White chicken chili

What makes it white

White chicken chili has no tomatoes and no red chili powder. Its color comes from white beans, chicken and a broth thickened with mashed beans and a little cream cheese, and its heat from green chiles and jalapeño. Cumin, oregano and coriander give it the flavor of chili without the red. It is closer to a thick soup than to a beef chili, and it is ready in under an hour.

Which beans for white chicken chili

Any mild white bean works. Cannellini are the largest and creamiest and hold their shape best. Great northern beans are a little smaller and firmer, and navy beans are the smallest and break down the most, which makes a thicker chili. All three are interchangeable in the recipe. Drain and rinse them: the canning liquid is salty and starchy, and rinsing removes about 40 percent of the sodium.

Mashing one cup of the beans is what thickens it. The starch from the mashed beans turns the broth creamy without flour, and the whole beans keep their texture. For an even thicker chili, mash two cups.

From dried beans: soak 1 lb overnight, then simmer it in fresh water for 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the bean, until tender. That makes about 6 cups, enough for this recipe with a little left over.

Creamy white chicken chili

The 4 oz of Neufchâtel in the recipe makes it lightly creamy. Neufchâtel is a lower-fat cream cheese sold next to the regular kind, often labeled "1/3 less fat". For the rich cream cheese white chicken chili of most recipes, use a full 8-oz block of regular cream cheese; it adds about 85 kcal a bowl. With heavy cream instead, stir in 1/2 cup at the end in place of the cream cheese; that is about 20 kcal a bowl more than the recipe. Add either one over low heat, and do not let the chili boil afterward, or it can curdle.

White chicken chili seasoning

The spices in the recipe are the whole seasoning blend: 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp each of oregano and coriander, and 1/4 tsp cayenne. Mexican oregano tastes more citrusy than the Mediterranean kind and suits it best. To make a jar to keep, mix 4 tbsp cumin, 2 tbsp each of oregano and coriander, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp onion powder and 1 1/2 tsp cayenne, and use 2 tbsp per pot. Store-bought white chicken chili seasoning packets usually also contain salt and flour, so taste before adding more salt.

Slow cooker white chicken chili

Put the onion, jalapeño, garlic, spices, green chiles, 3 cups of broth, the salt, the whole chicken breasts and the beans (mashed and whole) in a 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4, until the chicken shreds easily. Shred it in the pot, then stir in the corn and cream cheese and cook on high, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes more. Finish with lime and cilantro. The cream cheese goes in at the end: over hours of heat, dairy separates and turns grainy. The crock pot version needs less broth than the stove, because nothing evaporates.

Instant Pot white chicken chili

Soften the onion and spices on Sauté. Add the green chiles, 3 cups of broth, the salt and the chicken breasts, and stir in the beans on top without mixing them in, which keeps the starch off the bottom and avoids the burn warning. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes and let the pressure release naturally for 10. Check that the thickest piece reads 165°F, then shred the chicken, then stir in the corn and cream cheese on Sauté until melted.

With rotisserie chicken or turkey

Skip the raw chicken and add 4 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken with the cream cheese, only long enough to heat it through. Simmer the beans in the broth for 15 minutes first, so they take on the flavor of the spices. Leftover roast turkey works the same way. For a white bean turkey chili, brown 1 1/2 lb of 93 percent lean ground turkey with the onion and use it in place of the chicken; it comes to about 35 kcal a bowl more, with a little less protein.

Healthy white chicken chili

As written it is already lean: 410 kcal, 40 g of protein and 10 g of fiber a bowl. To make it lower in calories still, leave out the cream cheese and stir in 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt off the heat instead, which brings it to about 380 kcal. For a dairy-free white chicken chili, leave out the cream cheese and blend two cups of beans, instead of mashing one, with a ladle of broth: it is almost as creamy, at about 370 kcal. Canned light coconut milk works too, at about 1/2 cup per pot.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge, and like most chilis it is better on the second day. It thickens as it stands, so thin it with a little broth when you reheat it. It freezes for 3 months; to freeze some, set it aside before stirring in the cream cheese, and add the cheese when you reheat it.

What it is worth nutritionally

A bowl of about 2 cups has about 410 kcal, with 40 g of protein, 10 g of fat and 39 g of carbohydrate, including about 10 g of fiber from the beans. That is a third of a day's fiber in one bowl, and the beans also bring folate, iron and potassium. For a meatless chili with tomatoes and black beans, try our vegetarian chili; for the same chicken under a crust, our chicken pot pie.