Have you ever had one of those weeks where life takes off running and you spend the majority of your time just trying to catch up? The vision of a little girl chasing after her older sister and friends down the block keeps coming to mind for some reason and last week, that was totally me – life’s little sister. That being said, I’ve been a very bad blogger, but I’m anxious to catch up on everything I’ve missed and share a few things I’ve been dying to post about.
In the midst of all of the mayhem the temperatures cooled off and southern California finally started to feel like fall last Tuesday. Absolutely craving my dad’s White Chicken Chili, I pulled out my Crock Pot and decided to give it a shot for the first time on my own and I’m thrilled that it turned out just perfectly. I even received a, “Babe, we really need to start using this Crock Pot more often,” ovation from the boyfriend who easily downed multiple servings. My dad’s recipe is definitely the best White Chicken Chili I’ve ever tasted so I’m finally sharing it with the world… lucky you! Give it a try and let me know what you think :-)
Ingredients
Chili:
1 1/2 lbs uncooked chicken breast (can be frozen) cut into 1-2″ chunks
2 – 15 oz cans of white beans (drained)
1 – 15 oz can of white corn (drained)
1 onion chopped (sweet/Vidalia)
1 clove garlic finely chopped (I love garlic so I used 2)
1 package taco seasoning
1 – 7 oz can of chopped green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 – 14 oz can of chicken broth
Toppings:
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
2 tbls lime juice
Finely chopped cilantro
Fresh shredded cheese (I used Colby-Jack)
Corn tortilla chips (the authentic yellow kind)
Directions
Place cut up chicken in the bottom of the Crock Pot. Add beans, corn and onion. Mix the next five ingredients and pour over the top. Cover and cook on low in the Crock Pot for 8-10 hours. (I was running low on time so I cooked mine on low for about 4 1/2 hours and then raised it to high for the last two hours).
Before serving use a potato masher to break up the chicken. (Make sure you do this very quickly with pressure and alternating directions… the consistency should change from brothy with chunks of meat and beans to a very thick and even consistency. If it is still brothy, keep mashing).
Add shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, a splash of lime juice, cilantro and chips before serving. YUM!
* Yield: 6-8
**To complete our autumn meal, I made a fresh garden salad and hot apple cider. For dessert, we enjoyed our first pumpkin pie of the season. Mmmm :-)
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You can never go wrong with that amount of cheese!!
I promise that it’s perfectly scrumptious without the cheese… I just have a bit of a cheese addiction ;-)
Thanks for sharing! So excited to try this recipe! Sounds perfect for a cozy night at home!
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Looks so yummy. We have a Chili cook off coming up at work and I will try out this.
Patience
http://www.justpatience.com
Making it in the morning for Wine Wednesday with the girls tomorrow evening. Talk about easy prep for a little get-together after a long day at work!! Toss some salad, poor some wine, and we’re off to a night of chit-chat, gossip and laughs!!!! Thanks for the reminder – LOVE this recipe.
Now waiting to see your blog on your recent trip home to the mitten and your visit back to the Union for some ice cold Bell’s Two Hearted IPA’s and the famous Mac n Cheese! Gorgeous Indian Summer day on the Union Patio – awesome!!!
My mouth instantly watered when I saw the photos from your successful chilli chicken recipie! It looks soooooo delicious and chilli AND chicken (& caramel but thats another story haha) are my favourite foods so together are even better. I am so going to have to give this a go, thanks so much for sharing.
Anna xo
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Made this today….it was sooooo good! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Amy! So glad you liked it :-)
Can I freeze this and put in the crock pot when i’m ready?
Hi Ashley! You can definitely put the chicken in the crockpot if it’s frozen, but I’d be careful about mixing the other ingredients, freezing them and then putting them in the crock pot when you’re ready. The ingredients are meant to cook in those specific layers throughout the course of the day (chicken at the bottom so that it cooks the hottest, etc.). I think this is probably the best way to do it. We usually have leftovers, however so I’ll always freeze about a third of this recipe and store it for a lazy day when I don’t feel like cooking ;-)
Love this!!!
Thanks, Tabitha! Hope you’re able to give it a try :-) Xo
Do you drain and rinse the beans before adding them? I’m making this now and wasn’t sure so I drained/rinsed 1 can and put the other can in whole.
Hi Jayme! I drain all of the canned items to keep the chili thick :-)
Hope that helps!
Meg
Wow girl, this looks amazing! :)
I don’t have cream of chicken soup, would it be okay to leave it out? Or is there a substitute?
Do you drain the beans and corn or put juice in it
How much calories per serving?
Hi Jennifer! I’ve never actually done the research to find out how many calories are in this, but I’d imagine it would be pretty healthy if you’re leaving out the cheese and sour cream toppings (or going for light versions of both). That’s something I’ll have to look into. Thanks for stopping by!
I made it last night.. delicious! I think the calories per cup would be between 150-250 calories without any of the toppings.. the only thing with calories is really the corn, chicken and cream of soup.. which i only used half so i feel healthy eating it!
Do you just mash the chicken or the whole meal?
The point of mashing is to get the chicken to shred (rather than having chunks or cubes of chicken), but it’s inevitable that some of the beans will mash as well. The consistency should be thick when you are finished mashing (as opposed to brothy).
This looks amazing! I have a ton of canned chicken…would that be ok? How would I adjust cooking times?
Thanks!
Hi Wendy! I think that would be fine, but you just don’t want the chicken to burn (which is why you layer it in the crock pot first or on the bottom). I would probably cut the cooking time down by 50-75%. Check on it after about 90 minutes and adjust time/heat settings then.
Made this tonight and it was incredible. The hubs turned 40 today and this was his birthday dinner. I just realized I made it “wrong” though, but it was still fabulous! This is totally in the weeknight rotation now :-) (I purposefully omitted onions and garlic, but I dumped the corn and bean liquid in to cook, no wonder I didnt need the broth!)
Hi Alison! I’m so glad you liked it!!!! Next time try it without the corn and bean liquid and with the broth – I’m sure you’ll love it :-)
This looks amazing!! My hubby has the flu and he said this sounded good to him. Thanks so much for sharing!! Many Blessing to you!
I made this today and it was awesome! When I got to the grocery store to buy ingredients, there were 3 kinds of white beans: garbanzo, cannelleni, and great northern. I don’t know which ones you used but I just went with cannelleni and they were really good. Thanks for sharing. :)
This one of the best crock pot recipies I have ever tasted. A lot of things seem to come out bland in the crock pot but this had tons of flavor. I love this stuff!!
I made this a while ago for my family, and they’re demanding I make it again! Although last time I didn’t read the comments and didn’t drain anything, oops! But it still came out delicious. Instead of canned corn, I used frozen corn, which stayed crunchy and juicy in the crock pot!
Just made this I like it and since I do I know it will be a keeper for my husband, my kids even tried it and they are horribly picky eaters. Thanks for sharing my whole house smells yummy definitely a keeper
This tastes awesome! I made some changes, partially due to living abroad and not having access to certain American foods. There is no cream of chicken soup or canned chilis here (and I am not a huge pepper fan) so I made my own cream of chicken soup (http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2011/05/04/cream-of-chicken-soup-substitute/) and traded the green chilis out for canned, chopped tomatoes without the juice. I also made my own taco seasoning (as the stuff here is awful and I hate the extra sugar. Google for recipes, I don’t remember which one I used when I made the packets 4 months ago). It tastes great! Now if only I could get good Monterey Jack cheese here rather than having to shred my own cheddar, that would be the icing on the cake. Or the cheese on the chili?
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This was fantastic!! My kids ate it right up and asked me to make it again!! The only thing I didn’t do was mash the chicken because I had cut it small enough for it to cook through and be tender still. I can’t wait to make it again!! Thank you so much for a great recipe!!
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i like a lot of different beans in mine…would it mess up the recipe if i added a can of 2 different kinds of beans? or maybe leave out a can of corn as subsitute for beans/ use half a can each?
I made this tonight and just taste tested it…so yummy! Waiting for dinner time to share it with the family. The house smells great too! I don’t like spicy things, so I added a mild salsa instead of the can of chilies. Tastes just fine! :) Also, we don’t have cream of X soups in France, so I used a subsitute from pinterest. (http://pinterest.com/pin/199776933442249958/)
We made this tonight for dinner – YUM! Thanks for sharing.
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made this yesterday, outstanding!! I only make a few changes, i used jalapenos instead of the green chiles, I also added diced red pepper and cilantro while cooking, I also used frozed white corn instead of canned. This is really easy and very tasty!! Thank you for the recipe!!!
I made this at work for a chili cook off and won! It was fantastic! Thanks for a great recipe :)
This looks amazing! What size crock-pot do you use to make it in?
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Best white chili recipe I have tried. Thank you so much for sharing….keep up the good work on the blog!
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I make this a lot! Even suring the summer…..but it never has the consistancy of chili…..its soupy until i put it in the fridge. any suggestions? Thank you!
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Great recipe! I followed the ingredients exactly except added some red pepper flakes at the end because my family likes a little spice! I waited about 4 hours then shredded the chicken before I added the corn and beans as I did not want them to be mashed.
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I made this tonight and it is the best white chicken chili ever! Tastes just like you would get in a restaurant! Thank you!!! :)
Thank you for a great crock pot recipe that truly is easy and AMAZING! Just had it for dinner and I am LOVING it!!
Made this for dinner tonight. It was sooooo good! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Hi Amie! You are so welcome!! Thanks for stopping by! Xo
I am making this now but I am confused about mashing the chicken before eating, do I mash the entire pot of chili? How do I just mash the chicken if it’s in with everything else? I can’t wait to eat this tonight
Hi Kim! Thanks for dropping by! You should mash all of the chili, but since you layer in the chicken first and it’ll still be at the bottom of your crock pot, make sure to really get down there with your masher to break it up. The consistency of the chicken should turn from chunks to almost shredded. This turns the entire consistency of the chili from soupy to thick and yummy :-) I hope you enjoy!!!
Thank you! I can’t wait to eat this tonight, my house smells great!
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Hi Meg. I am planning on making this tonight. I have it pinned, but when I open recpie, nothing is there. Luckily I found it online. Please let me know if this pin is no longer active and I will archive it in my online cookbook. Thanks.
Lori
Hi Lori! Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention… I have no idea why that would be happening, but it bums me out :-( I’ll look into it and see if I can get it sorted out. In the meantime, if you Pin it directly from my page, you’ll always have it in your Pinterest. It just must be the old Pinterest link that is no longer working. What a bummer! Thanks again for letting me know and I hope you enjoy the chili!
xoxo
Meg
Hi Meg! Your recipe is making me drool here!! I was wondering how many people this would serve? I’m thinking of taking this to a pot luck. Thanks!
Much love,
Ariana
Hi Ariana! Good question! It’ll feed a lot! I recently used this for a pot luck and we easily fed 12 people and still had some leftovers. If you need to feed more and if your crockpot is big enough, you could definitely increase the recipe as well :-)
Meg, your dinner was a hit! Even my son who is picky liked it. Thanks for sharing.
Lori
I tried this and really loved it—thanks for sharing!!! Could you update the recipe to show that the corn and beans need to be drained. I have this pinned and I don’t want to forget next time I cook this. I just happened to read the comments so I knew I needed to drain the corn and beans but if I had not read the comments I wouldn’t have known. Thanks again!!!
Kris – You are so very welcome! Great suggestion – adding that now :-) Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!
Oh.Em.Gee… I make quite a lot of different things and my friends love helping me get rid of them. My husband and I just recently created our own cookbook and are giving them to friends and family for christmas. Others are begging to buy them. That being said, I made this last weekend and my friends say hands down this is the best thing I’ve ever made! I am a huge critic on my own food, and oh my God this stuff is soooooo good! I only made a couple (very minor) changes. I used 3 cloves garlic instead of 1, I used 7oz can of jalapenos instead of green chilis and seeded them to keep the heat down (I didn’t feel it was spicy at all), and I didn’t use any lime juice. Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for this recipe! Of course it’s now pinned to go in our next cookbook and I’m forcing people to visit your site and make this deliciousness!!! And yes… it hasn’t even been 7 days since I last made this and I’m currently making more!
Hi Amber – Thank you so much for stopping by! I’m so happy you loved the chili! And I LOVE your suggestion on more garlic… I usually throw quite a bit more in there as well because I’m such a garlic lover, but know that more garlic might be too much for some people ;-) Thanks again for sending people here to check it out… I really appreciate the support :-) xoxo
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Well… I forgot garlic and didn’t have any lime juice, but I just made this and it was delicious! Perfect for this snowy Sunday. Thanks!
Guess who’s giving this a try tonight?!?!? SOO excited! :-) It’s perfect for our truly gross 34 degree weather in Houston…
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This recipe looks great! Want to give it a try but wondering if you always put all the toppings right in the crockpot? Wanted to bring to a potluck and thought I’d be nice if toppings could be on the side and individuals could add what they wanted… Thanks!
Hi Nyla!
I actually serve the toppings separately :-) I’ll do a bowl of sour cream, cheese, chips, cilantro and lime juice so that people can pick and choose what they’d like to add on top. I hope it’s a hit and let me know if you have any questions at all! Xo
Meg
Made this for dinner tonight. It was very good! Will definitely be making it again!
Thanks for stopping by, Lynette! I’m so happy you liked it :-) Cheers!
Made this recipe this weekend. We loved it! The only change I made was placing 3 chicken breasts (not frozen) at the bottom of the crock pot. I cooked on low for 9 hours and simply removed the chicken breasts and shredded. I mashed the chili with my immersion blender (so easy!) and then added the shredded chicken. The chili was delicious and so easy to make! It tasted even better the second day. Thank you for a wonderful, easy, crockpot meal. I am always looking for fabulous crockpot recipes for the fall and winter. This is a keeper!
Hi Dianne! That’s great feedback! I’m so happy you loved it! PS: I agree – the leftovers are definitely the best :-)
I can’t wait to make this this week because of all the cold weather! I don’t have a potato masher, would it be okay to just shred with a fork? Thanks!
Hi Jenna! YES! I use a potato masher and it’s the best way to really shred it up and break down some of the beans and other ingredients :-) It gives it a much better consistency. Thanks for dropping by and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all! xo
My wife and I love this recipe and use it all the time. I like to replace the lime juice with a couple dashes of hot sauce to create a spicier chili!
Hi Chris!
I’m so happy to hear that!! The hot sauce is an AMAZING idea! I just might have to try that out :-)
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
Meg
I just wanted to say that this was one of the first recipes I EVER made in a crockpot. It’s been a couple years and I’ve made this so many times. My absolute favorite! I really wanted to comment about the potato masher to shred the chicken. I have carried that process over to nearly ALL of my shredded meat recipes and couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. Thank you so much. Love love love. :)
Amanda! Your comment just made my night! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the chili and that you’ve since used the potato masher technique. That was something my dad taught me and I too use it all of the time now on other meats and recipes that don’t involve potatoes at all :-) Thanks again for stopping by to comment – I really appreciate it! Xo
Can it be cooked on the stove top since my crockpot cooks everything quicker? If it calls for 8hrs on low it’s finished in 3-4 hrs. So I can never throw anything in while I’m at work. Then I don’t have time after work to put it in for dinner.
Hi Lacy!
I’ve never tried this on the stove, but I don’t see why not! I think the crockpot (on low) probably gives the flavors a chance to meld a little better, but I’m sure it would be great on the stove as well – let me know if you give it a try and how it turns out. I’d be interested to know :-) Thanks for stopping by!
Meg
WOW! I had nothing to compare it to but it turned out amazing on the stove top! I let it simmer for 2 1/2 hours and I kept the chicken chunky instead of mashing them. Great addition to my winter chilis. Thanks
Hooray! I’m so happy to hear that! Good to know it works that way as well – definitely a quicker alternative to the crockpot :-) Thanks for the update, Lacy! Xo
Hi, I would love to make this for my family, but my fiancé is allergic to beans. Is there anything I can substitute for that?
Hi Tiffany! Unfortunately, I’m not sure :-( Sorry!
The recipe calls for a packet of taco seasoning. Just curious if thats right since its a chili recipe. Wondering if it meant to say chili seasoning?
Hi Valerie! That was intentional. I always use taco seasoning in this recipe (I like the flavor a little bit more), but I’m sure the chili seasoning would be great too :-)
I didn’t have any cream of chicken soup so I just used a bit more chicken broth. You think it will still turn out ok?
Hi Sara! I’ve never had it without the cream of chicken soup, but I’m sure it’ll still be delicious. I think the cream of chicken probably adds to the richness and viscosity of the chili overall, but I don’t know that it does a ton for the flavor profile. I’d be interested to hear what you think. Try it next time with the cream of chicken and let me know which one you like better :-) xoxo
What size crock pot did you use? I’m thinking of doubling the recipe for a competition, but don’t want my pot to overflow.
Hi Shannon! My crock pot is a 4 quart so it’s a little on the smaller side. I’m not sure that I’d be able to double this recipe in mine, but could possibly 1.5x it. Best of luck with your competition!! I hope it goes well! Keep me posted! xo
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Made this tonight for our superbowl party. It was a huge hit! So delicious!
I’m just wondering if you smash everything or just the chicken? I have this in the crockpot right now and the only deviation I made was I used white chicken chili seasoning instead of taco seasoning. My house smells amazing.
Hi Dawn! I smash everything so that it has a thicker consistency (instead of brothy). Smashing everything will help shred/break down the chicken and beans a bit so that there’s a more even consistency :-) Hope that helps!
Can I use ground chicken for
This chili recipe ???
Hi Jessica – I never have (it’ll give it a very different consistency), but feel free to try it out! I would probably lower the cook time by an hour or two as ground chicken will cook faster than cubed chicken, but that would probably be the only alteration I would make. Thanks for stopping by!
I tried this today, it was AMAZING. Thanks so much for sharing.