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!
Do you think this would turn out ok with chicken breast tenders or would they not be very shreddable? Thanks! I love your recipes, by the way!!ย
Yes, you could use tenders. :)
Any tips to adjust this for cooking in an Instant Pot? I’ve made in the crock pot before and it is SO good, just curious if it would work in an IP too . . . thanks!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/homemade-slow-cooker-white-bean-chicken-chili-budget-bytes-381702308#
This site has the nutrition facts for this recipe. Very good and very filling, will definitely make again. My 4 year old cousin asked for some ate a whole bowl of it herself.
Hi there. Amazingly tasty recipe! Wondering if it would work to add heavy cream somewhere in the cooking process to make it more creamy/ less brothy.
Yes, I would add it at the very end. :) I’ve also seen people melt cream cheese into chili for that purpose, so that’s another option!
You can also smash some of the beans to thicken the broth
Can I cook on low for 8 hours instead of high for 4? ย
Yes, that will work. :)
Do you think that trading out the pinto beans for black would totally mess with the flavor? I’m just not big on pinto.
I think it would taste fine, but it will definitely make the color look pretty funky. Hahah
Delicious, it didn’t last two days, making it again!
Thank you.
Delicious! ย It would be awesomely helpful if nutritional information/calories per serving were included in all recipes.
Such an easy, delicious recipe! Making it again tonight for my second time. I love that it’s a ‘dump’ recipe – no sauteeing or browning ahead of time.
Do you know how many net carbs per serving?
No, I’m sorry, I do not have the nutritional information for the recipes.
Beth, this looks awesome and I am planning on making this probably tomorrow night! I wanted to use my Instant Pot, but wasn’t sure what might need to change. Do you think I’d need less liquid? I’m sure I could find info on how long to do the chicken and then just add the other ingredients in after but I wasn’t sure on how much liquid. Any ideas? Thank you for this recipe!!
I don’t think you’ll need less liquid. I think it will work great in the IP! :)
Is this spicy? Never used salsa verde. Anxious to try this recipe!ย
Most of the time salsa verde is pretty mild, but it will definitely depend on the brand.
Can you cook on low for 8 hrs?
Yes, that should work fine. :)
I tried this, and 8 hours on low worked fine. One of my favorite slow cooker recipes- thanks!
Have you heard of anyone adding the *ingredients* for Salsa Verde (Tomatillo, etc) to the crockpot instead of Salsa Verde itself? This was a fave recipe but I’ve moved where salsa verde is hard to buy.
I bet that would work!
I’ve done it a few times – when tomatillos were is radon at my local market I made a whole batch of fresh salsa Verde and used it in this recipe 3 times and it was excellent!
If I wanted to make this with left over rotisserie chicken (already cooked, breast meat), do you have any suggestions? Should I reduce the time to two hours or just add the chicken in at the end?ย
I think I’d just add it at the end. :)