The Best White Chicken Chili

Flavorful White Chicken Chili made with hearty beans, tender chicken, and a rich and creamy broth. It’s a lighter alternative to traditional beef chili and makes for a super satisfying dinner! If you’re lucky to have any left it will make great leftovers for lunch the next day too. 

White Chicken Chili

This White Chicken Chili is hearty, warming, creamy and perfectly comforting. It's a great alternative to traditional beef chili and makes a simple, yet completely delicious dinner! Makes about 8 cups.

Ingredients

1 small yellow onion , diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic , finely minced

2 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth

1 (7 oz) can diced green chilies

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste

1 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cheese (aka light cream cheese), cut into small cubes

1 1/4 cup frozen or fresh corn

2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans

2 1/2 cups shredded cooked rotisserie or left-over chicken*

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving

Tortilla chips or strips, monterrey jack cheese, sliced avocado for serving (optional)

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute 4 minutes minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.

Add chicken broth, green chilies, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes.

Drain and rinse beans in a fine mesh strainer or colander then measure out 1 cup. Set whole beans aside, transfer 1 cup beans to a food processor along with 1/4 cup broth from soup, puree until nearly smooth.

Add Neufchatel cheese to soup along with corn, whole beans and pureed beans and stir well. Simmer 5 - 10 minutes longer.

Stir in chicken, fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve with Monterrey Jack cheese, more cilantro, avocado slices and tortilla chips if desired.

Notes

Recipe updated to use pre-cooked shredded chicken (previously used 1 lb raw chicken in this recipe and cooked at the beginning). I like the flavor of rotisserie chicken better plus this way you don't end with over-cooked chicken breasts.

If you don't own a food processor you can skip the pureeing step, soup just won't be quite as creamy.