This delicious white chicken chili is made with homemade tortilla strips, perfect for chilly days when you want a warm cozy meal.
White Chicken Chili
My healthy, white Chicken Chili is a twist on traditional chili, using white beans and chicken instead of the usual red beans and beef. It’s lighter, like a soup and a chili in one, packed with flavor, easy to make, and can be customized to suit your taste preferences. My trick to create a creamy consistency without adding cream is to blend the veggies. Serve this dish with your favorite toppings, I like it with avocado, sour cream and red onion. If you prefer ground turkey, try my White Bean Turkey Chili.
Cozy Comfort Food That’s Good For You Too
When I crave chili, it’s usually a chicken or turkey chili which is my personal preference. I love it with white beans, it’s a dish I love to make ahead for the week and freeze in portions for busy nights. I also love that it’s high protein and high fiber!
- Meal Prep: This white chicken chili can be refrigerated for 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months, so it’s perfect for prepping ahead.
- Dietary Restrictions: It’s high-fiber, gluten- free, Weight Watchers-friendly, and dairy-free.
If you make this white chicken chili recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
What is White Chicken Chili?
White chicken chili is a flavorful stew that combines tender chicken with white beans, poblano peppers, fresh corn, and spices. Unlike its red counterpart, which is typically tomato-based and spicier, white bean chicken chili is milder. It’s often finished with sour cream or Greek yogurt to add richness and a velvety texture.
What You’ll Need
- Poblano Peppers: Slice two small poblano peppers, or any diced green chiles.
- Onion: Slice one white onion.
- Ground Cumin adds smokiness to this white chili chicken recipe.
- Beans: The best beans for white chili are white beans like Great Northern Beans, cannellini beans or navy beans. Don’t drain the can—pour the liquid and the beans into the pot.
- Broth: Use four cups of low-sodium chicken broth or chicken stock.
- Bay Leaf: Add one bay leaf for a subtle herbal flavor and depth.
- Chicken: You’ll need a pound and a half of boneless skinless chicken breasts or skinless thighs if you prefer dark meat.
- Salt to season the chili
- Corn Tortillas: Make your own tortilla chips with less oil by baking the corn tortillas.
- Corn: I prefer fresh or frozen corn, but drained canned corn works too.
- Toppings: I recommend topping this white bean chicken chili with fresh cilantro, sliced jalapeños, and a squeeze of fresh lime. Some other topping ideas are sliced avocado, Greek yogurt, red onion, low-fat sour cream, or shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
How to Make White Chicken Chili
This high protein chicken chili uses pantry staples like canned beans and chicken broth. Find the exact measurements in the recipe card below.
- Sauté the onions and poblano in a large pot for five minutes. Add the cumin and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, followed by the can of beans with the liquid, broth, bay leaf, and chicken.
- Simmer: Increase the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Tortilla Strips: Cut the four tortillas into strips. Place them on a sheet pan in a single layer, spray with oil, and season with salt. Bake until golden and crispy for 10 minutes at 350°F.
- Chicken: Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and shred them.
- Blend the Chili: Remove one cup of chili and blend it in a blender or with an immersion blender. Return the chicken and blended broth to the pot with the corn. Bring it to a simmer, and then turn off the heat.
- How to Serve: Pout the chili into bowls and top with tortilla strips and any other desired toppings.
How to Thicken White Chicken Chili without Flour
I used two methods to thicken this white chicken chili without adding flour:
- Puree a cup of the bean-broth-veggie mixture for a creamy consistency without cream.
- Don’t drain the beans, as it adds viscosity.
Customizing Your Chili
One of the great things about white chicken chili is how customizable it is. Here are some ideas to make it your own:
- Spice It Up: Sauté diced jalapeños with the onion and poblanos for more heat. You can also add chili powder, oregano or cayenne pepper.
- Add Veggies: Throw in diced bell peppers or baby spinach for extra nutrition and color.
- Chicken: Swap the chicken breasts for boneless chicken thighs if you prefer dark meat.
- Make It Creamy: Add sour cream, Greek yogurt, or cream cheese for a richer chili.
- Hate Cilantro? Skip it.
- Tortilla Strips: If you don’t want to make the crunchy tortilla strips, swap them with tortilla chips.
- Crockpot White Chicken Chili: To make this chili in the slow cooker, sauté the vegetables in a skillet and add all the ingredients to the crockpot. Slow cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours.
What to Serve with White Chicken Chili
Packed with protein and fiber, this healthy white bean chicken chili with tortilla strips is a filling meal by itself, but if you want to serve it with something, here are some side dish ideas:
- Cornbread Muffins
- Side Salad
Storage and Meal Prep
Leftovers taste even better the next day and will remain good for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Reheat it on the stove or in the microwave. Make a double batch and keep it in the freezer up to 3 months for a quick, easy meal later.
Can you freeze white chicken chili?
This easy white chicken chili recipe is perfect for freezing. If you plan to serve it to a group, store it in a larger container. If you want individual portions for quick meals, store it in two-cup containers. Thaw it in the refrigerator the night before and microwave or heat on the stove until warm.
More Chili Recipes You’ll Love
- White Bean Pumpkin Turkey Chili
- Instant Pot Chicken Taco Chili
- Black Bean Vegetarian Chili
- No-Bean Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili
- BBQ Chicken Chili
White Chicken Chili Recipe
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large pot
Ingredients
- olive oil spray
- 2 small poblano peppers, sliced
- 1 sweet onion, sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoon cumin
- 15 oz can white northern or navy beans, with their liquid
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, or boneless chicken thighs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a few pinches
- 4 6-inch corn tortillas, yellow or white
- 1 cup sweet corn, fresh or frozen
- chopped fresh cilantro, thin sliced jalapeno rounds & lime wedges for topping
- optional toppings: sliced avocado, Greek yogurt, low-fat sour cream, diced red onion, or jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a 3 quart or large pot, heat some olive oil spray over medium. Add the poblano peppers and onion, cook occasionally until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add cumin and cook, stirring often until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add full can of beans, chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, bay leaf and chicken breast; raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, stack on a cutting board and cut the tortilla stack in half, then into 1/2-inch wide strips.
- Arrange the strips on a sheet pan in a single layer (you may need to use more than one pan, or bake in rounds) & spray with cooking oil. Season the strips with a few pinches of salt and bake until golden and crispy, about 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken breast from pot, shred and reserve.
- Pull 2 cups of the chili from the pot and blend. Return to the pot with the shredded chicken; add corn. Bring to a simmer & turn off the heat, adjust salt to taste.
- To serve, top the chili with a handful of tortilla strips, cilantro, jalapeños and any other desired toppings.
Last Step:
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Notes
- Add a jalapeno or two when sauteeing the vegetables for a kick of heat
- Keeping the bean liquid when cooking adds viscosity to the soup
- Blending the veggies into the soup is a good way to create a “creamy” consistency without adding cream
- Fresh or frozen corn is best, but canned corn (that has been drained) works as well.
Is it possible to make this in a slow cooker?
Delicious and very easy to prepare. Everyone enjoyed it.
Yummy, yummy, yummy! I’ve got love in my tummy on this taco Tuesday!
Yummy! I’ve made this twice now and doubled it each time.
Didn’t thicken maybe use 2 cans of beans and purée one ?
I made this and it is quite good! I did add half a can of cream of chicken soup so the base was a bit thicker and also I did use the jalapeno along with the poblano pepper. I also enjoyed the “chips” made with the corn tortillas, I had not done those before.
So tasty! We will definitely be adding this to our menu rotation! Be sure to add the jalapenos, cilantro, purple onions, jack cheese, red pepper flakes at the end!
Made as written but in the slow cooker. Delicious and easy! I’ll make it again.
This is the perfect easy to make meal. It is very flavorful – I served it with store-bought tortillas, lime wedges and avocados. My whole family enjoyed it.
A good, spicy, low cal recipe that I will definitely make again. I came across this recipe because I had chicken to use up: too hot outside to turn the oven on and I didn’t want the calories from frying. As others have said, a little soupy despite following the directions exactly. Also needed my chicken to cook longer than specified before I could shred it easily. Nonetheless another good Skinnytaste recipe to add to the collection.
A favorite for my family and me❤️Wanting a thicker consistency, I added a second can of beans after using my immersion blender on them. I also added sliced radishes and chopped red cabbage to the selection of toppings. They add extra crunch and I can omit the tortillas.
Delicious and something I can ge my whole family to eat!
Made this recipe last week and have really enjoyed it. I was able to get six servings, therefore on those days that I’m short on time, my lunch or dinner is ready in the freezer. I will definitely make again.
Forgot stars on previous comment.
One of my faves I’ve made many times. I made this with ground chicken because didn’t have chicken breasts. Breasts are better. 😉
i made this for lunch this week very easy and good.
I swear last time I made this, it called for 2 cups of broth. I think next time I’ll stick to that so it’s less soupy.
Going to try to make this in the crackpot today. Has anyone tried this?
This was okay, not great. Definitely more of a soup than a chili.
This turned out great (it is a soup, not a chili, though) and was very quick to make. The next time I’ll add a squirt of lime since a touch of acid would work well here.
This was delicious. Especially since we have unusually cold weather last few days. I wish these recipes gave a more accurate prep time. No way anyone can prep all that in 10 minutes. Just the tortillas took 10 min. Not to mention washing and cutting the peppers, onion, the chicken(!) all the toppings…. . And you have to clean as you go just to make counter space and to use the cutting board. I would like crowd sourcing Skinnytaste recipes to get a real timeline. This took me 30 minutes day one and another 30 day too (toppings and chips again). Sliced jalapeño, chopped red onion, washed and cut cilantro, lime, avocado. Just washing and cutting all those takes more than 10 minutes! Luckily the time is always worth it but I keep getting suckered into it being faster than it is. Even without toppings prep is more than 10 minutes. Just gathering up all the supplies and ingredients. I sliced the chicken because shredding and adding back takes even longer and messier.
This is so good! Great on a cold day! I am doing WW and I really appreciate being able to add it right to the app!
I’m making this in the crockpot and am wondering when to add the frozen corn. Right away, or toward the end? Thank you!
Very tasty!
This sounds delicious. I was wondering could I use packaged Siete brand tortilla chips (gluten free) and I believe healthier than Tostitos, I place of making tortillas chips?
This was really delicious! I didn’t have poblano chilies, so I used 1 small hatch chili instead and it was perfect. Try squeezing a bit of lime in your bowl and it really makes the flavors pop. What a great dish. Thanks Gina!
I literally just made it and absolutely love the flavor! I will say I used chicken thighs and did it in the instant pot for 15 minutes, came out perfect! I don’t think I’m gonna do any blending I like the consistency of it without the blending but either way this is an absolute killer hit!
Love it ! Delicious and easy
Unbelievably delicious!!
Meant to also say I used already shredded rotisserie chicken from my market. Made it easy.
Once again a great recipe! I will add a jalapeno as suggested in your notes for a little extra spiciness.
Very delicious. Used chicken stock instead of broth and added jalapeños in the soup instead of as a topping to make it spicier. Loved it.
Your recipes are always so delicious. I was wondering how this can be adapted for a slow cooker?
The directions for the slow cooker are in the “customizing your chili”, part of the description before the recipe.
Added 2 huge poblano and Serrano peppers. Too soupy with 8 cups.
Very delicious soup/chili. topped with cheese and thinly sliced green onions. Also added chopped garlic and black olives cause both were in my fridge needing to be used. Will definitely make again. Also very low smart points on ww : )
Made this as written except added one more can of navy beans. As with every single skinny taste recipe I have tried, absolutely wonderful! Thank you Gina!!!
YAY
Update: this recipe has become such a favorite that I shared it with my daughter in law. While I love it as written, my son holds the belief that “chili” implies thicker, not soupy. So, they borrowed a trick from a WW Turkey chili recipe and added a can of fat free refried beans. They loved it. It doesn’t add any points and is a good idea for those who want it thicker. Either way it is a great recipe!!
Will this work as a freezer meal, omitting the cilantro and jalapenos and adding them fresh to each serving?
Very satisfying dish! I felt like it lacked a depth of flavor a little so added half a jar of salsa verde and it did the trick fro me! otherwise excellent
Really tasty! I made it exactly as specified with the exception of draining and rinsing the beans, which I can see why that would have been smart to leave in. I wanted to reduce the sodium content, but I might reconsider next time. So, so good!
Absolutely delicious! Made it for friends and it was a huge hit. Love that you can spice it up individually! Don’t skip baking the corn tortillas part, it takes some time but it’s totally worth it!
Fantastics! I used smoked grilled chicken, otherwise I followed the recipe as directed. It was quick, easy, Fantastics very flavorful.
We enjoyed this recipe but adding the salt was never mentioned in the steps and the final product lacked flavor. We ended up salting our individual bowls. Was the kosher salt in the ingredients for the tortilla chips or was it supposed to be for the chili?
Apologies if it is confusing, it’s 1/2 teaspoon in the soup, a few pinches on the tortillas. I just updated the text so it’s not confusing.
Wonderful soup that my entire family slurped up! I made a double batch right out of the gate, since this looked so amazing. I always trust Gina’s recipes and this one did it let me down. Made it exactly as written and this will go in my recipe binder now—the poblanos really make this special, imho. Thanks for the great mid-winter meal!
Made this tonight for family dinner night with my in-laws. Doubled the recipe and it was delicious. My FIL who generally does not care for healthy alternatives even complemented the dish and my kids didn’t complain about the peppers per their normal. Will for sure go in the rotation for easy weeknight meals.
As I finish my 2nd to last bowl, I want to say that this chili was FANTASTIC.
It was so easy and quick. I did use a rotisserie chicken, but I am certain fresh chicken cooked in the stock would be better. Everything about it was perfect. To make perfection a bit better, I would add more cumin (it seemed like too much to me, but it actually was not), perhaps a jalapeno or serrano pepper, and maybe hot sauce. I didn’t read the instructions carefully so the chicken went in with the stock. I took some broth and cornstarch to thicken it up.
The best part of this recipe is that it is really quite healthy. Too bad the tortilla chips (Chica brand) I crumbled into the chili along with the cheese and avocados really erased the healthy quotient of the dish. Thank you for this wonderful recipe- I will be making it over and over.
This was a delicious take on a chicken chili tortilla soup that is going into my regular rotation. Blending a cup of the soup made a big difference in the broth and all of the flavors together were super tasty!
When do you add the corn? Thanks!
Disregard, just saw where 🙂
I made this recipe exactly as written. I found this chicken chili to be great. It is flavorful and the poblanos make the dish. I found the consistency to be perfect for our family chili preference. Some state the recipe is ‘too soupy,’ but that is a personal preference and should not reflect on the recipe itself.
The dish was good although I found it somewhat soupy . I don’t like spicy food so I only used one poblano pepper which was enough for me. Next time I will add 2 cans of the beans.
I don’t know what I did wrong but it was too soupy. Next time I will use a second can of beans to puree. I had to thicken with cornstarch.
Mine too very thin I used 2 cans of beans too
Do you have timing if I were to make this in a pressure cooker? Would it be the same timing as your taco chili (ie. 25 min)? Same amount of liquid?
Yes that would be perfect
1 1/2 Tablespoons seemed too much cumin so I used 1 1/2 teaspoons which tasted great. Was wondering if there was a misprint
not a misprint
My husband and I loved this. But, beware, it has that cravable unami quality! We love poblano peppers and make SkinnyTaste stuffed poblano peppers on a regular basis. This recipe gave me another way to use them and everything else was already in my pantry. Nice to use up rotisserie chicken leftovers as well. So great on a cold winter night. All the fresh garnishes really set it apart, don’t miss these. Gina’s trick of taking out a cup and blending it and returning it to the pot made it creamy without dairy or thickeners. I can’t wait to have it again for lunch tomorrow!
Glad you both enjoyed it!
Excellent! A nice alternative to the usual beef chili.
Really good. I used pinto beans and chicken tenderloins. I think the pinto beans made it look muddy and never enough chicken. Maybe add more beans or less broth as it was too soupy.
Isn’t this tortilla soup renamed?
Tortilla soup is different. It has tomatoes and other veggies. Google it or check the site
This looks delicious! Hope to try it soon. How could it be cooked in the Instant pot? I’m new to cooking with the instant pot and appreciate any advice
This looks amazing and I would love to make it tonight. Could I make this with a rotisserie chicken?
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