White Chicken Chili

Heather Jones

This is one of my favorite things to make in cold weather -- and my family loves it too! It's not a light meal, but it's creamy, cheesy, comforting, and very filling.

Unlike beef chili, it doesn't need to simmer for a long time, so you can make this pretty quickly. If you use pre-cooked chicken, like leftovers from a rotisserie chicken, it's even faster to cook, so it could be a week night meal.

Like almost everything I make when I'm not filming it, I rarely measure anything or make it exactly the same way twice, so feel free to mix this up! Add some fresh bell peppers or chiles with the onions to add more vegetables. Spice it up as much as you like, maybe with some cayenne or chipotles in adobo sauce. Top it with your favorite salsa and serve it with chips or corn bread and enjoy!

You can see the full recipe here: https://www.copymethat.com/r/rYNmtJsUP/white-chicken-chili/

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather today we have something
[00:09]: different for you we have another one of
[00:11]: my recipes so I will include all of the
[00:14]: ingredients and their amounts as we go
[00:17]: along but I'm going to start by just
[00:19]: telling you all of those ingredients
[00:21]: um and what the amounts are so you'll
[00:23]: have that if I forget to say later
[00:26]: you'll know how much
[00:29]: today we're going to be making white
[00:31]: chicken chili uh it is super creamy it
[00:35]: is cheesy it is really decadent very
[00:39]: filling it is not low calorie it might
[00:42]: be good for a keto diet I'll have to do
[00:45]: all my nutrition uh information will be
[00:48]: below and it will be based on the
[00:51]: amounts of everything I'm using today
[00:54]: but you can play with this as much as
[00:57]: you like
[00:59]: um
[00:59]: really
[01:01]: because I started with a different
[01:04]: recipe and I've sort of simplified it
[01:07]: and
[01:08]: this is how I do it now
[01:10]: so
[01:12]: first off uh
[01:15]: I'm gonna go in order of my recipe over
[01:18]: here so I don't forget anything we have
[01:21]: two cans of navy beans small white beans
[01:25]: whatever you like is fine but usually
[01:29]: use white beans
[01:31]: um
[01:32]: I will drain and rinse these before I
[01:35]: add them in but they'll go in much later
[01:36]: I also have some chopped green chilies
[01:41]: two approximately four ounce cans one
[01:45]: larger can if you can find it I could
[01:47]: not I'm not going to drain or rinse
[01:49]: these they're going to go in exactly as
[01:52]: is
[01:54]: um
[01:55]: I have
[01:56]: supposed to be like one large onion
[01:58]: chopped I have like a medium one and a
[02:01]: smaller one it's about 10 ounces
[02:03]: of onion after chopping
[02:08]: um
[02:09]: I have a whole stick of unsalted butter
[02:13]: uh
[02:14]: and we're going to use all of it
[02:17]: I have a quarter of a cup of flour
[02:22]: um
[02:23]: you could probably leave this out if
[02:25]: you're trying to do a whole keto thing
[02:27]: and it will just be a little bit less
[02:29]: creamy you would probably end up using
[02:31]: less of that anyway
[02:34]: um
[02:34]: less of the that which is chicken broth
[02:38]: uh I poached
[02:41]: chicken breasts boneless skinless
[02:43]: chicken breasts in some
[02:46]: broth
[02:48]: um I use just water and a soup base that
[02:51]: I keep on hand this time any kind of
[02:55]: chicken broth you have is fine
[02:57]: I'm going to start with about a cup but
[02:59]: I end up using
[03:01]: more than that I just add it until it's
[03:05]: the consistency that I like so and I
[03:09]: usually end up adding probably double
[03:11]: that at least but we'll see this is
[03:14]: about four cups we'll see how much is
[03:16]: left
[03:18]: um
[03:19]: uh we have two cups of half and half
[03:21]: like I said this is very creamy
[03:26]: it is not low calorie but you know
[03:29]: we haven't made it yet this year so we
[03:32]: don't eat it all the time
[03:34]: um original recipe calls for Tabasco as
[03:37]: usual I keep
[03:39]: Frank's on hand so that is what I will
[03:42]: be using
[03:44]: um
[03:44]: we do have some spices and because we're
[03:47]: using some chili powder that's a
[03:49]: teaspoon and a half of chili powder it
[03:51]: doesn't really end up white it's kind of
[03:54]: orange but that's okay
[03:56]: we also have some cumin
[03:59]: and some white pepper you can use black
[04:01]: pepper if you don't have white pepper
[04:02]: it'll be fine so there's a teaspoon of
[04:05]: cumin and a half of a teaspoon of white
[04:07]: pepper there we're just going to put
[04:10]: salt in to taste
[04:13]: about half a teaspoon but it depends on
[04:15]: how salty everything else is there's
[04:17]: cheese and
[04:19]: canned things so there's other salt in
[04:21]: here already
[04:24]: um
[04:24]: so this was about a pound of cooked
[04:28]: chicken
[04:29]: you could use any sort of already cooked
[04:32]: chicken you have or you can cook some
[04:34]: chicken these were two huge chicken
[04:36]: breasts
[04:37]: that after everything is about a pound
[04:40]: cooked
[04:42]: chopped up bite size however you want it
[04:44]: is fine you could use more if you're
[04:46]: going for very meat heavy or less
[04:50]: I don't care use what you like I think
[04:53]: the original recipe calls for probably
[04:54]: more than this but this will be plenty
[04:56]: for my family
[04:59]: um then we have some Monterey Jack
[05:02]: cheese that I have
[05:04]: grated
[05:05]: um
[05:06]: supposed to be about six ounces ounces
[05:08]: this is closer to eight more cheese
[05:12]: I don't care
[05:14]: um and then
[05:16]: a half of a cup of sour cream
[05:19]: that will go in near the end so
[05:22]: this is all of the ingredients that we
[05:26]: are going to be using for this you can
[05:28]: garnish it with salsa or whatever you
[05:32]: like some
[05:34]: cilantro would be great if you have some
[05:36]: green onions
[05:39]: but really this is so our regular chili
[05:41]: we usually add you know sour cream and
[05:43]: cheese and all that this already has all
[05:45]: of that in there but I think some green
[05:47]: onion would be good and probably and
[05:50]: some cilantro would be good just to be
[05:51]: pretty but I usually don't add anything
[05:54]: on top of this because it's just it's
[05:56]: good as is
[05:58]: so
[06:00]: what we're going to be doing now
[06:02]: uh so I have simplified the original
[06:05]: recipe quite a lot I'm going to melt
[06:11]: uh the butter all of the butter in the
[06:14]: pot that I'm going to cook it in this is
[06:16]: I don't know
[06:18]: maybe six six to eight quarts Worthy
[06:23]: it's not gonna it this is supposedly
[06:25]: makes four to six servings uh
[06:29]: I think we usually end up making at
[06:32]: least getting at least eight out of it
[06:33]: so we'll see how much we get this time
[06:37]: um but I'm going to melt this on sort of
[06:39]: medium Heat
[06:41]: and then I'm going to cook the onions
[06:43]: until they are softened almost
[06:45]: translucent pretty much almost done
[06:48]: because this is not going to cook for a
[06:50]: really really long time uh because
[06:53]: everything is already pretty much cooked
[06:56]: we're just sort of putting it together
[06:58]: and making the sauce around it and that
[07:00]: is it so
[07:02]: we will be back
[07:04]: and show you what goes on over at the
[07:07]: stove as soon as those onions are done
[07:09]: okay my onions have been cooking for
[07:11]: probably a little bit too long I had to
[07:13]: turn them down because we were doing
[07:14]: something else I got a little brown but
[07:16]: otherwise it'll be fine
[07:18]: so now I'm going to add my flour this is
[07:22]: about a quarter cup of all-purpose flour
[07:25]: and I'm going to go ahead and add my
[07:27]: spices in here as well
[07:30]: um my dry spices no salt yet but we're
[07:33]: going to
[07:34]: basically cook this
[07:37]: for I don't know three to five minutes
[07:41]: uh just to sort of
[07:44]: make kind of a roux and get that
[07:48]: raw flour taste out
[07:52]: so we're and I've got it on medium low
[07:55]: like a three on my stove which goes you
[07:58]: know up to 10. so I'm just gonna let
[08:02]: this cook for about three minutes
[08:04]: and while that's happening I'm gonna go
[08:06]: and open my beans and
[08:09]: rinse them
[08:11]: drain them and rinse them so they'll be
[08:13]: ready whatever I'm ready and open my
[08:15]: chilies so they're ready whenever I need
[08:17]: them
[08:18]: that has been going on for about three
[08:21]: minutes
[08:23]: it's fine to me
[08:25]: so now we're going to add our liquid
[08:27]: ingredients
[08:29]: so I'm going to
[08:33]: add about a cup I'm barely going to
[08:36]: measure it honestly because I know I'm
[08:38]: going to end up needing more so I'm
[08:40]: adding about three quarters of a cup
[08:42]: just there of that chicken broth
[08:46]: and just get that stirred in
[08:49]: and that will thicken up pretty quickly
[08:51]: and now we're going to add
[08:53]: the
[08:55]: half and half
[08:58]: and get that stirred in if you need a
[09:00]: whisk if you feel like it's lumpy you
[09:02]: can whisk this that's no big deal but I
[09:04]: don't usually need to
[09:14]: all right
[09:15]: I'm just gonna
[09:18]: get all of our half and half in there
[09:20]: two whole cups
[09:25]: we're just gonna simmer this for about
[09:27]: five minutes and
[09:32]: that will be that so sometimes
[09:35]: if I if I really want a more of a fresh
[09:38]: chili I will chop those up and cook them
[09:41]: in with the onions
[09:43]: but the canned chilies are
[09:45]: fine and easy so this is something that
[09:48]: I can make
[09:49]: on a weeknight if necessary if I want to
[09:53]: I ended up turning it up to medium
[09:55]: because it just was not coming up to a
[09:58]: boil or simmer fast enough for me and
[09:60]: it's just sort of as you stir it it goes
[10:02]: back down so it took about five minutes
[10:05]: just to sort of come back up come up to
[10:07]: a simmer because we added cold half and
[10:10]: half and cold chicken broth to it so
[10:15]: um now it's simmering
[10:18]: and I'm going to turn the heat down if
[10:20]: it boils too much but it's definitely
[10:22]: starting to thicken and I'm gonna cook
[10:23]: it for about five minutes
[10:25]: it's been almost five minutes and I
[10:28]: think this has gotten pretty thick and
[10:30]: I'm going to start adding the rest of my
[10:32]: ingredients I'm going to add them a
[10:34]: little bit at a time just so it
[10:38]: kind of let it come back up to
[10:40]: temperature as I add things first thing
[10:43]: I'm going to do is add my two cans of
[10:46]: chopped chilies
[11:01]: these are pretty mild they shouldn't
[11:03]: really
[11:04]: add much spice honestly
[11:10]: I'm going to add in my Tabasco or my
[11:14]: Franks at this point
[11:16]: um supposed to be about a teaspoon
[11:25]: later you can add some to your own which
[11:27]: my husband will probably do
[11:29]: after it's served
[11:34]: oh I'm also going to add some salt here
[11:38]: um
[11:39]: I will taste it later to see if it needs
[11:42]: more we haven't added the cheese which
[11:44]: is salty but my chicken also doesn't
[11:46]: have any salt besides the little bit
[11:49]: that was in
[11:50]: soup base that I added so
[11:58]: that's all mixed up I'm gonna add my
[11:60]: chicken
[12:01]: and this was cold from the refrigerator
[12:04]: so
[12:06]: I'm gonna let everything come back up to
[12:09]: temperature before I add anything else
[12:12]: now that the chicken is in it it was
[12:14]: will also let me know if I feel like I
[12:17]: need to add more chicken broth
[12:20]: because now it's starting to get a lot
[12:23]: of stuff in it so
[12:25]: this whole process should take
[12:28]: about 20 minutes
[12:31]: um
[12:32]: maybe a little bit more maybe a little
[12:34]: bit less but we'll see
[12:37]: because really you don't need to cook
[12:40]: any of these ingredients they're all
[12:42]: cooked you're just trying to heat it up
[12:45]: and make it sort of one thing at this
[12:47]: point we're starting to get some
[12:49]: bubbling around the chicken and now I'm
[12:52]: going to add the beans
[12:54]: so I just drained these in my um
[12:58]: sieve and rinse them until you know they
[13:02]: didn't
[13:03]: they kind of stopped foaming that's one
[13:06]: of the things that happens with beans is
[13:07]: they get a little foamy when you start
[13:09]: rinsing them so rinse them until they
[13:11]: stopped I do want it I'll do a little
[13:15]: juicier than this a little more
[13:17]: um
[13:21]: sauce less than just stuff so I'm going
[13:24]: to add
[13:27]: that's another little over half cup of
[13:30]: chicken broth
[13:32]: which again is going to bring
[13:34]: temperature down a little bit
[13:39]: that was
[13:40]: about a cup and a quarter total
[13:42]: probably
[13:44]: but I just really go by
[13:47]: consistency
[13:49]: we are just about back up to a simmer
[13:52]: and kind of see
[13:54]: the bubbles are there but they're not
[13:55]: quite breaking the surface yet and if I
[13:58]: let it go it's been stirring it because
[13:60]: I don't want it to burn on the bottom
[14:01]: this
[14:03]: is more likely to burn on the bottom
[14:05]: than other types of chili because
[14:08]: there's a lot of dairy in it
[14:11]: um so I'm going to go ahead and add
[14:15]: the cheese
[14:16]: add a little bit stir add a little bit
[14:18]: stir
[14:22]: get it all
[14:25]: mixed and starting to melt
[14:33]: this is another time when you may decide
[14:36]: you need a little more broth
[14:41]: so that's all started in I'm going to
[14:44]: leave it as is
[14:45]: for now I'm going to turn it back down
[14:49]: to about a three
[14:51]: on my stove maybe a little bit lower
[14:55]: and let this go for 10 minutes at this
[14:58]: point
[15:07]: [Music]
[15:08]: I think it's good on salt
[15:11]: it's been about 10 minutes we're going
[15:13]: to call this Good I can kind of feel
[15:15]: like it's there's a little bit of
[15:17]: bubbling going down going on down at the
[15:19]: bottom it's fine we're really the cheese
[15:21]: is all melted and that's really all we
[15:24]: needed happen the last thing we have to
[15:26]: do is add our one-half cup of sour cream
[15:31]: stir it in and then it is ready to serve
[15:42]: there we go
[15:44]: that is it
[15:47]: I'm going to leave mine on low just to
[15:49]: keep it warm
[15:51]: for us to eat I think I'm happy with
[15:53]: that texture I'm not going to add any
[15:55]: more chicken broth
[15:58]: um yeah
[16:00]: we'll let you know in just a minute what
[16:02]: we think
[16:03]: [Music]
[16:09]: on this episode of cooking the books
[16:11]: with Heather you watch me make my own
[16:13]: recipe for white chicken chili uh this
[16:17]: is
[16:18]: a really creamy cheesy uh I usually make
[16:22]: it kind of thick and it's
[16:25]: not exactly white it's a little a little
[16:28]: on the orange side because it does have
[16:29]: some
[16:31]: spices in it that help to color it
[16:36]: um and it's not very spicy as as is you
[16:39]: can make it as thick or as thin as you
[16:41]: want you can add extra
[16:42]: um
[16:44]: chicken broth
[16:46]: to thin it out if you don't like it a
[16:48]: very thick I think I served it sort of
[16:50]: medium thick this time not not too thick
[16:52]: it makes enough this recipe the way I I
[16:56]: made it makes enough for
[16:59]: probably six to eight people we ended up
[17:02]: with a little bit left over enough for a
[17:04]: couple of lunches uh but we didn't
[17:06]: really serve it with anything else it'd
[17:08]: be great with cornbread or chips or
[17:13]: anything that you normally would serve
[17:14]: with your chili I really like
[17:18]: um especially since it's creamy I really
[17:20]: like some green onion on it I don't
[17:23]: think I had any at this point maybe I
[17:26]: did I forget you'll see in the pictures
[17:28]: if I did
[17:30]: um yeah we really love it we make it at
[17:32]: least once a year
[17:35]: um if we're lucky we have leftovers
[17:37]: enough to freeze some and then have it
[17:39]: for lunches at an another Point
[17:42]: um but this was the first time we made
[17:44]: it this year and now it is spring so we
[17:46]: probably won't be making it again until
[17:47]: the fall
[17:49]: but uh it's it's a really quick chili
[17:52]: you can make it on a weeknight which is
[17:54]: great if you have your chicken already
[17:56]: cooked it's even better and uh yeah it's
[17:60]: it's a crowd pleaser I think everybody
[18:02]: in my family enjoys it and I hope you
[18:05]: guys enjoy it as well I will include uh
[18:08]: the full a link to the full recipe in
[18:11]: the description below
[18:13]: so if you want that
[18:15]: go ahead and click it and you can print
[18:18]: it out or save it however you like
[18:22]: um yeah if you enjoyed watching me make
[18:25]: this please give me a thumbs up hit the
[18:28]: Subscribe button share the video with
[18:30]: your friends and let me know what you
[18:32]: think
[18:33]: come back and watch me make something
[18:34]: else next week
[18:37]: foreign
[18:39]: thank you