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!
This is so easy and SO GOOD!!!
Love it, love it!!! i am now using it for company, with all the fixings on top: sour cream, cheese, avacado, green onions and corn chips (scoops) . . fantastic!
Can I use raw chicken for the IP method? How would that change the cooking time? Thanks!
You can … just cook the chicken first. I used chicken tenders, seasoned them and cooked in a grill pan, diced them up. This recipe is so yummy!
We like it really spicy, so we use a jalapeño verde instead and it’s our favorite!!
I have made this several times over but think I’ve perfected it by making it more “chili” like by tweaking the recipe just a bit.
I add a can of cream of chicken along with 32oz of chicken broth, I also add 3 chicken breast cooked & shredded, then add 2x the amount of beans.
It’s much thicker, creamier & more substantial this way.
No loss on the flavor component either. I add a taco seasoning packet vs the cumin & it is yum yum perfect, if I say so myself!
If you feel like yours is too “brothy”, try it my way & be sure to tell me what you think.
This is one of my favorite recipes! Just made it with leftover thanksgiving turkey stock – it is fantastic!!! (and so simple) love it ?
Quick and easy and very yummy! This will be my new “go to” recipe for white chili. Used 4 cups stock and 4 cans of beans. Added mozzarella cheese on top and served with cornbread muffins.
Made this while I lived in Ireland ALL the time, now attempting to make it back home in my local college town back in the states for friends, it’s easy enough that even a college student in a tiny flat can make it easily and filled me up when I was so broke! Cannot wait to jazz it up tomorrow.
I love this recipe, so thanks for sharing! I’ve probably made it a dozen times in the past few years. This weekend I added orzo at the end to make it a bit more like chicken noodle soup and it was sooo yummy! I’m eating leftovers of it now and just had to let you know.
So, quick and delicious. I’ve made more complicated versions of white chicken chili but this one is great. I need more recipes that don’t take all day to make. I did roast the chicken beforehand (we have whole chickens from our farm) but putting the rest of the ingredients together was a breeze. I love that it took salsa verde – so much flavor!