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!
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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.
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Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Nutrition
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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!
Beth, I have to say that this meal was amazing. I doubled it and garnished with a squeeze of lime and it was perfect. The flavors are incredible. The only thing I’m going to do differently next time is mash a can of the beans before cooking; it was too hard to do it with a wooden spoon afterward. Keep those recipes coming!
This is a great recipe! I added some frozen collard greens and frozen sweet corn since I has some leftover in the freezer. My supermarket also ran out of chicken breasts (ugh) so I picked up some smoked turkey wings and added those and then added some meat from a rotisserie chicken that I bought to make lunches and to make chicken stock so that I could get some nice smokiness from the turkey but also some chicken mixed in.
Made this for dinner tonight. Served with cornbread. Recipe turned out pretty well. I followed it exactly, but added chipotle pepper on adobo sauce and a tiny bit of green chili. This really kicked up the heat level (but we are a fan of the spicy). Will definitely make again. Thanks for the always great recipes Beth!
Put this in the slow-cooker before work this afternoon and my apartment smelled AMAZING when I got home. Both my boyfriend and I really enjoyed this chili. I will definitely be making it again! Thank you!
This looks delicious but what is salsa verde in the US? Here in the Uk it’s something you make with anchovies and laboriously chopping lots of fresh herbs!
Oh, yep, it’s definitely different than that! :) It’s a green salsa made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes.
Ah yes — Italian “green sauce” is not the same as Mexican “green sauce.” Don’t mix ’em up!
I made this yesterday and it was very good. I will definitely make it again in the future.
I’m so excited to try this recipe. So inspirational!
Happy new year!
http://www.trangscorner.com
Also meant to add I used a bit of extra chicken as well. We had leftover smoked chicken from my dad’s bbq and it added an awesome smokey flavor.
Made this tonight for the family! Huge hit! :)
This was delish. I even ran to my local Jewel/Osco (Albertson’s) for my missing ingredients, which were all on sale :-)
Could you let this go 8 hours instead of 4 ?
By the way , this is my favorite recipe site ever!
Yes, if you want to do 8 hours, I suggest cooking it for 8 hours on low. :)
Just made this for lunch and it was fantastic! Husband loved it. I made it on the stovetop since I had some rotisserie chicken to use up. We love beans, so it was no big deal for us, but there were lots of beans!
Any possibility of substituting that chicken with ALL my leftover turkey from the holidays? Its pre-cooked I’m just worried it’ll dry out too much.
And why not add some more vegetables like can of chopped carrots, corn, and celery for colour?
PS love the website – been saving me $$ and not losing my mind :)
Yes, you could definitely use the pre-cooked turkey. :) You probably won’t need to cook it as long, either, which is nice! And yes, extra veggies is always a great option. :)
This recipe made me excited! It looks so good. I love chili. I am heading to the store now. My daughter and I am going to make it together. I will let you know what our family thinks.
Can I use dried beans instead of canned?
You could, but then you’d need to add quite a bit more broth.