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!
Love this recipe. It’s so easy to toss it together with leftovers from the previous night’s chicken dinner.
Flavor was good but I think I would reduce the amount of stock as this was more of a soup than a chili. I even tried mashing some bean to try to thicken it up a bit.
I’ll be honest: I was doubting this recipe just a little bit, but I read so many positive reviews, so I went for it. As always, you nailed it. It was super quick, easy, and flavorful. We served it with your honey beer bread which is another favorite of ours. My husband even said this recipe was better than my usual crockpot chicken chili that takes much longer. Guess we have a new soup in the rotation!
I made this tonight using what I had left over in my fridge. Instead of chicken I had turkey. I also added leftover saffron rice to it and since I didn’t have any salsa verde I left that out. Overall a very yummy meal. I did the 6 cups of stock because of adding the rice.
I’ve been making my family this recipe for years and it is one of their favorites. I always make it in the slow cooker and use Peruano beans. Tonight I’ll be using it to make Cafe Rio style burritos for my daughter’s quarantine birthday. I’ll scoop the beans into a separate pot while shredding the chicken. I’m making cilantro lime rice, fresh flour tortillas, and salsa verde, too. And I bought aluminum cake pans to put under the broiler and make them “enchilada style”
Thank you for this easy fantastic recipe, it has brought my family so much joy!
1 of top 5 soups
Good morning, Victoria
What are the other 4 soups that you would recommend. Thank you in advance for sharing.
My family of five loved this recipe! The only change I made was to thicken it with cornstarch. I topped it with avocado, cilantro, sharp white cheddar, and crumbled blue tortilla chips. Delicious! So easy – thank you!
loved it, so yummy!
Neeti
Most delicious soup ever. And so easy. Thank you
I agree with the other commenters – 4 cups of stock is plenty!