This quick white chicken chili recipe is all about achieving a velvety texture and deep flavor with minimal ingredients. Our trick? Smash a portion of the beans against the soup pot with the back of a spoon, and eke out big flavor from ground chicken, warming spices, and canned green chiles.
You can use any variety of canned white beans for this recipe—or even a combination—but you’ll get the best texture from Great Northern beans or navy beans. Cannellini beans (a.k.a. white kidney beans) have firmer skins and won’t break down as easily into the broth. For the chicken, we prefer using ground dark meat for this recipe, which has more flavor than white meat and is easier to manage (plus, often cheaper) than a rotisserie chicken or otherwise cooked and shredded chicken parts would.
No bowl of chili is complete without a host of garnishes. But for this recipe, we say skip the shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese and tortilla chips and stick with our picks: a dollop of sour cream, a smattering of corn chips (we think Fritos are the GOAT), a squeeze of lime juice, and some chopped fresh cilantro. That said, we wouldn’t deny you if you decided to ladle the chili over a slice of skillet cornbread to really just gild the lily.
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What you’ll need
Dutch Oven
$133 $80 At Amazon
Wooden Spoon
$7 At Amazon
Can Opener
$14 At Amazon
Recipe information
Total Time
40 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
3
2
1
4
1
1½
1
1
½
2
2
3
Preparation
Step 1
Heat 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter and 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high until butter is melted. Cook 1 medium onion, finely chopped, and 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 4–6 minutes. Add 1 lb. ground chicken, preferably dark meat, 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. ground cumin, and ½ tsp. ground coriander; season with freshly ground pepper. Cook, stirring often and breaking up chicken with a wooden spoon, until combined and chicken is no longer pink, 3–4 minutes. Add two 4-oz. cans diced green chiles and cook, stirring often and continuing to break up chicken, until chicken is cooked through, 2–3 minutes.
Step 2
Add two 15.5-oz. cans white beans, rinsed, and 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally and mashing some of the beans with spoon, until flavors are melded and chili is slightly thickened, 8–10 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Step 3
Divide chili among bowls and top with sliced avocado, sour cream, cilantro leaves, sliced jalapeños, and corn chips. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.
How would you rate Cozy and Quick White Chicken Chili?
Leave a Review
Reviews (22)
Back to TopMade this recipe last minute and got creative with what I have left in the pantry. This is great to use as a baseline recipe! I agree with previous reviews that the flavor was lacking using the amounts stated in the recipe. So, I added a bit of fajita seasoning, chopped some tomatoes, used less broth and added a dark beer then a bit of brown sugar. Very delicious!
Sydney B.
Santa Clarita, CA
5/1/2024
Nice, quick pantry chili recipe. Agree it's low on spice. (I tripled the chili spice and added quarter t. cayenne.) But so easy to riff on. This is gonna be a staple recipe.
Sally
Columbus, OH
4/7/2024
Decent recipe if not a bit basic, especially for Bon Appetit standards. This comes together quickly, but could use more spices/spice.
Monica
Lakeville, MA
3/29/2024
Very easy for a weeknight. I used ground turkey and upped the spices by about 50%. It did thicken after about 10-15 minutes of simmering. The lime and cilantro are a must in my opinion. Nothing revolutionary, but you can't beat a solid dinner that comes together in under 45 minutes and feeds a family.
Anonymous
Richmond, VA
12/6/2023
Delicious and a very flexible recipe. I decided to dice up and throw in a zucchini that was starting to shrivel up in my fridge, which gave it a veggie boost and a pop of dark green to this pale soup/chili. This will definitely be in my rotation of quick, cozy recipes for soup season. Loved it!
Jenny
Rochester, New York
10/18/2023
Tasty. Add a slurry of masa + water (or beer) to thicken it up a bit.
MJAN
Geneva, OH
9/22/2023
Pretty good but probably won't make it again. For all of the high flavor inclusions, the overall taste was a bit boring. Worth a try but not part of the rotation
Anonymous
Toronto, ON
8/2/2023