Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili – This chili is a fresh twist on an old classic. It comes together in your Instant Pot, full of chicken, corn, green chile and beans.

The best easy Instant Pot white chicken chili recipe

We love this white chicken chili recipe so much, we find ourselves wanting it year round… even when it’s hot outside!

A lot of white chicken chili recipes can be really full of clear broth, but this one adds cream cheese to make it creamy and delicious.

There a few really great aspects to this recipe. First, it’s an easy one pot meal so there’s less dishes to do. Second, it’s healthy Weight Watcher point friendly, so if you’re looking for a White Chicken Chili recipe that is low smart points, you’ve come to the right place!

White Chicken Chili Ingredients

While traditional chili is made with tomatoes and ground beef, this white chicken chili is a little bit different. Feel free to use whatever white beans you personally prefer, we just happen to love cannellini beans in ours.

• Chicken Breast – You’ll want to use boneless, skinless chicken breast for this recipe. I usually have chicken tenderloins on hand and have used those in this recipe also.
• Taco Seasoning – I like to make my own homemade, but store bought works just fine.
• Chicken Broth – You can also use chicken stock. I prefer to use low sodium broth and add more salt to taste.
• Garlic – I use the pre-peeled, already minced for me kind that you can find at Costco. It’s one of the main short cuts I do in cooking!
• Onion Powder – You could always use whole onion, but my family prefers onion powder.
• Cumin – I’m all about extra cumin! It adds a great depth of flavor.
• Oregano, Coriander, Salt & Pepper – All of the extra spices you’ll need to really make the chili delicious.
• Roasted Green Chile – You can most definitely use canned for this. I have roasted green chile in my freezer from back home in New Mexico, but canned is great too!
• Neufchatel Cheese (light cream cheese) – You can use full fat cream cheese, but to keep it point friendly I use Neufchatel cheese. It’s found right next to the regular cream cheese in the grocery store.
• Corn – Canned or frozen is fine, but I usually use frozen because I have a giant bag in the freezer at all times.
• Cannellini Beans – You can use whatever your favorite white bean is, ours just happens to be cannellini. I love the flavor. You could very easily substitute any white bean that you really love or have on hand.

How to make White Chicken Chili

(full recipe instructions with measurements and printable card are at the end of this post)

• Place your chicken breast into bottom of the Instant Pot and sprinkle with taco seasoning.
• Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth.
• Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to SEALING.
• Cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 12 minutes.
• Press CANCEL.
• QUICK-RELEASE the pressure valve.
• Remove the lid and shred your chicken, reserving all of the broth.
• Press SAUTE.
• Add in your garlic, onion powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt & pepper and green chiles. Stir to combine.
• Add in the remaining chicken broth.
• Add in the neufchatel cheese, stirring occasionally until it has fully melted.
• Once the cheese has melted, add in the corn and cannellini beans.
• Allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it begins to boil turn the saute function down on the Instant Pot.
• Serve up with your favorite toppings!

Our Favorite Toppings

We all have our own favorite toppings! Here are some you can try on your Instant Pot White Chicken Chili:

• Tortilla Strips – You can buy the pre-made tortilla strips from the store, or you can make your own using corn tortillas.
• Cheese – we prefer Monterrey Jack because of how it tastes and melts, but really any shredded cheese works great.
• Avocado – it’s great on everything, right? The cool creamy avocado adds a great flavor and texture contrast to the chili.
• Cilantro – Are you a cilantro lover or a cilantro hater? We’re a house divided. I love it on mine, my husband hates it on his.
• Lime – A fresh squeeze of lime tastes wonderful.
• Sour Cream – This cool creamy topping goes really great with avocado on top.

Can this be made ahead of time?

Oh my goodness, absolutely!! I feel like it just gets better with time. It is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day after all of the flavors have had a chance to meld together.

Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting for Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

Can I make this in the slow cooker? Yes. Add the chicken with taco seasoning and 1 cup of broth to the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 5 hours. Shred the chicken and add it back to the slow cooker. You can follow the remaining steps of the recipe, just allowing the extra time for the cream cheese to melt. I’d recommend adding the cream cheese about 1 hour before you plan to serve.

How do I thicken white chicken chili? The cream cheese will thicken the chili, but if you’d like it even thicker, you can take one of the cans of cannellini beans and puree them in the food processor before adding them in.

Can I freeze Instant Pot White Chicken Chili? Yes! Omit the cream cheese from the recipe, cool and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator and when you go to reheat and serve, add the cream cheese in and allow it to melt before serving.

Can I make this White Chicken Chili on the stove top? You can. You could either opt to use rotisserie chicken to eliminate cooking the chicken all together, or you could boil your chicken on the stove.

More Mexican Inspired Soups

• Slow Cooker Taco Soup
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Healthy Crockpot Mexican Chili

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