Cheesy White Chicken Chili

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Shake up your chili routine with our Cheesy White Chicken Chili recipe! It’s the white chicken chili you’re used to with chicken, white beans, and corn, with a cheese sauce added at the end to give this dish a thick, creamy, comforting finish.

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Cheesy White Chicken Chili

Shake up your chili routine with our Cheesy White Chicken Chili recipe! 

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword Gluten Free, Nut Free

Total Time 6 hours

Servings 8

Calories 920kcal

Equipment

• Crock Pot

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast boneless, skinless
• 2 15 oz cans white beans rinsed and drained
• 1 11 oz can of corn drained
• 2 4 oz cans chopped green chilis
• 2 tbsp onion flakes
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 packet dry ranch seasoning
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine
• 2 tbsp All-purpose flour*
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cup shredded Mexican cheese

Instructions

• Season chicken with salt and pepper (optional). Place chicken in the bottom of crock pot.
• Add beans, corn, and green chilis to pot on to of chicken.
• Sprinkle onion flakes, cumin, and Ranch dressing mix over beans and corn. Stir to combine if desired.
• Add chicken broth to the crock pot. Cover and set for 6 hours on low.
• About 30 minutes before serving, slightly warm milk (I will usually put it in the microwave for about a minute just to warm it).
• In sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter. When butter is melted, add flour.  Stir until combined.
• Slowly add milk. Stir constantly until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.
• Add cheese and stir to combine. Remove form heat.
• Remove chicken from crock pot. Add cheese mixture and stir to combine. Shred chicken and return to the crock pot.  Stir again to combine. 
• Serve hot.

Notes

This recipe is 15 Green or 8 Blue and Purple WW points.

*If gluten free, substitute 1 tbsp of cornstarch for flour.  

Jump to nutritional information

 A while back I for some reason decided I really wanted to make white chicken chili for dinner that night.  Now I love chili.  You’ve seen me post other versions of chili like my Cincinnati chili here before.  But white chicken chili is not like other chilis, and really, this is a dish I’ve had three, maybe four times in my life, but I really wanted it.

So I go to the store, find the spice mix section (it was three days after Thanksgiving, I was not planning on doing anything that required more work than opening spice envelops and cans) and they were out of the white chicken chili mix!  There was every other chili, taco, gravy, sauce mix imaginable, but off in the corner, one empty slot – the white chicken chili.

Well, no other chili would do, so I pulled out my phone, got on Pinterest, and clicked on the first recipe I found.  I glanced at the ingredients – I had most and was already expecting to pick up the rest, and there was a section about making the chili in the crock pot, even though the original recipe was for a stock pot.  I thought great, picked up my corn and beans and went home.

And that’s when the trouble started.  Turns out I didn’t pick up one, which now might have been a vital, ingredient, and forgot to add one to the pot when starting, and made another slip or two.  Well, so much for not cooking, because I ended up improvising the start and finish of the dish. 

And the end result was awesome!  So awesome I was kicking myself for not taking pictures so I could immediately share this post.  Oh well, it just meant I had to make it again.

So let’s get to it!  I placed the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.  I just used thighs because that’s what I had on hand, but if you’re tracking points or bites, chicken breast will work well too.  If you want, season the meat with salt and pepper.

Next you’ll add the canned goods.  You’ll want to drain and rinse the beans, and drain the corn.  Pour the beans, corn, and green chilis over the chicken. 

Now for the spices!  After all, it’s the seasoning that chili is all about.  For this I used some dry ranch mix to start, and added some minced onions and cumin for a tiny bit of heat.  Now pour the chicken broth over everything.  Cover and set the crock pot for 6 hours on low.

After 6 hours, remove the chicken.  Shred the chicken with two forks and return it to the pot.  Stir the chicken in to combine.  

So here is my big adjustment.  The original recipe called for half and half, which I didn’t have, and cheese, which I was going to hold off on since this is a crock pot recipe.  Looking at the dish, it seemed very watery, and the cheese alone wouldn’t save it, so I had to do a little work on the stove top.  It is a little work, but so worth it!  I made a basic white sauce to thicken the chili and it made it amazing!

Start by warming the milk.  Many recipes for sauces like this call for scalding the milk, but to be honest, I’m just too lazy for that, so I just warm it in the microwave.  Usually 1 minute on medium high power does it.

 In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter or margarine over medium heat.  Once melted add the flour.  If you are avoiding gluten, use 1 tablespoon of cornstartch instead of the 2 tablespoons of flour.  Stir to combine. Once the mixture starts to bubble and slightly brown, you can start adding the milk.

 Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly.  Raise the heat a bit and continue to stir until the mixture is thick and bubbling.  Stir in the cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.  Remove from heat.

Pour the cheese mixture in and stir to combine.  You can serve it now, or let it simmer a little longer in the crock pot on warm until you are ready to eat.  Personally, I like to let it simmer for about 20 – 25 minutes, just because that’s how long it takes to bake some cornbread.

Love chili?  Don’t forget to check out our Cincinnati Chili and Chunky Garden Chili recipes.  Need easy meals?  Check out the rest of our crock pot recipes!

Need more recipes in your kitchen? How about recipes with a grocery list? Check out our current meal plans, shopping list included!

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