Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili is the perfect warm and hearty meal that’s easy to make any night of the week. Heat up with a bowl tonight!
Fall is the perfect time of year to make your favorite comforting Soup recipes. This slow cooker chili is sure to help warm you up during the colder time of year, just like my Classic Beef Chili and Turkey Chili that you should try out too.
Why You’ll Love This Chili?
- Easy to follow recipe, prep and let your slow cooker do the work.
- The canned hominy is a game changer that adds amazing flavor!
Sabrina’s Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili Recipe
The next time you’re looking for a brand-new chili recipe to try out, you should try this one! With quick prep and a easy to follow recipe, this is a sure-fire winner, even if it is your first time making chili. I first tried this chili from a friend many years ago (full disclosure: she didn’t use the slow cooker). She was the first person I had ever seen add hominy to her chili, and the flavor was amazing. You’ll be so glad you tried it!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs , boneless, skinless
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons chicken base (totally optional but delicious!)
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 yellow onion , diced
- 25 ounces hominy , canned, drained
- 14 ounces white beans , canned, drained
- 4 ounces diced green chilis , canned, not drained
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces cream cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to your 4-quart slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
- Remove and shred chicken, then return to slow cooker.
- Optional: To make creamy add 1 package (8 ounces) of cream cheese in the last hour of cooking, then whisk well.
- Top with freshly minced jalapeños, cilantro, chips, avocados, or cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tips
I like to use chicken thighs because they tend to hold up better when cooking in your slow cooker. They are also juicer and will not dry out while cooking. You can certainly use white meat as well if you’d prefer.
Table of Contents
About this Recipe
Most people when making chili stick to the more classic beans and peppers. Yes this chicken chili has white beans and canned diced green chilis, but the super simple addition of the canned hominy is a game changer for this recipe. This chili recipe is perfect for family gatherings, chili cook-offs, and dinner tonight!
Ingredients
- Chicken Base: I rarely buy boxes of broth because I keep the beef, chicken, and vegetable versions of Better Than Bouillon on hand. It works great and takes up less space in your refrigerator.
- Hominy: This flavor really sets the chili apart. You can use corn instead, but the flavors of the hominy are creamy, earthy, and not overly sweet like corn.
- Diced Green Chiles: Green chilies are the perfect, easy addition. They add a lot of flavor, and you won’t want to leave them out.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, this is a great recipe to make ahead of time for a quick freezer dinner. Prepare the chili up until the hominy and beans step. Cool completely, freeze in a plastic storage bag for up to 3 months. When you are ready to serve, thaw overnight in your refrigerator. Add in your beans and hominy and cook on high in your slow cooker for 3-4 hours.
Serving Ideas
Of course, you all know chili is even better with its amazing sidekick, Cornbread! Tender and sweet cornbread is perfect to butter and enjoy on the side, or dip right into the creamy broth. It’s the perfect way to balance out the delicious, warm flavors of the chili. Serve this chili with toppings like cool sour cream, avocado, spicy Salsa, and shredded cheese.
How to Store
- Serve: Ladle servings of chili into bowls while it’s still hot. Serve it fresh, and don’t leave it out for longer than 2 hours.
- Store: Cool to room temperature, then put it in an airtight storage container to keep in the fridge. It will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Store leftover chili in the freezer for up to 3 months. Seal the chili in freezer bags or another airtight freezer container so it stays fresh. Let it thaw in the fridge and then reheat it on the stovetop until warmed through.
Variations
- Add-ins: The great thing about savory soups and chilis is the variety of different ingredients to add depending on your taste. White Bean Chicken Chili would taste great with some fresh cilantro, jalapeno, white onions, or cherry tomatoes.
- Meat: You can always replace the chicken in the recipe with turkey breast. For some extra meat, try adding bacon bits to the original recipe.
- Spices: To add a little bit of a bite to this Chicken Chili, stir in some chili powder or cayenne pepper. Try other seasonings like rosemary, paprika, ginger, turmeric, or a tablespoon of fennel seeds.
- Creamy Chili: To make a thicker, more creamy dish, mix in 4 ounces of cubed cream cheese. To get the same texture without as much fat, you can use light cream cheese. Mix the cream in after cooking the rest of the ingredients, right before serving. It will melt into the broth for a rich, thick consistency.
- Toppings: Everybody loves adding their favorite toppings to chili, the most obvious one being cheese! Try different kinds of flavorful cheese like cheddar, Monterey Jack Cheese, pepper jack, mozzarella, Swiss, or Gouda. You could also top off your bowl with sliced avocado, tortilla chips, chives, sour cream, peppers, or green onions.
Related Recipes
More Delicious Chilis
These photos were used in previous versions of this post:
Can I use chicken breasts instead?
Made this for the first time today as my go-to recipe went MIA( Son was ESRD and it was something he could eat and it had hominy in it which made us fans) . Itt was fabulous esp since i went a little hog wild with the chili and added poblano peppers. The cream cheese coooled things off a bit so others could eat it( i don’t mind the heat). And a big plus since i made it before work! Thanks
Loved reading your comment Robin and thanks for the five star review!
Loved it. Other recipes say a serving of white chicken chile has about 39 grams of protein per serving which sounds correct. Yours says 3.
Glad you enjoyed the chili and we will double check our nutrition calculator. Thank you!
Great recipe but how on earth does this only have 3 grams of protein per serving??
This site has plug in that automatically calculates the nutritional information. If you’re on a specific diet, I would encourage you to calculate the information using your own tool to ensure accuracy. I will let my designer know that it something that needs to be looked into though. Thanks for letting me know.
I cook for my local American Legion and made this recently. It was my soup of the day and sold out with people calling the next day to see if there were any left. I will be making this again
Be better to start with two (2) cups broth and add more as needed. Mine came out a little more liquid that I like. Excellent recipe.
Can you do this in an instant pot?
I’ve not tested it but I’m sure you could. I would recommend looking online for a recipe with similar ingredients and following that as a guide.
I made this for my daughter and husband for dinner tonight and they loved it! The only changes I made was to add an additional can of cannelini beans and a can of butter beans. I also added the cream cheese. The sauce was a little soupy so I was trying to thicken it up a little more. My daughter told me to make sure I make it again.
That sounds very delicious! I love the cream cheese add! If you need to thicken soups, you can always add a cornstarch slurry too. 🙂
I accidentally bought regular chicken stock with that and the added salt I’m afraid it will be too salty. What can I do to lighten it a bit without ruining the flavor?
Oh no, you can always add a raw potato to help add starch to dilute the saltiness. I hope you were still able to enjoy it!
This was incredible! Everyone loved it…thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it turned out!
This recipe is delicious and super easy! This weekend we had a cold snap and I wanted white chicken chili, but didn’t have a recipe in my collection, so I found this one. We only had 3 thighs, but I also wanted to put some bell pepper in, so I just considered the 2 small bell peppers I added as my 4th thigh, haha. SO GOOD!
My husband likes spicy, so he thought it needed a little something extra, like crushed red pepper, but I was thinking maybe cayenne would go well. I’ll try a little of that the next time I make it. I, however, liked it as is! I topped mine with some shredded monterey jack cheese, and a handful of fritos! I’m having leftovers today for lunch, and I can’t wait! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Stay warm!
Confused, ingredients does not list 8 ounces of cream cheese but the instructions does. To be added?
I will make over the weekend.
Sorry for the confusion. You only need to add the cream cheese if you’d like this to be a creamy version.
Delicious. Loved it! Thanks
Thanks for the 5 stars, Mari.
Waaooo.. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome Mark!
Very good but don’t need to salt the chicken if you use the chicken base with your broth. Also used morebeans and added diced jalapeños wild cooking. Added sour cream at the end for a bit of creaminess.
I definitely want to try adding the hominy now!
I’d love to know what you think after trying it!
Oh my! This looks so good! i want to warm up with a big bowl now!
Thanks, Amy!
I am warming up just thinking about this soup!
This looks so hearty for winter! I love that you can use the slow cooker, too!
Yep, slow cooker for the win!!
I am somewhat confused about the Slow Cooker White Chicken recipe. Do you use the chicken base in place of the chicken broth, or both?
Thank you.
You’ll want to use both the broth and the chicken base for this recipe. Use the base to make the broth and then add extra base to pump in more flavor. Hope this clears up any confusion. Enjoy!
I love how convenient this is! Slow cooker recipes are the best!
Definitely a life saver during the busyness of life!
WOW this looks and sounds delicious! I will definitely be making this!