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]
Angela
I'm making this chili for our office chili cook-off and have to come up with a creative name for it. Any suggestions?
Lisa
Hi Angela - that's a fun challenge. Here are some thoughts. I apologize in advance if you're rolling your eyes 🙂 Here goes: "Chicken Beans and Bliss" or "Chicken a la Chili" or "Chili au Poulet"
Good luck with the cook-off! If you can circle back, I'd love to know how you fare in the competition and what name you ultimately choose.
Angela
I WON!!! This is the best white chicken chili recipe. I was up against two other white chicken chilis, a traditional chili, and a Cajun chili gumbo. Everyone was raving about mine and they came back for seconds!
Lisa, Thank you for the name suggestions. I almost went with Chili au Poulet, I really liked that one, but... You're going to roll your eyes when I tell you the name I ended up with. I'm old school and love classic rock. While thinking about making the chili a song by Billy Idol kept popping into my head ????♀️ so, I named the chili "It's a Nice Day for a...White Chili". I know...????
Thanks again for sharing this recipe. It's so good!!!
Lisa
Congratulations on your win Angela! That's so exciting!! And I'm not rolling my eyes at all - I love the name you chose - unique and fun! Thanks so much for circling back and thanks for the 5 stars!
Rachel
LOVE this recipe!! Question...is it OK to add cheese/sour cream before freezing? Or, should I wait and add later, before serving? Thanks!
Lisa
Hi Rachel - I'm so glad you love the chili! To answer your question, dairy products can be quirky when frozen so you'd be safer to add the cheese and sour cream when you reheat the soup.
Sara
Can I use ground chicken instead of breast?
Lisa
Hi Sara - You can certainly try it with ground chicken - that's a really interesting idea. I would suggest that you sauté the chicken in a skillet with the spices and then add it in step 2. I bet it'll be great. I hope you'll keep us posted. I'd love to know how it turns out.
SDnative
I made this in my crockpot and even my skeptical husband thought it was delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Lisa
It's great to hear that this recipe worked out for you and that you all enjoyed the chili!
Ari
I am planning to try this in a crockpot - did you still spice/roast the chicken prior to putting it in crockpot? Thanks!
Tawny
Did you crock pot it? I am thinking of doing the same this week. Worried I'll loose some depth by not roasting it. I stink at roasting chicken though. Always ends up dried out.
Julie
Just the right amount of spice and packed with flavor. Instead of roasting boneless skinless chicken breasts, I bought a rotisserie chicken and took off the skin and took it off the bones and chopped that up instead. Saved time and IMO added flavor and didn’t have to worry about dry, stringy chicken that sometimes happens when I use boneless skinless breasts. Adding this to the rotation, thank you so much for the recipe!
Erika
I won my cookoff using this recipe! Thanks
Lisa
Congratulations on your win Erika. That's great news!
food.co.rw
Thanks for the white chicken chili recipe.
Amy F.
This is the best white chili I’ve ever had. EVER! I change it a bit. First, for a weeknight dinner, I’ll buy premade shredded chicken (both Sprouts and Trader Joe’s have this) and just top with olive oil and the seasoning used to bake the chicken in this recipe. I also skip the addition of sour cream and cheese during cooking - using these for a garnish. It’s so still so good. Even my pickiest son will has seconds.
Tammi Sledge
Guess what!!?? I won the company chili cookoff using this recipe! Ive never made white chicken chili before and this was AMAZING!!! Everyone loved it and I was happy to share the recipe. I cooked it in my crockpot on low (10 hours) overnight and served it at the contest during lunch hours. Of course when i got to work i plugged the crockpot back in and turned it on low again so in all actuality it probably cooked alot longer than 10 hours. NOTE - if you cook in crockpot cook on LOW and stir occasionally. If your crockpot does not automatically turn to warm i do not recommend leaving it overnight!
To me the biggest bonus was adding the LIME and CILANTRO to my bowl - made a big difference and totally changed the flavor.
If I could post a picture I would show you my lil plaque and my apron.
I will be making this recipe again! THANKS
Tammi Sledge
Byron GA
Ilse
This was great. Exactly what you want a white chicken chili to taste like. Couple changes I made were: (1) decreased the beans (personal preference) and added celery to sauté with the onions to replace that bulk, and (2) added lime juice at the end because it needs a little bit of acid.
Melissa
I have made this before and love it! However, I don’t currently have white beans in the pantry. Would black beans taste ok with it?
Thank you!
Lisa
Hi Melissa - I think black beans will taste good in it. It won't have the same visual appearance that white chicken chili has, of being all white, but it will be very delicious!
Donna
Hello. I made this chili and it was awesome! I'd like to make it in a crockpot next time. Will this recipe turn out in a crockpot?
Lisa
Hi Donna - I haven't tried making this in a crockpot but I'm guessing it will be great. If you try it, I hope you'll come back and let me know how it turns out.
Sheri K
I made this yesterday afternoon to take to a chili cook off tonight. I’ve always thought that chili tastes better after it sits a day. Anyhow, I followed the recipe exactly except I only added 1 cup sour cream and 4 cups of the cheese. I only used the 4 cups of broth as the recipe said and my chili came out liquidy. My husband said he might even call it chili soup. Not sure why this happened and I’m not seeing it happened to anyone else via the comments. And yes I did drain the beans as well.
I am going to add the other 2 cups of cheese and cup
Of sour cream to see if that will thicken it up.
Lisa Goldfinger
Hi Sheri - have you mashed half of the chicken and beans to thicken the chili? That usually does a great job of giving this a nice thick texture.
Allie Sanderson
Does this recipe call for mild cheddar or white cheddar?
Eddie
This chili is absolutely delicious. I was a little dubious about the whole white chicken thing, being a bit of a purist, but I am completely sold on it after having tried it out. Easy to make and the flavor is sensational. Thanks Dean!
JMD
Made this recipe for our company’s chili cook off without testing beforehand… we won first prize!! (A round trip airline ticket for each of our four member team). People are begging us for the recipe!!! This chili is to die for!!!
conceptress
I made this for my office chili cookoff. I added some liquid smoke and a bit of worsteshire sauce to make the flavors a bit more complex.
I didn't win, but I did come in a close second, and that says a lot since I'm in Texas and Texans are very particular about their chili!
Even my husband - a born and bred Texan - liked it. He *did* object to the beans when I was making it since "real chili doesn't have beans," but decided it was ok in this instance because it was chicken. LOL
I didn't mash the chicken because I felt like it could use a little more chicken and the idea of "mashed meat" kind of grosses me out, but I did smash a lot of the beans against the sides of the pot to try & thicken it up a bit. The liquid was thin, so I'd probably use less than 4 cups of broth next time or add some cornstarch, but all in all, it was delicious.
A rousing success, so thank you!
Cindy Krismer
I made this the other day, and it won the chili contest at work! I’ve never made white chili before and was looking for a knock-their-socks-off recipe. Well, this delivered! Thank you and thank your friend for sharing!
Lisa
Congratulation on your win Cindy! That's very exciting!! I'm so glad you came back to rate the recipe and share your big news - thanks!