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Made this for dinner tonight and everyone deemed it a winner! So quick, easy, and super tasty. I’ve been looking for a go-to chili recipe, and this is it. The bacon really brings it next level.
Mindy
It’s pretty much subconscious at this point – when the weather turns colder, and the leaves start turning, I start craving bowl after bowl of this white chicken chili.
This is not just any white chicken chili – it is a specifically non-authentic, cheap-thrills-style white chicken chili that my friend Sarah made for us a few years ago, and it might be one of my favorite soups of all time. This chili contains several slices of thick bacon and a full block of cream cheese, and thank you for understanding why this is necessary. It is altogether creamy and smoky and cozy and spicy and just really wonderful in its big-flavorful-ness.
Sarah is the kind of person who knows the importance of chili toppings, and so naturally this white chicken chili is a welcoming canvas for chips, cheese, cilantro or green onions or, hmm, let’s see, EVERYTHING. Maybe even tots? You do you.
I can virtually guarantee that this meal is going to have your people bugging you for the recipe (I texted Sarah for the recipe after she made it for me, and my sister texted me for the recipe after I made it for her… this is just how these things work).
There is some amount of adjusting you can do here – pick the type of beans you like, pick the type of chicken (breasts or thighs) that you like, etc. – but I really do not recommend messing with the bacon or the cream cheese. Both are super essential for the creamy, smoky, Tex-Mex queso type vibe that you’re going to get with this soup.
The number of bowls of this white chicken chili that I’ve eaten on the couch, in front of the TV, loaded with chips and cheese and green onions, after a long day, really just living my best life? It’s too many to count. High and still rising.
I think we all owe Sarah a big virtual hug.
More Favorite Chili Recipes
- Sunday Chili (classic and so so good)
- Vegetarian Chili (ALSO classic but vegetarian!)
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Walnut Chili (pumpkin + chili = match made in heaven)
- Rockin’ 5 Ingredients Sweet Potato Turkey Chili (easy, creamy, cozy)
- 30 Minute Spicy Ancho Turkey Chili (oldie but a serious goodie)
Watch How To Make This White Chicken Chili
Click here to see the step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!
This recipe is inspired by the white chicken chili that my friend Sarah made for us a few years ago after our daughter was born. The recipe came to her from a husband’s friend’s co-worker, and she’s made many changes to it which she has now passed on to me. Maybe it’s just nostalgia, but I crave this hardcore every year in the fall!
Common Questions About This White Chicken Chili
I didn’t include a salt measurement here, or even a mention of seasoning, because I find that with both the bacon AND the chicken broth, it is plenty salty. But you do you!
Definitely! This white chicken chili is great with white beans, navy beans, and red beans. Mix and match as you like! And for a less chunky soup, use just one can of beans.
The overall amount shouldn’t be overwhelming as there is no other oil in this recipe, and the bacon grease will work its way into leftovers nicely with really good flavor. That being said, I often just quickly skim the top if / when I start to see some of the grease pooling. If you want, you can drain off the extra tablespoon or so of grease after you fry the bacon with the onion, garlic, and jalapeño in step two.
Sarah’s White Chicken Chili
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
White Chicken Chili! One of my favorite soups. Creamy, smoky, cozy, and spicy with BIG flavor and simple ingredients. SO GOOD.
Ingredients
- 4–5 strips of bacon
- 1–2 jalapeños, ribs and seeds removed
- half of a yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 cups chicken broth
- two 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (with juices!)
- 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (you can also use chicken breasts – I like it both ways)
- one 14-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- one 14-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces cream cheese
Instructions
- Food processor prep: Pulse the bacon through the food processor until it looks like a chunky paste. Remove bacon and do the same with the onion, garlic, and jalapeño.
- Cook bacon and veggies: Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Once the bacon starts heating up, add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño mix so it all cooks together.
- Build the soup: Add spices, broth, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.
- Cook chicken: Add chicken. Bring to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove, cool, and shred.
- Tie it all up: Stir in the shredded chicken, beans, and cream cheese. The chili will be THICK, especially as it cools. It’s almost like a dip because, yes, we are monsters. Thin it out with water as you like!
- Top and serve: Serve with every good thing under the sun, but mostly tortilla chips, cilantro, green onion, and cheese.
Equipment
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Buy Now → - Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: white chicken chili, chicken chili, creamy chili, comfort food, fall recipe, easy chili recipe, retro chili recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of magical black bean recipes. Check it out!
could this be made without the cream cheese?
we wouldn’t skip it!
Oh my
So easy and so yummy!
Thank you for sharing.
This meal was insane. I made it for the whole family and they LOVED it. After every bite every person kept saying this is so good. I will be making again and texted it to all my friends!!
First time I made this recipe it came out amazing, however, I’ve made it a few times since and it has come out pretty thin… Not sure what I’m doing wrong, flavour still wonderful, just more soupy than chili.. Any tips?
Holy cow this was amazing!!!! Will never make another white chicken chili recipe as long as I live!
The soup has great potential mostly because of the bacon however, I believe important details are left out in the instructions. You need to cook the bacon to its entirety before you add anything else in. Also 2 cups of broth is not nearly enough. I ended up putting almost 3 1/2 cups of broth to make it an actual soup Which intern you needed to add more spices to match the flavor otherwise it’s an OK soup
Delicious! I have made several times and always follow the recipe closely. This time I only had ground chicken and it turned out great. Added a couple handfuls of corn to up the veggies and it it turned out great.
Loved the flavor profile but my soup was definitely not thick enough to be a dip. Next time I’m going to chop up a couple corn tortillas and let thrm dissolve and thicken the soup. It’s a good option for those who don’t want all the cheese.
Also thought pureeing the bacon was a great idea.
I don’t often take the time to post but I made this last week and it was SO SO good I had to say thank you! Made it on Sunday and had it for lunches for the whole week. We wanted a twist on a traditional chili and this was just the ticket.
Love your recipes, especially the SOS series. Keep’em coming, have yet to try a bad one! You have become my go-to food blog and I get excited everything I see an email from you in my inbox <3 <3
Delicious on cold nights! Added a bell pepper in with the jalapeno/onion/garlic to get a little bit more veggie in.
I tend to make a lot of different chilis (they’re easy and healthy), so I think my family kind of groans now when I say we’re having chili. Not this time! Everyone was so wowed by this chili! It is next-level amazing!
I can’t get over how good this was. Froze the leftover after dinner and I’m so sad it’s not available for me to eat again for lunch today.
I made this a few weeks ago and it was AMAZING!
I’m planning to make it again for family coming this weekend. Is it possible to make it ahead of time and reheat in Dutch oven the next day?
Yes, absolutely!
Made this and oh my goodness, amazing! My favorite white chili recipe! My husband isn’t a big fan of spice so I only did half of a jalapeño and it was just the right amount of kick for him. So much flavor packed in.
Love this recipe! I recently made this for our neighborhood chili cook off and took away the first prize golden wooden spoon. Ha!
Cheers,
Sam
So easy for a weeknight meal! I loved how quickly this came together and how delicious it tasted! The smoky bacon is so delicious.
I had this last night – our lovely book club hostess made it for dinner – and it was IN-FRICKIN-CREDIBLE. I didn’t know it was from POY at the time but when we all asked her to share the recipe and I saw your site, I was like…I should have known. 😂
I can’t wait to make it myself!
Made this for my book club tonight and everyone was in love! Using the food processor was genius and I especially liked the treatment of the bacon. Will make this again!
This is a go-to recipe for our family. We are vegan so I substitute the chicken with tofu, use apple juice and the juice from the bean cans instead of broth, use cashew yogurt instead of cream cheese, and use sesame oil instead of bacon fat. The last time I made it, I was out of tortilla chips, so used kale chips instead. I was in a hurry so I heated it in the microwave instead of on the stove top. Freezes beautifully. My family raved!
Is a food processor needed? I have a Ninja professional blender. It has 3 blades.
Just made this and I almost didn’t write a review, cus I don’t normally do such a thing, but I thought I should help by giving an honest review.
I thought this chili was *very MEH. However, I DID only use 1 jal (that was previously frozen), and just normal organic diced tomatoes which may have been a more acidic brand. I did, add in a half can of green chilies to make up for the lack of green chilies IN the tomatoes. I read once somewhere that different brands of canned tomatoes are more acidic than others. I used Costco rotisserie chicken. So, I did technically have a few changes, but that shouldn’t have changed the flavor profile that significantly. …the soup mostly just tasted like canned tomatoes to me.
ALSO, I did like this soup once I added chopped cooked/crunchy bacon on top, salt, squeezes of lime, and a few spoonfuls of cilantro lime rice I had made on the side (since my kiddos aren’t huge into chili/soup). But a meal shouldn’t be good because of the added better toppings. I def think this soup needed salt despite the recipe saying “the bacon and broth has enough”.
I did like the way the soup was made, blending the bacon (which bacon, I didn’t even taste in the base of the soup) and blending the veggies. All in all it was an easy soup to make BUTTTT mostly flavorless, to me.
Just a forewarning to those looking at the recipe and looking at comments and trying to decide if they should make this soup or not.
Will you re-post your earlier white chicken + bean chili recipe? It used a little cornmeal as a thickener. It was our fav!
Hi Drew – I think this might be the recipe you’re looking for! https://no-exerci.today/white-chicken-chili%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I have to be dairy-free as my son is very allergic. We used to LOVE this recipe. Do you have any suggestions for the cream cheese? All of the brands I’ve tried have not even remotely done any justice lol. Myokos (sp), Kite Hill were the brands I believe!
This is amazing! This is my second time making it. Last time I had intended leftovers to put over tater tots for Irish nachos, but there was nothing left. This time I was smart (I hope) and doubled it. We’ll c if there is any left!
Best chili I’ve ever had!