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This Instant Pot White Chicken Chili is a staple in our house. It’s a warm and comforting winter meal that the whole family looks forward to!
30-Minute Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
This quick and easy chili is full of great flavors. I’m a big fan of the cumin in it. It adds a touch of spice, but this kid-friendly recipe is not particularly spicy. My 2 1/2 year olds love it as much as my husband and me!
This chicken chili is made with cream cheese and sour cream to thicken it up a bit and make it extra creamy. If you aren’t a fan of sour cream, you can leave it out and add some extra cream cheese instead. There’s nothing like a bowl of this cozy, creamy chili with some Fritos scoops!
Recipe Ingredients
Simple, easy to find ingredients are part of what make this chicken chili so satisfying. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Diced Onion: Red or yellow onion will both work, but I personally love the extra flavor I get from red onion.
- Minced Garlic
- Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- Diced Green Chiles
- Northern Beans: You could also use black beans or half and half to change it up!
- Whole Kernel Corn
- Spices: Cumin, Oregano, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper
- Salt & Black Pepper
- Cream Cheese: Bring your cream cheese to room temperature. This will help it blend into your chili easier.
- Sour Cream
Can I Use Frozen Chicken Breasts?
You can definitely use frozen chicken breasts for this recipe if you’d like. Just be sure to break them apart if the chicken breasts are stuck together. If you’re using frozen chicken, add 3 or 4 extra minutes to the cook time.
How to Make White Chicken Chili
This is where the Instant Pot really shines! No need to stand in front of the stove-top or keep an eye on a bubbling pot of chili. I love how you can just throw all the ingredients into your Instant Pot and walk away. Did I mention that White Chicken Chili will make your house smell amazing?
Here’s how to make it:
- Assemble Ingredients: Place all of your ingredients into your instant pot bowl.
- Cook: Cover the pot and seal the lid. Switch the valve to the “seal” position and cook for 20 minutes on manual high pressure.
- Release Pressure: When done cooking, let it naturally release/depressurize for 10 minutes, then switch the valve to the “vent” position to fully release the steam before opening the lid.
- Shred Chicken & Stir: Shred the chicken breasts and stir everything together. Serve warm with garlic bread, tortilla chips or other garnishes.
Chili Topping Suggestions
Here are some of my favorite toppings to add to this White Chicken Chili:
- Cilantro: For a simple and classic garnish, sprinkle some chopped cilantro on your chicken chili.
- Avocados: Sliced avocados taste amazing with this chili too!
- Jalapeños: Give your chili another spicy element by topping it with fresh jalapeños.
- Cheese: Turn this dish into cheesy chicken chili by adding shredded cheddar.
- Limes: Garnish your chili with a few lime wedges to add some zest!
- Cornbread: Sometimes I like to crumble pieces of cornbread into my chili. It’s really good!
What to Serve with White Chicken Chili
A steaming bowl of homemade chili goes with pretty much any side, but here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Rice: Try serving this chili over rice if you want to make it even more hearty and satisfying.
- Bread: This chicken chili goes wonderfully with a side of garlic bread.
- Tortilla Chips: My family loves eating our white chicken chili with Fritos scoops, but you can use whichever tortilla chips you like!
- Cornbread: A fluffy slice of warm cornbread would go wonderfully with this chili.
- Tortillas: Warm flour or corn tortillas rolled around your favorite cheese. Great for dipping into your chili!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Store leftover chili in an airtight container in the fridge. Let it cool completely before refrigerating. This white chicken chili will stay good for up to 4 days.
To reheat your chili, microwave it at 15 second intervals until warm. If you’ve frozen your chili, thaw it in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Can You Freeze Chili?
You can totally freeze your chili to make it last longer! Just lay it out in the freezer in a sealed bag. This will make it easier to thaw out your chili before reheating it. Frozen chili will last for up to 3 months!
More Great Dinner Ideas
Easy Chicken Pot Pie
Easy Mexican Chicken Casserole
Slow Cooker Creamy Lemon Butter Chicken
Easy Bruschetta Chicken
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6-8
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Instant Pot White Chicken Chili is a staple in our house. It’s a warm and comforting winter meal that the whole family looks forward to!
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup diced onion (yellow or red onion)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- two 14.5 oz cans low sodium chicken broth
- two 4 oz cans diced green chiles
- two 15 oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
Instructions
- Place all of your ingredients into your instant pot bowl.
- Cover the pot and seal the lid. Switch the valve to the “seal” position and cook for 20 minutes on manual high pressure.
- When done cooking, let it naturally release/depressurize for 10 minutes, then switch the valve to the “vent” position to fully release steam before opening lid.
- Shred the chicken breasts and stir everything together. If the cream cheese is chunky, stirring in the chicken should help break it up and smooth it out.
- Serve warm with garlic bread, tortilla chips or other garnishes.
Notes
You can substitute the sour cream for an extra 4 oz of cream cheese, if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 5.4 g
- Sodium: 654.2 mg
- Fat: 21.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 23.8 g
- Protein: 24.7 g
- Cholesterol: 102.1 mg
This is a favorite of my wife’s and me. It’s simple, quick, and tasty. As an alternative to starting with raw chicken, we have had great success with using a rotisserie chicken instead. Rather than cooking it in an instant pot, we simply put everything in a cooking pot and simmer it for about 20 minutes so that the flavors all come together. Certainly recommended!!!
Nice shortcut! I like it! Glad you enjoy it!
Delicious and super easy! Will be making this one again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for posting this recipe! I can’t wait to try it! I have a question – do you sauté the onions and garlic prior to adding everything else then pressure cooking? You know, to soften up the onions? Almost every Insta pot recipe I use that has onions recommends that.
I don’t sauté them first. I don’t think they need it.
Loved this in the instant pot an want to try making it in the crock pot… Instead of 4 hours on high, how long would you recommend Cooking it on low? Again thank you for a great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it! 7-8 hours on low should work well.
Strange question, but my family is not big on beans, could this be made without beans? Would there be anything else I’d need to change?
If you leave the beans out, you may want to add more corn or some thing. Or reduce the overall amount of liquid so that it doesn’t seem too liquidy and lacking.
Did this in an old Mirror Matic Pressure Cooker and it worked perfectly. This recipe is a keeper!
Love this recipe!! The flavor is amazing!! It is really runny and watery when it’s done and I end up having to add 2-3 Tablespoons of corn starch to thicken it up. I like my chili a bit thicker but that is really watery otherwise.
If I doubled the recipe in my 8 qt instant pot would I also double the cooking and natural release time? Thank you 😊
I don’t believe you will need to double the time. It should be the same.
Tastes excellent but I will tweak just a couple of things before I make it again. I’ll cube the cream cheese while it’s still cold and then let it warm up to room temperature so it blends in more easily when the dish is done. Also I won’t add the corn til it’s finished cooking because I like the corn to stay a bit crisp. Really good!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi this chili looks delicious. I wanted to make sure do I also just put in the uncooked chicken breast along with the other ingredients in the instapot? Once the chili is cooked I take it out and shred the cooked chicken and place it back in the pot?
Yes, that’s correct.
I followed your recipe exactly. When it was finished, after the 10 minute cool down, I was surprised to see large chunks of cream cheese floating on top and hadn’t thickened at all. I did cut the cream cheese (room temp) into chunks before placing it in the pot. It doesn’t look at all like your photo. Any ideas what may have happened? Did I do something wrong? Before I place the chicken back into the soup, I’m going to use my stick blender hoping it will come together.
Any suggestions???
The cream cheese chunks won’t break down on their own. It has to be stirred. I find that they break up best actually after adding the chicken because the chicken chunks help thicken things and break them up.
How long would the cooking time be to make this in a crockpot instead?
I usually do 4 hours on high.
This didn’t work out for me at all. It’s thin and watery. I had to stir it forever to get the chunks of cream cheese to dissolve into the chili. It’s probably a good soup but I was hoping for chili consistency.
Do you really add all ingredients at the beginning? Even the cream cheese and sour cream? Do you add in a specific order? Sounds yum thx
That’s what I do, yes. I add them in the order listed.
I don’t have an Instant Pot but do have a pressure cooker. Can this be made with the same directions using my pressure cooker?
I believe an instant pot and pressure cooker are pretty much the same in this case, so that should be fine.