I’m all about cozy soups, and the White Chicken Chili recipe has always been one of my favorites. This Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili is the perfect example of why people love slow cookers so much. You literally just dump everything in the slow cooker, give it a quick stir, then turn it on and walk away. When you come back you have this hearty white bean chicken chili that’s ready for topping with creamy cheese and diving in with some tortilla chips. And when the sky is dark, the air is cold, and you’ve got the winter blues, easy dinners like this are a total life saver!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
Does White Chicken Chili Have Chili Powder?
Nope! Unlike traditional red chili, this “white” chili does not contain chili powder. It’s flavored using salsa verde, cumin, and oregano. This chili gets its name from the white beans used in place of the red kidney beans used in red chili.
Is This Chili Spicy?
This chili is a “medium” level spicy. If you want to make the chili more mild, skip the jalapeño and cayenne pepper listed in the ingredients, and make sure to use a mild salsa verde.
What Size Slow Cooker do I Need?
You can make this in a 3-4 quart slow cooker, or double the recipe for a 5-7 qt slow cooker and feed a crowd. I have a 5 quart slow cooker (affiliate link) and the recipe, as listed below, filled it about half way.
Can This White Chicken Chili be Frozen?
Yes, this chili freezes very well! As always, make sure to chill your chili completely in the refrigerator first, before transferring to the freezer for long term storage. I prefer to freeze all my leftovers in single portions so they can be reheated one by one whenever I get hungry.
Chili Topping Ideas
I highly suggest topping this chili with something creamy, like the Monterrey jack cheese listed in the ingredients below, some sour cream, or avocado. The creamy flavor is the perfect contrast to the salsa verde. You can also top with some green onion, sliced jalapeño, cilantro, pico de gallo, crumbled cornbread, or pickled red onions.
Easy Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 jalapeño (optional) ($0.11)
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast (about 3/4 lb.) ($3.62)
- 1 16oz. jar salsa verde ($2.59)
- 2 15oz. cans cannellini beans ($0.98)
- 1 15oz. can pinto beans ($0.89)
- 1 Tbsp ground cumin ($0.30)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper ($0.03)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.26)
- 4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded ($0.85)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Slice the jalapeńo lengthwise, scrape out the seeds with a spoon, then dice. Place the onion, garlic, jalapeño, and chicken breast in the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and pinto beans, then add them to the slow cooker, along with the cumin, oregano, cayenne, and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the salsa over top.
- Pour two cups of chicken broth over the contents in the cooker and then give everything a brief stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours, or on low for eight hours.
- After four hours on high, or eight hours on low, carefully remove the chicken breast from the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the meat. Return the meat to the slow cooker. Stir the chili, slightly mashing the beans with the back of the spoon as you stir. The mashed beans will help thicken the chili.
- Serve the chili topped with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Other optional toppings include fresh cilantro, diced avocado, freshly squeeze lime, or tortilla chips.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
Serve with a side of Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread!
How to Make Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Slice the jalapeño in half, scrape out the seeds, then dice the remaining pepper. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, and chicken breast to the slow cooker.
Drain and rinse two 15oz. cans of cannellini beans and one 15oz. can of pinto beans. Add the drained beans to the slow cooker along with 1 Tbsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano, ¼ tsp cayenne, and some freshly cracked black pepper.
Pour one 16oz. jar of salsa verde into the slow cooker (I’ve used many brands for this recipe in the past, the one in the photo is Kroger’s Private Selectrion brand).
Pour two cups of chicken broth into the slow cooker.
Briefly stir the contents of the slow cooker to distribute the spices. Place a lid on top and cook on high for four hours, or low for eight hours.
After cooking on high for four hours, or on low for eight hours, remove the chicken breast to a clean cutting board to shred (or you can shred directly in the pot with two forks).
Shred the chicken using two forks.
Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Use the back of a spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot. The smashed beans will help thicken the chili.
Top with your favorite ingredients and enjoy!
So super happy with this recipe! I tripled the hen because I have giants to feed. ย I added veg for my own happiness in thinking โWell good, theyโre eating their vegetables.โ (Dices: Carrot, zuke, yellow pepper, corn, cabbage, tomatoes). Itโs fan-flippin-deliciousness, itโs pretty and itโs on the menu.ย
So dang good!!!! I have made a lot of your recipes and I think this is my new fav!!! I added some lime juice to it. I also made it in my instapot instead. Perfection!
Yummy…it’s delicious
Hi! I’m a long-time user of your site and I love the recipes. However, I’m getting continually frustrated that quite a few of my old favourites have been “updated” to be what are really completely different recipes. I had this issue before with the Meatball Stroganoff, and now the Chicken Chili Verde is another casualty! I understand wanted to come out with new and interesting options, but I would really appreciate it if you could archive the old versions for those of us who like and use them. Being a librarian, I’ve managed to track some of them down outside of this site, but it’s always a chore and I don’t see the harm in letting people choose which versions they prefer to access.
Hello! We actually do keep a pdf of all the recipes that are updated, in case anyone wants the old version. If I change the recipe substantially, I post a link to that file right in the blog post for people to download. If it’s just one minor adjustment (as most of them are), I just state the change in the blog post, but we still keep old pdf version, and we’re always happy to send it to anyone who asks. And then sometimes, as with this particular recipe, I don’t change any of the ingredients at all. I simply update the photos and make sure the directions are written more clearly. You may be confusing this recipe with a stove top white chicken chili recipe that is no longer on the website. We’re happy to send that to you, if you’d like. I’m sorry for the confusion, but hopefully you can understand that leaving really old, poor quality content on my website is a bit like walking into a job interview and handing someone an essay that I’ve written in the 7th grade. I want all of the content on this site to represent who I am and what I’m doing now. Feel free to email us at support@budgetbytes.com with any requests!
It’s true! Beth emailed me an old version a couple years ago. Beth, you are an angel.
I made this chili this week for my work lunches! Ate it with monterey jack cheese and crackers. I do like to add some diced zucchini to any kind of chili–a cheap and easy way to increase the veggie quotient. :) This and your SNAP challenge chili mac are two of my go-to recipes.
This recipe was amazing!!!! I don’t love jalapenos so I subbed in a can of ro-tel tomatoes with chilis. I also added some frozen corn. It is delicious and both of my kids love it too. Will make this again.
This was great! I added a little cinnamon (kind of like how you add a little cocoa to red chili) and it added extra flavor to the chili! This was great for a rainy day and I had most of the ingredients at home already! Next time I would probably add a can of chickpeas and a half can of corn.
This is a keeper! I used two chicken breasts and substituted Cotija for Monterey Jack cheese. Served it with lime wedges, cilantro and fresh jalapeno. Everyone I served wanted the recipe.
What a great recipe! I made it vegan by removing the chicken breast, using vegetable broth, and adding an extra can of beans plus a big can of jackfruit to give it a meaty texture and it came out great.
I first made this chili right after you first posted in 2015 and I have kept the ingredients on hand for it pretty much ever since. I actually have a batch of it in my freezer right now. I LOVE this chili recipe. I’ve tossed a can of corn into it just because I had it on hand once and that was yummy as well. I top it with some shredded monterey jack cheese and crushed tortilla chips. It’s always a hit.
Omgosh this was extremely tasty and delicious. By adding the fresh sliced jalapeรฑos kicked it up a notch. This is by far the best White Bean Chicken Chili recipe I have made. I know the name is White Chicken Chili. In my own opinion thatโs an inaccurate name. Unsure why adding pintรณ beans when you can use another can of Cannellini beans but it did give the chili some contrasting color. This will always be my go to White Bean Chicken Chili recipe. Thanks for sharing this awesome chili recipe.
Can this be cooked in an instant pot? What would be the instructions? Thanks!
We havenโt tried it in an instant pot ourselves, but a previous commenter noted, โYum!!! I made this tonight and am excited to have leftovers for work. I made this in my Instant Pot with a frozen Costco chicken breast. 15min high pressure and natural release for 20min. The beans held up just fine in the pressure cooker. Another hit Beth!! Thank you so much!!โ
Has anyone made this in the IP? If so, what do you think the cook time should be? Thanks!!ย
We havenโt tried it in an instant pot ourselves, but a previous commenter noted, โYum!!! I made this tonight and am excited to have leftovers for work. I made this in my Instant Pot with a frozen Costco chicken breast. 15min high pressure and natural release for 20min. The beans held up just fine in the pressure cooker. Another hit Beth!! Thank you so much!!โ
This is delicious! My grocery store was all out of jalapeรฑos so I used a poblano pepper and it worked nicely. One thing I added on my own that others might be interested in trying – mix about 1/4 cup of masa flour into about 1/2 cup of water and add to chili for additional thickening and flavor.
I made this for our Sunday lunch (main meal of the day for us). Used a few of my own tweaks–really liked the two kinds of beans. It was delicious and I have requests to make it again. I made cornbread to accompany and it was a great lunch. Trader Joe salsa verde is my go to.