The Best Ever White Bean Chicken Chili Recipe

The Best Chili

I like two kinds of chili – Cincinnati chili and this white chicken chili. I hate onions and most chilis have onions. This one doesn’t and the flavors are amazing. It’s kind of the perfect dinner for a cold winter evening. And it’s won more than its fair share of chili cook-offs in the past ten years. It’s also one of our favorites for a Super Bowl party – perfect for serving to a crowd! This chili (and this homemade chicken noodle soup) is a staple at our house during the fall, winter, oh and spring/summer. It takes a little while to make but the extra effort of caramelizing the corn and grilling the chicken is what makes this chili recipe so amazing. And most of that time is just spent letting it all marinate together anyway – not actively cooking!

White Bean Chicken Chili Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Olive oil – we prefer olive oil in this recipe but you could also use avocado oil or coconut oil to caramelize the corn Chicken breasts – we prefer organic grass-fed (these are our favorites!) but you can use any chicken breasts you want. Lime juice – fresh or bottled is fine but try to use a good quality bottled juice if you go that routeWhite beans – canned, these are also regularly called cannellini beansCorn – canned corn, frozen corn, or if its in season – fresh ears of cornChicken broth – regular broth or chicken bone broth works great as well (one of our Whole 30 must-haves)Toppings of your choice – this would be great with some sour cream, tortilla strips, avocado slices, jalapeno slices, or any other toppings of your choice

Instructions

This white bean chicken chili takes a bit of time but that time is totally worth it in the end. And all of the steps are SUPER easy! It’s easy white chicken chili but does take a bit of time to simmer and let the flavors combine.

White Chicken Chili Video

You can watch the video below to see how easily this comes together!

1 – Marinate the Chicken

You start by marinating your chicken in the spices. If you skip the marinating part, the flavor won’t be as good. Once the chicken is marinated, grill it and shred it. Yes, you could just bake, saute, or cook the chicken however but the smokiness of the grilled chicken really makes this white bean chili amazing.

2 – Caramelize the Corn

While your chicken is cooking, put your corn in a pan and cook it until it’s nice and crispy. Don’t be tempted to flip it too often or you’ll end up with warm corn but not caramelized corn – and this is a game-changer for this white bean chicken chili. The flavor of the caramelized corn is amazing. It’s the same stuff we use in our white chicken enchiladas, which readers have called the perfect enchilada recipe!

3 – Make Your White Chicken Chili Base

Next up, you’re going to actually make your chili starting by combining the shredded chicken, spices, and a little flour. Read through the actual recipe below for tips and timing on these additions! Once that’s all mixed together, you add the chicken stock, beans, and corn and bring it to a boil before moving onto the next step.

4 – Let the White Chicken Chili Thicken

Technically once things get to a boil, everything will be warm and cooked. You could eat it then BUT you aren’t going to want to because it’ll be super thin. Instead, simply let the white bean chicken chili simmer until it’s thick. The flour that you added with the chicken in the first few steps of this recipe will help thicken it up. Do not add more flour at this point if you think it’s still too thin – the flour won’t mix in the same way and you’ll end up floury tasting broth. Just wait it out. The longer it simmers, the more chicken stock will be reduced, and the thicker it’ll be. We typically let it simmer until the chicken stock has been reduced by half.

5 – Serve and Garnish

Once the white chicken chili is thickened, it’s ready to serve! You can choose what to garnish it with but I’ve included some of our favorite toppings below! I also love to serve it with this yummy cornbread recipe and pumpkin crunch cake for dessert!

Tortilla stripsSour creamChopped cilantroShredded cheeseJalapeno coinsSliced black olives

Expert Tips

Salt and marinate your chicken for 30-60 minutes beforehand to give the chicken the best flavor. If you don’t have time, you can grill right away, but it’s better marinated. Wait until your corn is caramelized before removing. You want it to have a bit of a brown caramelization to it to really get the sweet flavor of the corn. Under salt the chili if you’re planning on eating it with salty chips and cheese.
Sprinkle spice evenly among the mixture rather than just dumping all in one place to help distribute the flavors in the chili. Make double and freeze to enjoy at another time.