Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
99 Comments Mar 11, 2024
Updated Jun 21, 2025
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Change up your chili game with this creamy and flavorful Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili recipe. Made from scratch with plenty of spiciness and decadence, this will be the best chicken chili you will ever make!
Main Ingredients
Here’s a quick breakdown of the ingredients that make this white chicken chili so hearty and flavorful:
- Chicken & Beans – Boneless skinless chicken breasts and creamy cannellini beans make up the hearty base.
- Corn & Chiles – Whole kernel corn and fire-roasted green chiles add sweetness and a touch of smoky heat.
- Broth & Onion – Chicken broth and diced sweet onion create a flavorful foundation.
- Spices – A bold blend of chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Finishing Touches – Sour cream and fresh cilantro stirred in at the end for creaminess and brightness.
The first time I had crockpot white chicken chili was at a soup and chili party. A friend brought it, and it was the only pot that disappeared down to the last spoonful! I had to recreate it—and after testing and tweaking, this version is one you’re going to love.
How to Make Crockpot White Chicken Chili
- Add the chicken, beans, corn, broth, green chiles, onion, and seasonings to the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook until the chicken is fully cooked and tender.
- Shred the chicken right in the slow cooker.
- Stir in the sour cream and cilantro before serving.
Tips & Variations
Some ideas to change the recipe up!
Meat Swap: Try turkey breast, ground turkey, or rotisserie chicken for a tasty alternative.
For more spice: In place of the fire-roasted chiles, use a diced jalapeno or a poblano pepper.
Sour cream swap: For a creamier chili, stir in a block of cream cheese at the end or add a can of cream of chicken soup at the start.
To thicken: add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water. Add to the cooked chili and cook for 10 minutes longer.
How to Serve
Here are the toppings and sides we love on our crockpot white chicken chili:
- Enjoy with shredded Jack cheese, lime wedges, sour cream, cilantro, and diced avocado on top.
- For texture, top with Fritos or crushed-up tortilla chips.
- Great sides are warmed flour tortillas, or cornbread with butter and honey (we love the Krusteaz brand).
- To make the recipe stretch into more servings consider serving over white rice!
Featured Comment
This is a keeper! Best white chili I ever had. Thank you very much.
– marty
Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, (chicken thighs work great in this recipe too)
- 30 oz. Cannellini Beans, (two 15-oz. cans) drained (can use great northern beans)
- 8.75 oz. can whole kernel corn, (drained well) or two cups of frozen corn
- 30 oz. chicken broth OR chicken stock, (two 15-oz. cans) or 4 cups water and 2 chicken boullion cubes
- 4 oz. can fire roasted green chiles, or 1 diced poblano pepper
- 1 cup sweet yellow onion, diced
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. oregano
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- 1 cup sour cream, (ADD AT THE END OF THE COOKING TIME)
- ⅛ cup minced cilantro, (ADD AT THE END OF THE COOKING TIME)
Instructions
- Add the chicken, beans, corn, chicken broth, green chiles, onion, chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the slow cooker. WAIT TO ADD THE SOUR CREAM AND CILANTRO. Stir.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
- When the cooking time is done, shred the chicken with two forks.
- Add the sour cream and cilantro. Stir.
- Serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More crockpot chili recipes:
Skip the takeout and try Crockpot Wendy’s Chili, loaded with ground beef, beans, and veggies for that classic flavor at home.
Make fall dinner extra cozy with Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili or go bold with Slow Cooker Venison Chili, a lean, hearty twist.
For crowd-pleasing flavor, serve up The Best Crockpot Chili or use leftovers in Prime Rib Chili—both slow-cooked to perfection.
Delicious, just needs a few more/extra spices. But otherwise oh so good!! Will definitely make again. It it’s too watery for you just mix some corn starch and water and add it in about half hour before you turn off the crockpot. I personally loved this recipe!
I made this for my mom and sister and they loved it. Definitely going to add it to my favorite recipes.
Very good. Used 2 lbs ground chicken because it came in one pound containers and I didn’t want the leftover. Was a little too much per hub, I thought it was fine. Added another can of cannelini beans partially mashed, thickened it up a bit, may even use another next time if I use all the chicken again. Added a chopped sweet red pepper. Used hot roasted canned jalapenos, doubled garlic, was out of chili powder so used a hot spice mix with chili powder as the highest ingrediant, rounded the teaspoon. Toppings really important, used chopped avocado, onion, shredded cheese, will get cilantro next time, didn’t want to go to store.
I was skeptical about not enough spices but decided to follow the recipe and see. (For context, I do NOT like spicy food.) There was absolutely no flavor. All the ingredients were cooked fine but it tasted like watery sour cream. I would honestly triple the spices you put in!
I made this yesterday & took this to a woman’s soup might at my church. My crockpot was empty when I left. I did substitute Rotisserie chicken and put it in in the last hour. Will make again. Simple recipe, easy to follow.
We added the sour cream at the end to each individual served bowl. Creamy to individual taste level. Also made for storing leftovers easier. Also didn’t have cumin or oregano (individually too strong flavors for me) so substituted those two and the chili powder for about 1/8-1/4th cup premixed taco meat seasoning. Delicious!
This was very good. Can you freeze this with sour cream in the soup?
It may separate, but will still taste good.
Watery mess, took too many other ingredients to fix. No taste, spice but no flavor, not enough chicken, look elsewhere.
I just made this and it was ok. Everything was cooked perfectly (the chicken was delicious and juicy!) but it was overall a little bland for my taste buds. I ended up adding more of the spices (I didn’t measure, but it probably came out to be about double what the recipe called for). I definitely would have added more of the green chiles (maybe a spicier variety?) or some jalapeno to give it some kick. It was thin (lot of liquid) as well, which I have no issue with, but my husband prefers a thicker consistency. I may try thickening it per the recipe notes next time, but it definitely didn’t need it unless that is what you prefer. I ended up topping it with the cilantro (didn’t mix in since not everyone likes it), shredded cheddar cheese and slightly crushed up Fritos. I would definitely make this again, but with a few minor changes to give it more flavor/kick to our family’s preferences.
Can I use frozen chicken breasts?
I’m wondering the same thing…
Frozen meat can be used in any recipe, though some studies say it’s unsafe, so I thaw mine first.