and half, and purée some of the beans to make the broth-based chili creamy without cream.
- Salsa verde. No chilies? No problem. Tomatillo-based salsa verde gives the right amount of acidic punch in this recipe.
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Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts trimmed of excess fat
- 2 (15-ounce) cans great Northern beans drained and rinsed
- 10 ounces frozen corn
- 2 (4-ounce) cans mild diced green chiles undrained
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro optional
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For Topping:
- sliced avocado jalapeños, shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, and/or tortilla strips.
Instructions
- To a slow cooker, add chicken, beans, corn, green chiles and juice, onion, and garlic. Stir in chicken broth, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and cayenne pepper (if using).
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Remove chicken to large mixing bowl, shred, then return to slow cooker.
- Stir in cream cheese, half and half, and cilantro (if using). Cover and cook on HIGH for 15 minutes, or until chili is creamy and slightly thickened.
- Stir until uniformly combined and season to taste with salt and pepper (I like 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper). Serve as desired with avocado, jalapeños, shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, and/or tortilla strips.
Notes
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Absolutely delicious! I love the tip about rotisserie chicken and adding it with the cream cheese at the end.
I’m so glad you liked the recipe! Thanks Brooke! -Meggan
I’m so thrilled to have discovered so many amazing recipes. Thank you!!
This recipe is so good I can’t even handle it. I made it because I had all the ingredient, with the exception of half and half, but I just subbed whole milk, and it still was super awesome. Keep it up all the good food!