This White Chicken Chili is hearty, warming, creamy and perfectly comforting. It's a great alternative to traditional beef chili and makes a simple, yet completely delicious dinner! Makes about 8 cups.
Servings: 6servings
Prep15minutes
Cook35minutes
Ready in: 50minutes
Ingredients
1small yellow onion, diced
1tbspolive oil
2clovesgarlic, finely minced
2(14.5 oz) canslow-sodium chicken broth
1(7 oz) candiced green chilies
1 1/2tspcumin
1/2tsppaprika
1/2tspdried oregano
1/2tspground coriander
1/4tspcayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1(8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cheese (aka light cream cheese), cut into small cubes
1 1/4cupfrozen or fresh corn
2(15 oz) cans cannellini beans
2 1/2cupsshredded cooked rotisserie or left-over chicken*
1Tbspfresh lime juice
2Tbspchopped fresh cilantro,plus more for serving
Tortilla chips or strips, monterrey jack cheese, sliced avocadofor serving (optional)
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a 6 quart enameled dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute 4 minutes minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.
Add chicken broth, green chilies, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes.
Drain and rinse beans in a fine mesh strainer or colander then measure out 1 cup. Set whole beans aside, transfer 1 cup beans to a food processor along with 1/4 cup broth from soup, puree until nearly smooth**.
Add Neufchatel cheese to soup along with corn, whole beans and pureed beans and stir well. Simmer 5 - 10 minutes longer.
Stir in chicken, fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve with Monterrey Jack cheese, more cilantro, avocado slices and tortilla chips if desired.
Notes
*Recipe updated to use pre-cooked shredded chicken (previously used raw chicken in this recipe and cooked at the beginning). I like the flavor of rotisserie chicken better plus this way you don't end with over-cooked chicken breasts.
**If you don't own a food processor you can skip the pureeing step, soup just won't be quite as creamy.