After bubbling away in the crock pot all day, comforting White Bean Chicken Chili -- loaded with tender chicken, white beans, and tangy green chiles -- is topped with your favorite garnishes: fresh cilantro, crunchy tortilla chips, gooey cheese...the possibilities are endless!
This week, central Texas had our first taste of legitimate autumn temperatures this season: we dipped into the 50s overnight and actually stayed there all day! Granted, it was back up in the 70s by the following day, but the temporary change in weather was crisp and refreshing, albeit short lived.
What's funny is the reaction of my kids when it gets "cold" (relatively speaking) for the first time in the fall. For children who step outside when it's 80°, shiver, and say, "Wow, it's cold out here!", cool temperatures in the 50s come as quite a shock. Heck, who am I kidding here? 50° is cold to me! Anything below that is downright frigid.
So how did we celebrate the finally-cool/cold weather after a summer spent in the high 90s or topping 100°? Why, we made soup, of course! But not just any soup...a flavorful, hearty White Bean Chicken Chili, chock full of juicy chicken, tender white beans, and green chiles, and garnished with generous amounts of fresh cilantro, crushed tortilla chips, and creamy Monterrey Jack. It's a fiesta for your taste buds, I tell you.
Just as enticing as this warm, delicious meal is the fact that it takes mere minutes to throw together and then cooks in the crockpot all day. Who wouldn't love coming home from a cold, blustery day to the smell of White Bean Chicken Chili bubbling away in the slow cooker? At that point, the only thing left to do is shred the chicken, add some milk for creaminess and a bit of masa or cornmeal for a fabulously flavorful undertone, and get your garnishes ready to go.
Now a quick word about the suggested garnishes for this dish...don't leave them out! I think that they are crucially important to the final flavors and textures in this white chili. At the very least, you must include the fresh cilantro, the tortilla chips, and the cheese. These three garnishes take this meal from good to great, and I have sorely missed them the few times I've eaten a bowl of this chili without them, whether it was because I ran out of something or I was just in too much of a hurry to get the extra ingredients out and thought they wouldn't ultimately make that much of a difference. Well, I'm here to tell you that they do. Even if you don't typically care for cilantro, I implore you to try at least a little in your first few bites. You just might change your mind.
As for the other garnish ideas I've suggested, such as avocado chunks, salsa, pico de gallo, diced jalapeños, and/or sour cream? Well, they'll take this bowl of comforting goodness from great to over-the-top! Think of this white chili as a delicious blank canvas and add whatever Mexican/Tex-Mex/southwestern garnishes that make your mouth sing. Just be sure to start with an extra-large bowl...take my word for it.
So whether your definition of cold weather is 60° (*raising hand*) or -10°, this White Bean Chicken Chili is the definition of a meal that will warm your heart (and your toes). It's a family favorite around our house, and I hope it becomes one at your house, too!
More Comforting Bean Soups
- Slow Cooker Ham & Bean Soup
- Easy White Bean, Kale, & Sausage Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Black Bean Soup
- Slow Cooker White Bean Cajun Soup
Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried white beans, Navy or Great Northern
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic, fresh or (refrigerated) jarred
- 2 (4-ounce) cans mild diced green chiles
- 1 jalapeño, diced (OPTIONAL)
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons masa, OR fine corn meal
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed
Garnishes
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Crushed ortilla chips
- Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Chunks of avocado
- Sour cream
- Salsa
- Pico de gallo
- Pickled or fresh diced jalapeños
Instructions
- Rinse and drain beans and place in the bottom of a large (7- to 8-quart) slow cooker. Lay chicken breasts on top, and add garlic, green chiles, and jalapeño (if using) to the slow cooker. Carefully pour chicken broth over ingredients, and season mixture with cumin, paprika, cayenne (if using), and black pepper. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or until beans are tender.
- An hour before serving, remove chicken to a plate or cutting board. Mix masa (or corn meal) into warm milk, stir mixture into white chili, and replace lid of slower cooker. In the meantime, cut chicken into large chunks and shred it with two forks. Add chicken back to the white chili and taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or spices, if necessary. Cover and continue to cook for one more hour.
- Before serving, garnish white chili with a generous amount of cilantro, crushed tortilla chips, and shredded cheese, plus whatever other toppings appeal to you!
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Notes
- In lieu of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs, you may use an equivalent amount of your favorite bone-in chicken pieces. Just discard any skin or bones when you remove the chicken to shred it.
- Instead of crushed tortilla chips, this white chili is also delicious with cornbread or corn tortillas.
- Make this white chili as spicy or as mild as you wish by adjusting or omitting the jalapeño and/or cayenne pepper. If you just want the flavor of a fresh jalapeño without the heat, remove the seeds and membranes before finely dicing it and adding it to the crock pot.
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Margie
Do the beans need to be soaked overnight in advance?
Samantha Skaggs
No, it's not necessary. 🙂 Of course, you can soak the beans if you wish, but that will probably reduce the overall cooking time by a bit.
Jenny
Hi Samantha,
I have a question, why is my juice in my white chicken chili dark.? Shouldn’t it be lighter? The spices made it dark I know, but the juice doesn’t look like your chili,
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Hi Jenny! The broth will look darker than my pics until you add the milk/masa mixture. Not sure if that helps, but I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as it tastes good! 😉
Jackqulyn
The combination of the ground cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper could all make the color of your broth a little darker. Another tip: if you're short on time or don't have all of the spices needed for the recipe, a purchased packaged of white chili mix specifically for making chili w/chicken works perfectly. McCormick has a very good spice package for making white (chicken) chili. I also use the McCormick spice package for making red chili. There are a few other packaged chili spice mixes available. In a pinch I'll use Pioneer's packaged chicken chili spice mix, as well as their packaged red chili spice mix.
As an aside, Pioneer makes great packaged gravy mixes. The gravy tastes homemade, not like a packaged mix. Their cream sausage gravy mix and their regular white gravy mix for chicken fried steak are both great.
Stephanie
I've had this pinned for at least a year and finally gave it a try today. I used thawed chicken, not frozen. However, 8 hours later, my chicken isn't quite done and the beans are still pretty hard ? Pretty disappointed as its dinner time and my family is hungry and I'm not sure how much longer it's going to take. It looks and smells delicious though. I didn't see any comments from anyone who had actually made it so I thought I would add my experience to the mix. I certainly wouldn't use frozen chicken, for multiple reasons, and possibly would through in a can of beans later in cooking rather than dried.
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Hi Stephanie! I'm really sorry to hear of your disappointing experience with this recipe. This is one of my family's favorite recipes and I'd love to help you figure out what went wrong, so I'll try to troubleshoot here. It's definitely true that different slow cookers can take different lengths of time to cook recipes, which is why this recipe states the cooking time as 8 to 10 hours (or even longer, if the beans still aren't soft). There are a lot of factors at work with slow cooker recipes. The age of your slow cooker is one...newer model slow cookers run a lot hotter than older ones, so meat typically takes longer to cook and beans take longer to soften in older slow cookers. Also, the age of dried beans can be a definite factor in how long they take to soften. Old beans that have been in the pantry since last winter (or even beans that were recently purchased from the grocery store but were stored in a warehouse for a long time before that) can take significantly longer to cook than new, fresh dried beans (which I explain more thoroughly in another bean recipe post HERE >>> https://www.fivehearthome.com/2014/10/02/slow-cooker-charro-beans/). However, if your chicken is still not quite done at the 8-hour mark, I suspect that you simply have a cooler running slow cooker. I have a couple of new slow cookers that completely cook boneless chicken breasts in 3 to 4 hours on low, but my old slow cooker takes quite a bit longer. Also, I'm not sure if you were frequently checking for doneness as dinnertime neared, but every time you open the lid of the slow cooker, that can add 30 minutes to an hour of cooking time. Finally, as far as starting with frozen chicken breasts, you are absolutely correct...those should never be used in a slow cooker for food safety reasons. This post is several years old so I'm going to update that information now...thank you for bringing it to my attention. Again, I'm really sorry that this recipe ended up taking longer than you expected, and I hope that your family is able to enjoy it once it's done. 🙂
Jackqulyn
I love this chili recipe. It's easy and one of the best. I've made it both ways using thawed or frozen chicken. I do have to cook the chili a little longer if using fresh beans (not canned) and/or frozen chicken. I haven't had any problem with the chicken being done. If fresh beans are still hard, add a little more broth and let the chili cook another two hours on high. Whenever I use fresh beans I let them in cool water for about one hour before adding them to the pot. This eliminates fresh beans from being too firm at the end of normal cooking times. NOTE: The three beans this recipe calls for are firm to begin with. Canned beans like the ones asked for in this recipe are a little firm, never soft or mushy. Fresh beans will always be little firm when cooked thru. You never want mushy beans in chili.
I'll share a similar experience I had cooking a pork butt roast a few weeks ago. I cooked my nine pound pork roast in my crock pot the required eight hours. It smelled good. It smelled done. At the final 30 minute mark I opened the lid on the crock pot and panicked. I first noticed the roast hadn't cooked down like it usually does, it was cool to the touch and not cooked thru. I really panicked when I tried putting the fork into the roast and it wouldn't go in easily. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what I did wrong, or maybe my relatively new crock pot stopped working, I discovered I had been cooking the roast on medium the entire 7-1/2 hours, not on high like the directions called for. Not knowing exactly what to do next, I added a little more of the sauce I made for topping the shredded pork, added more broth, put the lid on, snapped it down and turned the thermostat on the crock pot to high. I cooked the roast another four hours. At 9:00 pm I lifted the lid. I was delightfully surprised to find the roast was thoroughly cooked and easy to shred. I've not made a mistake like this in the 55 years I've been cooking. I scolded myself for not paying attention, and vowed to always double check everything. I tell my story to let you know no matter how long you've been cooking, or how careful we are, mistakes happen. Fortunately, most cooking errors can be remedied if we don't give up, if we laugh a little, pick up the pieces and start again. Life goes on.
Monique
This looks so yummy. I can't wait to try it but I have one question. Do you use dry beans or canned?
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Hi Monique! That's a great question, and I will go back and clarify it in the recipe. You use dried beans. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Carli
I am so glad I stopped by Live Laugh Linky Thursday and saw this post because I had been looking for a crockpot white bean chili recipe! I love my regular chili, but I wanted something that wasn't too hard and switch it up a bit since I have tons of chicken to use. I will be pinning this! I am starting my first ever link-up party tomorrow called Family Fridays and I am kinda nervous :/ Maybe you can stop by and share something! Have a great day!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Sounds like it was meant to be, Carli...I hope you enjoy this white chili now that you've found it! Thanks for the invite to your party. I hope it goes well, and I'll try to stop by and check it out! 🙂
Liz Fourez
I cannot WAIT to try this recipe, Samantha! It sounds like perfection right now!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Thanks so much, Liz! It's one of my favorites when the temperature dips. I hope your family enjoys it, too! Happy Friday!
angie
oh this sounds like it needs a spot on our weekly soup and sandwich night.
come see what we shared
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Thanks so much, Angie...I hope it's a hit!
Cindee Sharp
My co-worker makes this for the office about once per year. I think it's high time I made some and kept it all to myself! I mean, myself and my family. 😉
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Ha, Cindee! I agree...you definitely need to make a big vat of this white chili all for
youyour family! 😉 Thanks for stopping by!Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog
Yummmm! This looks delicious, Samantha! I could definitely use some warmth today-- it's in the 40s and rainy here in PA. Yuck! I also must say that you have the prettiest food photography! You really make everything look beautiful. Hope you're having a wonderful week!
~Abby =)
Samantha at Five Heart Home
You are so sweet, Abby. That weather does not sound like my favorite kind...I think soup is definitely in order! And I appreciate your kind words about my photos. I feel like I learn something new every day but still have a long way to go! I really appreciate you stopping by...hope your week is going well, too! Stay warm and dry! 🙂
Krista @ joyfulhealthyeats
I know! Yeah for cooler temps in Texas, this weekend was beautiful. I love white bean chicken chili, its a great alternate to the regular red chili. This sounds great! Thanks for sharing at Show Stopper Saturday! Pinning!
Krista @ Joyful Healthy Eats
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Thanks so much for the pin, Krista! I'm going to enjoy this beautiful weather while it lasts. I'll think the temperature is miserable once it gets much colder...but at least that will be a good excuse for more soups and more crock pot meals! 😉
Gloria // Simply Gloria
I would have never though Texas got that cold! But of course, that's a bit warmer than it's been here in the higher elevations (Utah). We've been dipping down in the high 20s at night and warming up to a balming 48 during the day. Gotta be a bit sad when summer leaves us, right? Which brings me to this amazing chili... love, love, love this chili! Can't wait to make it for the family... my boys are going to love it! Already pinned!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
It does cool down here, Gloria, but we don't get the 20s-40s temperatures that you're describing until the dead of winter. Some years we can wear shorts on Thanksgiving or even Christmas, and other years, it's pretty cold! But yes, I'm definitely a summer girl at heart! However, I'm happy to put my crock pot to good use and make lots of soups and stews when the temperature dips. 🙂 So glad to hear that this one looks good to you, and I do hope your boys enjoy it...thanks for the pin!
Erin
Samantha - I LOVE a good slow cooker recipe. I just got a brand new Cuisinart 4-in-1 slow cooker a couple months ago, and now am obsessed with it. I'm always on the look out for delicious slow cooker recipes - this looks fantastic!! Pinnning!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
I totally agree, Erin...I can never have too many delicious slow cooker meals in my collection. They are such a time saver on busy days (AKA, every day!). I'm glad that this one looks good to you. Thanks so much for the pin! 🙂