It's easy to cook a big pot of this award winning white chicken chili, and it's the absolute best! Tender chicken, chilies, white beans, spices and a few more goodies in this winning recipe.
Winning the office chili contest is an annual objective for my husband. Eddie has a really great, very meaty chili recipe that he's been perfecting over time. Last year Eddie's chili took first place and time before he came in second. In both cases the contest was decided by one vote and in both cases the other contender was his colleague Dean.
When Dean's white chicken chili took first place, Eddie came home with his empty pot a bit dispirited by his second place status but couldn't stop raving about the winning chili. I said "let's invite Dean over for chili -- his chili!"
THE BEST White Chicken Chili Ever!!!
Dean came over and cooked chili for us and it was INCREDIBLE - rich, creamy, flavorful, loaded with tender chicken and white beans, and just the right amount of heat. Easy to see why this chili is always a favorite at the office chili cook-off.
How to make Award Winning White Chicken Chili:
There are multiple layers of delicious flavor and spice in Dean's white chicken chili. The first layer is baked right into the chicken.
Cumin, chile powder, a bit of cayenne and salt are spread over boneless chicken breasts and they go into a 350ºF oven for 30 minutes.
While they bake you can get the rest of the chili cooking - onions, garlic, beans, broth, chili peppers, spices.
The cooked chicken is shredded and simmered for a bit with everything else.
Then, for the final (knock-your-socks-off) layer, shredded cheese and sour cream get stirred into the mix. And the result is truly spectacular! This white chicken chili is one of those savor-every-bite kind of dishes.
Now, I have to admit that I tweaked Dean's recipe the tiniest bit in this area of cheese and sour cream. I stayed with the quantity of cheese and sour cream that Dean prescribed but I only added half of each into the soup. I left the other half for adding as a garnish. My reasoning for doing this?
- Firstly, after I made this chili a few times and experimented a bit, I discovered that it's still totally amazing with only half the cheese and sour cream.
- Secondly, I love adding exciting garnishes to the top of my chili, so better to reserve lots of cheese and sour cream for that.
I can also appreciate that many of you may want to follow Dean's white chicken chili recipe to the T and so I've explained how you can do that, if you wish. Delirious food happiness will be yours no matter which version you choose.
Dean and Eddie have been work associates for many years, and over that time he and his wife Kathy have become our friends. But even as a friend, Dean was extremely generous to share his secret winning white chicken chili recipe with us and with the world (PTG's followers).
I am so appreciative! Also, how about a friend who you invite to dinner and he brings all the groceries and does all the cooking? Dean is the best! Thank you Dean!
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Dean's white chicken chili is great for a crowd and just the thing for Sunday football.
It's also perfect if you're looking for a delicious festive dish that you can make ahead. It will keep for several days in the fridge. Just remember to reheat it slowly and gently.
Exciting news flash - Eddie's award-winning pork and beef chili recipe is now on the blog!
Also, check out Eddie's other great recipes on Panning The Globe: Eddie's olive bread, Eddie's linzertorte, Eddie's Swinging Sultan Cocktail, and Eddie's Perfect Manhattan, Eddie's Basil Vodka Gimlet
Here's the recipe for Dean's award winning white chicken chili. If you make it I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment and let us know how it turned out!
PrintRecipe
Award Winning White Chicken Chili Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Description
Spicy and delicious white chicken chili!
Adapted from Dean's Award Winning Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- 3 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons chile powder,*divided
- 3 tablespoons cumin, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided, plus more, to taste
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
- 3 cups chopped onion (2 medium)
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic or more if you love garlic (4-5 large cloves)
- 3 15-ounce cans white beans, drained
- 2 4-ounce cans chopped green chiles (hot or mild, depending on your preference)
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 4-6 cups low-salt chicken broth
- 6 cups shredded cheese, divided (half Monterey Jack, half cheddar)
- 2 cups sour cream, divided
- Garnish:
- Chopped scallions
- Chopped cilantro leaves
- Your favorite hot sauce
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
- • A note on chili powder: One of my secrets to great chili is to use two or three different chili powders for a great depth of flavor. For this chili I used New Mexican and Chipotle chile powders.
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Instructions
- Spice and Roast the Chicken: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spread chicken out in a roasting pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and a pinch or two of cayenne. Roast for 30 minutes. Shred or cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
- Cook the Chili: In a large pot heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Sauté onion and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes or so, until tender. Add beans, shredded chicken, chilies, oregano, 2 tablespoons chile powder, 2 tablespoons cumin, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon cayenne (or more, to taste). Add 4 cups of chicken broth, reserving the rest for thinning the chili to your desired consistency. Stir to combine and simmer gently on low for 20 minutes. (to keep the chicken tender, do not let the pot boil)
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes or so before proceeding. With the pot still off the heat, stir 3 cups of cheese into the pot, 1 cup at a time. Then stir in 1 cup of sour cream. (Or for Dean's richer, creamier version, add all 6 cups of cheese to the pot and 2 cups of sour cream) Bring the pot back to a gentle simmer over low heat (to keep the dairy products from separating, don't boil). Simmer the chili for 15-20 minutes, adjusting with additional chicken broth, if you like. A method I like to use for great added texture is to use a potato-masher in the pot to mash half the chicken and beans. Then stir to combine with the rest.
- Serve chili in bowls with garnishes on top or on the side.
Notes
- Nutritional information for this white chicken chili recipe is calculated assuming you're following the lighter version of the recipe.
- Nutrition Information shown is an estimate calculated by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a professional nutritionist.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
[Originally published January 2016. Updated September 2018. Same delicious recipe with added nutritional information]
Heidi
Almost done w/ my first batch, can't wait to try it tonight! Instead of canned chiles, I used 4 chopped jalapeño peppers & 2 poblano peppers, adding them in with the onions and garlic to get nice and mushy. Also, to save time when making this again, I made a big batch of the entire spice mix: 1 jar Cumin, 1 jar Chilli Powder, 1 jar Chipotle Pepper, 5T. Oregano, 2tsp, cayenne, and 1 T. sea salt. ..... I used 2T. of this mix for roasting the chicken, then 3T. into the pot w/ onions, garlic, & chilies.
Gerald
Hi Lisa,
What's your opinion of adding two 15 oz cans of Diced Tomatoes?
Lisa
Hi Gerald, It wouldn't be "white" chicken chili with two cans of diced tomatoes but I bet it would be very tasty. If you try it let me know how it turns out!
Darryl
1 can of Rotel made it awesome
Joni
Is this good re-heated the next day?
Judy
Made this chili it was excellent.will definitely make again thanks for sharing your recipe.
allie @ Through Her Looking Glass
I love that these men are into cooking their chili! Awesome. The recipe looks great, how can you go wrong with so much cheese? And I love all the onions and garlic too. This is a real winner.
Amy
I made this weekend for my family and needless to say they were awe struck! The flavors are amazing and delicious. Cant wait to make this again.
Veronica
Sounds wonderful ... on the menu for this week. And yes, I'd love to have Eddie's recipe too! Thanks very much.
Lisa
Great - thanks Veronica! And I'll let Eddie know that we have another request for his chili recipe. Hopefully he'll cooperate. 🙂
Eddie
Veronica - good news, you can now find my recipe here: https://www.panningtheglobe.com/eddies-award-winning-chili/
Enjoy!
deb
Sounds absolutely wonderful, but I'd love to learn to make Eddie's award-winning pork and beef chili recipe, too!
Laura @MotherWouldKnow
I tried white chili for the first time a few months ago and now I'm hooked. This version looks fabulous - simple but with enough complexity in the flavoring to make it special. I love your tip about including various types of chile powders to provide a "layered"chile flavor.
Christie
I love that the chicken is roasted first. What a great way to add another layer of flavor.
Joshua Hampton
This chili is just amazing. I followed your idea of leaving some of the cheese and sour cream and using them as garnish. It's wonderful. Thanks for the recipe.
Lisa
So glad you enjoyed the chili Joshua - thanks for letting me know!
Wanita
Dude, right on there brherto.
Cora klahn
Lisa
Can this Chili be made in a crock pot?
Lisa
I don’t think this is a good dish for cooking in a crock pot Cora, because it only needs to cook for a short time. If you want to get this on the table quickly, perhaps you can roast and shred the chicken the day before and keep it in the fridge.Then it will take you only about 45 minutes to make the chili, start to finish. I hope this helps!
Josh
Hey Lisa,
If I make this recipe can I then put it in a crock pot and take it to the office for the chilli cook off the next day?
Thanks for the help and it looks so good.
Lisa
Hi Josh, yes you definitely can! You can refrigerate it overnight and then heat it in the slow cooker. Just be sure to heat it on low. Good luck with the cook off!
Sarah
I have made this in a crockpot and it most DEFINITELY works. I do the chicken first, shred it, and put everything together in the slow cooker for about 6 hours on low. At the end, I add the dairy, and leave on keep warm. Everything melts in and tastes delicious!
Delicious enough, in fact, that I just won my office's chili cookoff (for the white/green category) with it in the crock pot! 🙂
Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Lisa
Wow Sarah, so much great news here. First of all, a big CONGRATS on your cook-off win! Secondly, I'm happy to know that you made this in a crockpot and that it turned out great. Thank you for explaining your technique. I've had a few people inquire about using a crockpot for this recipe and now I can direct them to your comment. 🙂
Clif
The game didn't turn out as we hoped, but the chili did! Great recipe Lisa, Ed and Dean! And thanks to my wife Carol for bringing to life! Now I get to clean up and think and reflect on a great season of football.
Lisa
Too bad the football didn't turn out the way you (and I) wanted it to. But on a happier note, I'm really glad you enjoyed the chili! Thank you for leaving a comment!
Ronny
Looks great, I am definitely trying this. I would be careful though, as 3 Tablespoons of Cumin is quite a lot and can overpower the other flavors. You can always add more if necessary, but I have ruined a meatloaf with 1 tablespoon of cumin (and I love spicy food.)
Thanks for another great recipe.
Lisa
Thanks Ronny!
Regina Robbins
Could this recipe be halved successfully? I'm a nervous cook!!!
Lisa
Yes, Regina, you can absolutely halve the recipe! It will be just as delicious!
Jane
This sounds great, but one tiny aspect of the recipe brings out the pedantic jerk in me: in my dialect "chili powder" includes broth ground chiles and other stuff (e.g. cumin), whereas "chile powder" is powdered dry chiles. Your note about using multiple kinds makes me think you're thinking of "chile powder", but the ingredients list specifies "chili powder". Ok, I'll take a chill(i/e) pill now. 🙂
Lisa
Thanks Jane! I appreciate the clarification!! I do prefer using pure chile powders in this recipe and I've edited the recipe to clarify.
debijoann
Jane...I had to look "pedantic" up, so thank you for teaching me a new word. Also...I didn't know about chile/chili either! Thanks again!
Lisa...I can't wait to try your recipe!
Caira
Can't wait to try your version of white chicken chili! I'm making soon as I get home!
Stefani Feingold Cuschnir
Making this now for the game later! Perfect timing. #Blizzard2016
Lisa
Hope you got through the big storm ok and I hope you enjoyed the chili Stefanie! I often enjoy being snowed in, as long as I have something delicious and comforting cooking!