White Chicken Chili
White chicken chili is the pale, creamy answer to the red beef kind — shredded chicken and white beans in a broth built on green chiles, cumin, and oregano, thickened by pureeing part of the beans rather than by flour. Cream cheese stirred in at the end makes it velvety without turning it into soup-with-cream. It's mild enough for a weeknight, and the bowl gets finished at the table with lime, coriander, and a handful of grated cheese.
Ingredients
- 700 gchicken breast
- 800 gcanned great northern beans (2 cans of 400 g), drained and rinsed
- 120 ggreen chiles
- 900 mlchicken stock
- 120 gcream cheese
- 1 pcsonion
- 150 gsweet corn
- 2 tspground cumin
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 pcslime
- 100 gmonterey jack
- 1 bunchcoriander
- 1 tbspvegetable oil
- 3 clovesgarlic
- 1 pinchcayenne pepper (optional)
Method
- Chop the onion and cook it in the oil in a large pot over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the minced garlic, ground cumin, dried oregano, and a pinch of cayenne, and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
- Pour in the chicken stock and the green chiles with their liquid, then slide in the whole chicken breasts. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook 18–20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
- Lift out the chicken, let it cool a few minutes, and shred it with two forks. Keep the pot at a low simmer.
- Scoop about a third of the drained beans into a blender with a ladleful of the hot broth and puree until smooth. This is what thickens the chili — there is no flour in it.
- Stir the pureed beans back into the pot along with the remaining whole beans and the sweet corn. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes so it reduces and the flavours settle.
- Lower the heat until the surface barely moves, then whisk in the cubed cream cheese a piece at a time until it melts completely. Don't let it boil after this point or the dairy will split.
- Return the shredded chicken, warm it through, and season with salt, pepper, and the juice of the lime. Serve topped with grated monterey jack, chopped coriander, and extra lime wedges.
FAQ
Regular chili is built on beef, tomatoes, and red chili powder, which gives it its deep red colour and robust flavour. White chicken chili swaps all three: chicken instead of beef, white beans instead of kidney beans, and mild green chiles instead of red chili and tomato. The result is pale, creamy, and much gentler on the heat, with cumin and oregano doing most of the aromatic work. It's a distinct dish, not a variation on the same recipe.
Great northern beans are the classic choice: mild, creamy, and small enough to hold their shape while some are pureed. Cannellini beans work equally well and are often easier to find, and navy beans are a slightly smaller alternative. Canned beans are standard and completely appropriate here — drain and rinse them first. If you cook dried beans from scratch, you'll need about 250 g dried to replace the two cans in this recipe.
Two rules. First, thicken with pureed beans rather than relying on dairy — that gives structure that won't break. Second, add the cream cheese, sour cream, or Greek yogurt only after you've lowered the heat, and never let the chili boil again afterwards. Dairy proteins tighten and separate above a simmer, leaving grainy specks in the broth. Cubing the cream cheese and adding it gradually also helps it melt smoothly.
As written it's mild — canned green chiles are gentle, and the cayenne is a background warmth rather than a kick. To turn it up, add a fresh diced jalapeño or serrano with the onion, use hot green chiles instead of mild, or increase the cayenne. To take it down, leave out the cayenne entirely. The dairy at the end also softens whatever heat is there, so taste after adding the cream cheese rather than before.
It keeps in the fridge for 3–4 days and the flavour improves overnight as the spices settle into the broth. Reheat gently over low heat, adding a splash of stock if it has thickened too much, and don't let it boil. For freezing, it's better to freeze the chili before adding the dairy, since cream cheese can go grainy after thawing; stir it in fresh when you reheat. It freezes well for up to 3 months.
Rate this
Recipes by email
One letter a week: a recipe picked for your taste, plus whatever is new on the site. Unsubscribe in one click.
Welcome gift: Sergei's cookbook (e-book).
By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.
Tell us what you like to cook (30 seconds) →Keep browsing
More dishes from the American archive — picked by overlap with what you're cooking now.
Join the conversation
Comments
No comments yet — be the first!