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!
Hej! I am a budget-byte-lover from Sweden :) You can’t but salsa verde over here – is there anything you could use instead? xxx
You can also do it with a red salsa, but the color of the final dish will just be different. :) I think that will be your closest option. The salsa verde is responsible for a lot of the flavor in the dish (it has tomatillos, onions, peppers, vinegar, and more), so you don’t want to stray too far when using a replacement.
Yes you can, it is with the taco ingredients. I got mine at Ica.
This looks so tasty! If I needed to cook this on low, how long would I need to leave it for? And would everything still be the right texture?
You can do it on low for eight hours and it should still turn out fantastic. :)
I made this a couple days ago and wow, so easy and incredibly delicious! I just love to make your recipes.
Also, I use a hand mixer to shred the chicken… literally takes 20 seconds! Absolute life changes for chicken shredding! :)
Another winning recipe. The slow cooker style makes it so appealing, too. Thank you for another one to go in the rotation!
Made this for the family and everyone loved it. I skipped the jalapeno because the salsa verde already had a bite. Even for crockpot recipes this is super easy. Thanks again Beth.
Why do you drain and rinse the beans ? When I do stove top chili , I just dump in the whole can of beans, including the liquid . Thank you, Cindy
Just a personal preference. :)
This is delicious! I actually used dry beans and extra liquid, cooked it for 6 hours, THEN threw in the raw chicken. Perfection.
What is the carb and calorie count per serving?ย
Total Carbohydrate 46 g / calories 342.
You can import any recipe into MyFitnessPal http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
and it will calculate for you. I’ve found this tool helpful as I’m navigating a low-carb diet…
This was really good and very simple. I made it yesterday to have for work this week but, of course, had to try some last night…to make sure it was good enough, y’see. ha. I’ve added it to my repertoire! It’s very tasty. I made a few minor changes in spices to suit my taste, but overall it was your recipe I made. Delicious! Thank you.
This looks so good! Do you have any recommendations to adapt this to the stovetop? I don’t have a slow cooker yet.
Thanks!
You can just simmer it on low until the chicken is tender enough to shred, which is usually about an hour or so. :)
Nice easy recipe. The heat is dependent on the salsa verde that you use.
Is there a reason you are using ‘Essential Everyday’ brand?
This was a recipe developed for Albertsons and that’s their store brand (first paragraph). You can use any brand you like and it will still be great. :)
Is there something that I could use other than jalapeรฑo for flavor? I have a sensitive stomach that won’t let me eat spicy food.
Hi Amy — Do you like poblano peppers? They have a very slight heat; and are great in Southwest dishes! You’d just want to roast/char the poblano before you add it to the slow cooker (broil for a few minutes, turning so it gets blistered all over, then steam it in a ziploc bag, and then peel the skin off, seed and dice). That would be great in this!
I think you could safely leave it out and still have a great chili. Most of the flavor is coming from the salsa (make sure to get a mild green salsa, though!).
this recipe inspired me. i used 2/3 pound dry light red beans, and 1/3 pound dry split peas, soaked in microwave hot water for an hour. 1 chicken leg quarter. 1 teaspoon green thai curry paste, big handfull of halved cherry tomatoes, garlic and onion, italian spices and black pepper plus chili powder plus a few cups water. 25 minutes in pressure cooker. shredded the chicken and added a huge bell pepper cut up. 10 more minutes pressure cooker. it tastes awesome.
Can you use this recipe without using canned beans? like maybe use dry pinto beans (soaked overnight) maybe increase the chicken broth, etc. I just like fresh beans.
hmmm…or maybe lentils? lentils as far as I know, require no
soaking. just a good rinse.
Yes, if you soak them and add extra liquid you can use dry beans, but I’d need to test it out to know how much more liquid was needed. I think beans would definitely be better than lentils, flavor-wise, for this recipe.