This 5-ingredient white chicken chili recipe is super quick and easy to make, full of great flavor, and always a crowd fave!
After sharing a new recipe for easy (red) chicken chili, I thought I would circle back today to share one of my all-time favorite recipes for easy white chicken chili.
Even better — my favorite easy white chicken chili recipe that is made with just FIVE easy ingredients. ♡
This recipe is as easy as it gets. Simply stir all of the ingredients together, bring the soup to a simmer, ladle it up while it’s nice and hot, then pile on your favorite toppings and enjoy! I’ve probably made this recipe at least a hundred times over the years, and it always has a way of hitting the spot. It also freezes and reheats well if you would like to save the leftovers or make and save a big batch for easy meal prep.
I’m telling you — this recipe is always a winner. Let’s make a batch!
5-Ingredient White Chicken Chili Ingredients:
To make this white chicken chili recipe, you will need the following five ingredients (plus I highly recommend going big on toppings):
- Chicken: Any kind of diced or shredded chicken will do. I typically shred a rotisserie or use leftover frozen chicken from my Instant Pot Shredded Chicken or Baked Chicken Breasts recipe.
- Salsa verde: Either homemade or store-bought, whichever you prefer. I will note that store-bought brands of roasted salsa verde can vary pretty dramatically in terms of heat. So if you prefer a milder soup, I would definitely recommend finding a salsa that is on the milder side.
- Beans: You are welcome to use whatever type of beans you love best for this chicken chili. I typically use white beans (such as Great Northerns), but pinto, garbanzo or black beans would be delicious too.
- Chicken stock: Because this ingredient list is so short, I recommend using a good-quality brand of chicken stock or veggie stock, whichever you prefer.
- Cumin: We will also add in a hint of cumin to the broth to helps round out the seasonings in the salsa verde.
- Toppings: Finally, I recommend using a generous amount of whatever toppings you love best! I almost always add cilantro and fresh avocado to my soup. But a crumble of tortilla chips, diced red or green onions, sour cream, shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, Monterrey Jack or a Mexican-blend), crumbled cotija cheese, and/or sliced jalapeños would also be delicious additions!
How To Make This Soup:
To make this 5-ingredient white chicken chili recipe, simply…
- Combine ingredients. Stir together chicken stock, shredded chicken, beans, salsa and cumin in large stockpot.
- Bring to a simmer. Cook on high heat until the soup reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer briefly for 5 minutes.
- Serve. Then ladle the soup up into serving bowls, garnished with your favorite toppings.
Possible Variations:
There are so many ways that you could get creative with this soup recipe! For example, feel free to…
- Add extra veggies. If you would like to add some extra veggies to this soup, diced poblano peppers, onions and/or potatoes (feel free to use frozen hash brown potatoes as a shortcut) are some of my other favorite additions.
- Make it in the Crock-Pot or Instant Pot. This soup really just needs to be stirred together and warmed. So feel free to let it simmer on low in the Crock-Pot or use the sauté button on your Instant Pot, if you would prefer to use one of those appliances.
More Favorite Chili Recipes:
Here are a few more of my go-to chili recipes, if you would like to give them a try!
5-Ingredient White Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 3 to 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 2 (15-ounce) cans beans of your choice, rinsed and drained (I used Great Northern beans)
- 2 cups (16 ounces) salsa verde (store-bought or homemade)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- optional toppings: diced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, chopped red or green onions, sour cream, crumbled tortilla chips, fresh jalapeño slices
Instructions
- Combine ingredients. Stir together chicken stock, shredded chicken, beans, salsa and cumin in large stockpot.
- Bring to a simmer. Cook on high heat until the soup reaches a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue simmering for 5 minutes.
- Serve. Serve immediately, garnished with lots of your favorite toppings.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Hi-this recipe looks great but is 2 cups of salsa the same as 16 Oz? Or is that a liquid measurement? I bought a 16 Oz jar but it doesn’t look like enough. Thanks for the recipe!
Yep! 16 liquid ounces is the equivalent of 2 cups. :) Enjoy!
Great recipe! Thank you for posting! I did the stovetop method and I added some quest fresco and lime zest. I also blended up some of the beans to make the broth a little thicker. The salsa verde is totally the secret weapon!
Thanks Kate, so glad you liked it!
I’m just wondering if you can make it with dry beans from a bag instead of cans of beans and how would the instructions differ? It looks really good either way and I definitely want to make this!
Sure! Here’s an article on how to cook dry beans: https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/learn-cook-beans. You can simmer the soaked beans in the soup for 1.5-2 hrs if you’d like, instead of cooking them separately.
Husband has been desperate for me to shake things up in the kitchen (there is only so much baked chicken a man can eat!), so I made this for dinner tonight. Super easy and SO delicious. Healthy, too! We both loved it. I’m going to freeze several batches for later dates. Yum!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Hey Heather, so glad you and your husband enjoyed this! Thanks for giving it a try. : D
I have made this recipe I think 6 times now and it’s still fantastic! Most times I’ll try a new recipe, like it, but by the time I’ve made it the 3rd or 4th time, it’s newness has worn off and it’s just okay. Definitely not with this recipe! And it’s so easy! Sure, you could add a few things here and there if you want to, but trust me, this is perfect exactly as written. I’m too lazy to cook and shred chicken so I always get one of those rotisserie chickens from the meat department. It’s already cooked (and delicious) and I just have to clean it and throw it in the pot. It’s pretty much exactly 4 cups so I don’t have any awkward leftovers. I’ve used a different salsa verde every time (whatever was on sale usually) and they’ve tasted different, but equally awesome! I highly recommend topping it with the cilantro and avocado, it makes it taste so gourmet and look so beautiful. Thank you Ali so much for this awesome recipe!
Thanks so much Christy, and thanks for sharing your tips! I love cilantro and avocado, so you definitely can’t go wrong there! : )
I am a pipe fitter, not a cook. My wife has a very strict gluten free diet due to celiac disease. I am off for a couple days watching our little girl so I decided to make dinner for her. I can’t remember the last time I did it. I followed the recipe exactly. It turned out AMAZING! She loved it and it was extremely easy for me to make. Thanks for having an awesome recipe that even a big gulute like myself could make.
Mike, thank you for sharing this! I’m so happy it was a hit with your wife, how sweet of you to cook for her!
I love this recipe. It’s a staple at our house which I’m extra happy about considering the ease of the recipe. One thing we do – mix in the juice from half a lime. It adds SUCH a great hint of flavor to the already delicious soup! :)
Thank you Dana, and I’m going to have to add some lime juice next time, yum!
Use your KitchenAide stand mixer paddle attachment to shred the chicken!! SO. EASY.
Thanks for the tip Lauren!
Wow! This is a fabulous recipe. I’ll have to make my own salsa verde sometime but using store-bought was so easy! I did add a couple extra ingredients. I sautéed an onion and a little garlic, added the cumin/salsa/broth and 2/3 cups uncooked brown rice. Boiled for 30ish minutes until rice was cooked and stirred in the beans/chicken until heated through. It made 8 cups in the end. I will definitely be making this again!
Thanks Robin! I love your additions too, yum!
Que rico! This recipe is really delicious! I have made this “caldo” today, and I was super. I’m a Mexican woman and I love the flavor of this, with a little bit of lemon and Valentina salsa it’s very mexicano! :D