*Update 1/2011: After nearly 2 1/2 years, this recipe continues to be a house favorite. It is creamy, perfectly spicy, and just absolutely phenomenal. Feel free to read through the comments to get a glimpse of many other variations that enhance this chili even more. One way that I’ve started making this is in the slow cooker. It makes it even easier (which is pretty hard because it is a quick recipe to begin with!). I’ve included the slow cooker option below the recipe. Rest assured this chili will win you friends and fame and fortune. Ok, maybe just friends, but I’ll take that.
Creamy White Chili
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version
*Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (if you like less kick, add just one can)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream
Fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder (or fresh garlic, if using) in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips.
Slow Cooker Option: In a medium round slow cooker, place 1 pound chicken breasts (fresh or frozen) without cubing them. Add the chopped onion, garlic powder, beans, green chiles and all of the spices. Do not add the sour cream or whipping cream yet! Reduce the chicken broth to 12 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) and pour in over the other ingredients. Stir the mixture around a bit to incorporate the dry spices. Cook on low for 5-7 hours (if using frozen chicken you’ll cook on the longer end of that spectrum, fresh chicken will cook in less time). Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred in bite-size pieces. Stir back into the slow cooker. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream and whipping cream until smooth. Whisk the cream mixture into the crockpot with the other ingredients. Let the soup cook until heated through. Serve.
Recipe Source: from my wonderful friend, Tori M.
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This recipe is amazing! We loved it! I’m already looking forward to making it again. I couldn’t find the chopped green chilies so I doubled the cayenne pepper and thought that worked great. Thank you so much Mel! You should put together a cookbook! I would buy one plus more to giveaway as gifts!
Thanks, Kensi! I’ll let you know if the cookbook thing ever comes to fruition!
YUM! I made this tonight with your cornbread recipe. I am so impressed with both! I did roast and use poblanos instead of green chiles. YUM! My family LOVED them. My husband said that the cornbread and soup was the best he ever had! Thanks so much for sharing your collection of wonderful recipes. Your blog is the best!!
Mel Mel Bo Bel, Banana Fanana Fo Fel, Me My Mo Mel…MEL!
Loved it! Super creamy, flavorful, and delish! I’m just mad I didn’t double it because now I have no leftovers for lunch today. I won’t make that mistake again….
Thanks, Reyna (and thanks for getting that ditty stuck in my head…)
I love your website so much!!! I rant and rav to everyone!! I made this chili this morning for our ward chili cook off tonight and It won 1st place.. everyone LOVED it soo much they all want the recipe I was sooo happy!!! thanks for all of your amazing recipes!
Brooke – congratulations on the first place prize! I’m so happy you won and that you have loved the recipes you’ve tried. Thanks for letting me know!
Umm..all I can say is AMAZING. I even think this may be my favorite recipe of yours so far…although I’m curious about your other white chili recipe; I need to try that one too and see how it compares. But this one gets 5 stars from me…and I’m so glad it used up the rest of my turkey leftovers! Now I don’t have to feel guilty about throwing any food out.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I didn’t even add the sour cream because I didn’t have any, and it still tasted great! I did add some shredded monterey jack cheese…because I like my chili cheesy.
Kimiko – so glad you liked this recipe and great idea to use your turkey leftovers with it!
So I’m currently in a situation where I have to cook for a 2 year old up to a 98 year old, both of whom are VERY picky, plus it has to pass the 4 month old breastfeeding test (as in not too spicy), and this was a hit!! Thanks for another great, easy soup!
So glad, Ashlee!
Made this today and the whole family loved it! I wanted to let other readers know that this worked great in my crockpot. My husband is a minister and so Sunday after church lunches are usually late and we’re all starving. So, I put all of the ingredients except the sour cream and heavy cream in the crockpot the night before (2 whole large chicken breasts that were even still frozen) and put it in the fridge. Sunday mornings my husband gets up at 5am, so he pulled it out and turned the crockpot on low. We got home about 12:45, I took the chicken out, shredded it, and added the creams. Cranked it up to high and let it cook some more while the cornbread was baking in the oven. The soup was magnificent! I was so happy it turned out good even though I didn’t do the first steps of cooking the chicken on the stovetop. Thanks for sharing your tasty recipes with us!
Jennifer – LOVED your tips. So much in fact, that I’ll be cooking my soup like that next time. Thank you!
THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!
By far the best white chicken chili I have ever cooked…..or eaten. I made it a little soupier with more broth and served it over slow cooked white rice. I did also use one can of chiles to see how hot it was and that gave it the slightest kick but just enough to be happy. I ended up using scoops to scoop it all out and it was SO YUM! I am hoping for some leftovers. This will be making a repeat again and again this winter. Time to stock up on white beans and green chilis. Recipe #3 in my Decembermealathon was a HUGE thumbs up! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Thanks, Juliann – and thanks for including your variations. Long live the Decembermealathon!
Another winner! Very tasty. It was fantastic comfort food during our winter storm.
A couple ideas for readers… We use plain yogurt instead of sour cream in recipes — tastes about the same but has a couple extra health benefits. Tastes like low fat sour cream does, so we use it in cooking or on whatever we’d use sour cream for. One less item to keep on hand. And it works great in this recipe too! Also subbed in half-and-half because we didn’t have whipping cream, but worked great.
We made the batch spicy enough for adults, but added some extra yogurt/”sour cream” in the kids’ bowls, and they loved it. Still plenty of flavor without the kick. It was a hit all around! Thanks Mel!
Angela – great tips! Thanks!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so good. Loved the flavor of the sour cream, green chilies and cumin.
I had cannellini beans in the pantry, so used those in place of the great northern beans. I also made some corn cakes to go with the chili. I put one in the bottom of my bowl, poured a ladle of chili over it and sprinkled a little grated monteray jack cheese on top. It was delicious.
I will definitely be making this again!
KarenC – I am loving all of your comments lately. Thanks for taking the time to leave them! I love the idea of pouring this soup over a corn cake – delicious!
Hey… I’m loving your blog. I’m so glad I found it. You’ve got so many recipes on here that I am itching to try. I’ve got a grocery list as long as my arm. LOL
I have been looking for a good white chili recipe forever. For a potluck years ago, a friend brought a white chili she said was from Taos, NM. It was divine! I am lucky enough to have family in NM (we live in WI) that ships me 100lbs of fresh Hatch green chili late every summer that we spend two days roasting in the backyard and freezing. So when I came across this recipe I just had to try it. I am thrilled to report that this chili is EVEN better than my friends! ♥
Amanda – I wish I had family in NM that would send me chiles like that! So lucky! I’m glad that this chili met up to your other expectations…thanks for letting me know.
I’ve made this recipe more times then I can count, I love it! I have made a couple modifications to make it low-fat (neither of which change the flavor). The first was to use broth to saute the chicken and onions instead of oil. The other is in place of the cream, I combine equal parts nonfat plain yogurt and low-fat or fat free cottage cheese in a blender until smooth. I’ve served my lowfat version to friends who have also made this chili and they couldn’t tell a difference!
I made this chili and entered it in a chili cookoff today. I won 3rd place and it was a huge hit with the crowd. It was the first chili that was all gone. I was the only non beef chili and most of the cooks were guys. So it was fun to place! Thanks for the great recipe! !! Now you know your chili is award winning!
This soup has made me a rock star at church. I took it for a soup potluck and now everybody wants the recipe. I literally had people hounding me at home the next day so they could make it for dinner that night. My kids are also crazy for this. We actually argue over who gets the leftovers the next day (although we rarely ever have leftovers from this). Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Melanie, just wanted you to know how much my family and I enjoyed the chili, it was so creamy! What was Green Bay like the week of Super Bowl? Lots of Packers fans in my family!
We have had this twice in the last few weeks, and I’m still craving it! I seriously might have to make it again this week!
I’m a sissy, so one can of chilies was perfect for me. Thanks!
I made this last night, blogged about it this morning. I made it with leftover turkey and added a sweet red pepper and a generous helping of jalapenos and it started to approach the heat that I like. LOL This is a great recipe. Thanks for this!
Melanie– I’ve just recently discovered your website and I’ve tried 2 recipes so far. I made this chili tonight and I LOVE IT! My kids are all eating it (that is saying a lot since they are picky) and mine was gone before the kids finished. I gave the kids corn chips to eat with it and they loved it. Aside from the beans, my husband loves it too (he’s not a fan of beans). Thank you for taking the time to make and post these recipes. I am feeling inspired to get out of my cooking rut finally and that is HUGE!
I have a recipe very similar to this and LOVE it! It’s one of my kids favorites! The only couple of things I do differently is to add a can of garbanzo beans and either frozen corn or canned corn. I’ve also used a package of softened cream cheese, whisked in, instead of the sour cream and cream. Either way, very yummy!
I had never had white chili before I tried this recipe, and I love it! Thank you for all your great recipes. This one makes an appearance at my table frequently.
We are going camping next week and we usually try to make everything in advance and freeze. We are having a chili cook off one night and I really want to make this. Could it be frozen? Maybe do everything except mix in the sour and whipping cream and do that there? What are your thoughts? Mel have you done this before or anyone else? I want to win the chili cook off and I think with this recipe I could!! =) Thanks!
Brianne – I’ve never frozen this chili before so I’m not sure how it would work. Do you have time to do a trial run? I definitely would try to avoid freezing the sour cream and cream and add that in after it has been defrosted. The chicken broth/bean base should freeze ok. The beans may get a little bit mushy but that may not be a bad thing. Good luck!
Great chile. I doubled the recipe but didn’t double the cayenne pepper. Just the right amount of heat for my family. I also added seasoned black beans to make it a “black and white” chile. Very pretty and delicious. The whole family loved it. Like many others, I am going to have a go with it at our church chili cook off.
I forgot to mention I also cut the green chiles in half!
Doubled this and it still turned out great! The liquid was a little loose for me, so I added one tablespoon of masa harina which really kicked up the TexMex taste. So easy and had everything I needed in the pantry…
I know that this is an overused comment for this particular recipe, but I sure did just win a chili cook-off with it last night! Thanks for this and all the wonderful recipes!
I made this tonight, and it was so good! Vest chili I’ve ever had! Thanks for all the great recipes!
I made this chili for my Cookie Exchange Party with my girl friends this year along with the Romain Salad with spiced pecans, apples, red onion, cheddar, and cranberries and the Oreo Cheesecake Bites for dessert. All recipes were a huge hit. This chili recipe was such a hit that 3 of the ladies made it in there homes less than a week after the party and 2 more have the ingredients to make it next week! I’ll need to make it again soon because there wasn’t any left over for my husband to try any! Thank you for this recipe and the many others I have gotten from you.
I was searching Pinterest to find “my” white chili and here it is. I have been making this for years and everybody loves it. Now I can pin it and direct everyone here insteady of always giving out recipes. It’s the best chili around….thanks again
Just made this for a chili cook-off and won 1st place! Thanks Mel!
I’m back. Again. To tell you how awesome this is. I crave it more often than I’d like to admit.
Do you ever use dry beans to cook with? It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions to save some $ so I’m wondering if you have any tips. I’ve you haven’t dived into that world yet I”ll pass any your way I come across.
Thanks again for feeding my family!
Just made this for myself for dinner (kids had spaghetti- AGAIN) and WOW. So good on snowy WI evening with a glass red of wine and the kids in bed…. bliss! I used leftover roast chicken and 1 cup of monterey jack cheese instead of the cream. Again…bliss!
Delicious and easy to make! I used 1 less can of beans and about 2 oz of green chilis due to my kids pickiness . Made this with your cornbread with honey butter! It was a huge hit! Thank you for the recipes!
This was really good! I didn’t have 2 cans of white beans, so I had to modify with pinto. It tasted fine, but wasn’t “white”. So, I have a recipe for you to create…a soup based on spinach artichoke dip. Sounds like you have knack for soup and a love of experimentation! Can you do it??
I love this chili!! I added a can of corn and substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream to save some calories!! Loved it!!!
This recipe is simply delish!!!! After the first bite I was a in HEAVEN. What a wonderful recipe to whip up during the week and the leftovers the next day were amazing ! Thanks again for another wonderful recipe to add to my collection =)
Love this recipe so much! We made this for the first time for our cub scouts’ chili cook-off last night, and it was a huge hit. All the moms wanted the recipe. I made the crockpot version, and it worked perfectly. I was sure that most people would bring traditional chili so I wanted something new. I’ll definitely be making this again in the very near future! Thanks for the great recipe.
Rachel- I can’t wait to try this, however i was wondering if lowfat Sour cream and 2% milk will work as substitues for cutting down on the calories and fat content from the sour cream and whipping cream. I try to cut down on little things in all recipes…makes a difference throughout the day.
Amy, you can definitely try your substitutions and see how they go. If you read through the comments, I think there are several people who have commented on the variations they use to lighten it up.
Love your site! I took this to our church’s annual chili cook-off and won 1st place in the white chili category and won 1st place overall out of about 40 chilis!! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
We LOVED this! A real keeper. It’s got the perfect amount of spice, and so yummy. I didn’t change a thing, it was amazing. Thank you!
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