WOAH! This White Chicken Chili is done in less than an hour start to finish in the Instant Pot with melt-in your mouth tender chicken. It’s one of our favorite instant pot recipes! Just stir everything together, top with cream cheese and set for 20 minutes. So EASY!!
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Instant Pot White Chicken Chili!
We love chili around here including this hearty beef chili and easy turkey chili. It’s wonderful to have quick homemade meals like this in your pocket for busy weeknights. The instant pot makes it faster than ever to enjoy a piping hot bowl of white bean chicken chili in no time!
Ingredients for White Chicken Chili:
We have made this recipe healthier over the years by using organic produce and non-bpa lined cans. You can absolutely use home-cooked beans, or your own bone broth and freshly boiled corn on the cob (if using fresh corn from the cob, use 1 cup of chicken broth instead of 1/2 to compensate for the lost liquid).
*What Size Ranch Dressing Mix Should I Use?
Various ranch mix brands come in different sizes. It should be enough to make 16 oz of dressing or dip per the package instructions.
- Hidden Valley brand ranch packets come in a more concentrated 0.4 oz packet yielding 2 cups ranch.
- Simply Organic ranch dip used here came in a 1.5 oz packet which also yields 2 cups ranch dip.
How to Use an Instant Pot:
**CAUTION: If you are new to using the pressure cooker, always read the instruction manual and safety warnings for your machine as various brands or even models might have a different process and settings for use.
Pour yourself a cup of coffee and call on your inner nerd to read through the instructions. Instant pots are fabulous tools for speedy cooking, but they have to be used properly.
How to Make White Chicken Chili:
Step 1: Combine everything in your Instant Pot and stir together
Step 2: Top with cream cheese and set on manual high pressure for 20 minutes. It will warm up, cook 20 minutes then let it naturally depressurize 10 minutes.
Step 3: Remove chicken and shred then put it back and stir everything together.
The shredded chicken absorbs the liquid and because super juicy and melt-in-your-mouth tender. Instant pot chicken is the only way to get super tender chicken this fast!
How to Serve White Chicken Chili:
White chicken chili can be served over baked potatoes or as an appetizer with tortilla chips. Garnish with:
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Shredded Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Jalapeños
Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Make Over and Over:
- Chicken Bone Broth – the best way to make bone broth!
- Instant Pot Beef Plov – a flavorful one-pot rice pilaf
- Dulce De Leche – unbelievably fast in the Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Beets – blazing fast and so flavorful
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for White Chicken Chili:
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz can white beans, drained
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 15 oz can corn with juice
- 10 oz can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilis , (with their juice)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
- 1 tsp chili powder, or to taste
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 0.4 oz packet ranch dip or dressing mix*
- 8 oz package cream cheese, cut into 6 pieces
Optional Toppings and Serving Suggestions:
- 1/2 cup chopped Cilantro, for garnish
- 1 avocado, diced, for garnish
- Tortilla chips or baked potatoes to serve
Instructions
- Place all of your ingredients into your instant pot bowl in the following order: 2 chicken breasts, drained black and white beans, chopped onion, corn with juice, tomatoes with juice, and 1/2 cup chicken broth.
- Add 1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder (use 1/2 tsp to make it kid friendly), 1 tsp cumin, ranch packet. Stir everything to combine, getting some of the juice under the chicken to keep it from scorching.
- Cut cream cheese into 6 pieces and place over the top of chili. Cover and seal with lid, switch the valve to the "sealing" position and cook for 20 min on manual high pressure. Once it is done cooking, let it naturally depressurize for 10 min then switch the valve to the "venting" position to completely release steam before opening lid.**
- Remove the chicken breasts to a plate and shred apart with 2 forks. Stir everything together in the pot to melt the cream cheese into the chili then return the shredded chicken and stir to combine. Serve garnished with avocado and cilantro if desired.
Notes
**CAUTION: If you are new to using a pressure cooker, always read your instruction manual prior to use.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Q: What is YOUR favorite way to use an Instant Pot? If you were to name 1 recipe that makes owning an instant pot worthwhile, what would it be?
Hi Natasha! Just wondering if when I put the chicken in initially, should I put salt and pepper on it first or put it in as is? Thanks!
We put it in as is, Lauren. No need for extra salt or pepper.
Wow. Just WOW! This is soooo yummy. Just made it tonight and it is going to become a staple in our household! I like how you can adjust the spiciness accordingly (we like it hot!). I have already shared this to all my friends! Thank you!!
That is awesome! Thanks for your great feedback and for recommending this recipe to your friends. I love it!
Just made this and am sampling it now and it’s sooo good.
I had to substitute pinto beans for white beans because I couldn’t find them — no problem, works great.
Also, I made it with chicken, but I tossed some cubes of extra firm tofu into my serving bowl. Soaks up the flavor just about instantly, so I think anyone interested in changing this to vegetarian could do so easily — maybe simply swap out broth for veggie broth and add the tofu when serving.
That’s nice to know thank you so much for sharing that info with us and for your great feedback. Others who want to do the same will surely benefit from this as well.
I planned to make this in a couple days, but unfortunately our grocery stores are out of chicken at this time. If I make this with all of the ingredients besides the chicken, how long would you cook for? Would I need to add more/less chicken broth? Thank you!
Hi Nicole, the chicken absorbs the juices once shredded. Without it, this will turn more into a soup. I haven’t tested this recipe without it but yes it may be a good idea to reduce cook time. If you experiment, I would like to know how you like this recipe.
Now a monthly meal. It’s that easy and good.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Awesome!! super good…. super easy…. satisfying. Fun. I now come to Natasha’s site every time I want something different because everything she makes is great!
Thank you so much for your good comments, Jennifer!
Hi! I’m new to using instapot. If I am decreasing the recipe size by half does that change cooking instructions/time?
Hi Sharon, that should work. Here’s what one of our readers wrote “”Easily my favorite meal from my instant pot. I halved the recipe for my 3 qt. Just advice for anyone else using a 3 qt, you’re going to get close to the max content limit since you’re using all the juice from the tomatoes/corn but only half the content. One difference I made: instead of normal ranch mix, I used spicy ranch. Do yourself a favor and don’t skip the cilantro!” I hope that helps.”
Greetings. I was initially drawn to your site for the Instant Pot recipes. Recently, due to my wife’s medical issues, she has developed a sensitivity to gluten, dairy, and eggs. Obviously, I had to re-evaluate how I prepare meals. We have always loved chili as a comfort food, but we were concerned about how it would affect my wife’s condition. So, I replaced the butter with a plant-based butter, the cream cheese with an almond-based cream cheese from Kitehill, and the ranch dressing mix with a Buffalo Ranch from Durkee’s Red Hot. This ranch mix has no milk additives, so it fit the bill. With this buffalo ranch mix, I skipped the additional chili seasoning. It was slightly spicy, but not too bad. Otherwise, a yummy chili that my wife thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks for the recipe.
Wow! I’m so glad you were able to make this work for her, Dan! That’s so great! Thank you for sharing that wonderful review with me!
I was just hopping on here to share this recipe with my husbands boss, because my husband has been talking about how awesome it is at work! Haha! My whole family loves it!
That’s so awesome! So happy you found a favorite on our blog!
Hi! Could I use frozen chicken breasts in this? If so does it change anything with the cooking time? Thanks
Hi Ryan! That will work. It may require a minute or two more but should still work great.
I’ve been making your chicken chili recipe for about a year now and this is by far my favorite meal.
Every time I make this recipe my husband and I rock-paper-scissors for the last bowl.
Twist to the recipe: In order to make the recipe and leftovers last longer I mixed in some white rice that had been cooked in chicken broth.
The rice addition was so good because it soaked up all of that delicious flavor. Plus we had 3 extra servings with the rice addition. My husband ate it with tortilla chips and even made a burrito out of it.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing those tips with us, Chelsea! I’m so glad you’re both enjoying this recipe!
This is the absolute best white chili recipe, no need to change anything! Taste fantastic and I really enjoy your happy attitude.
Thank you so much for your compliment and great review, Debbie. I hope you love every recipe that you try!
Will the cooking time need to change if I use frozen chicken thighs?
Hi Olga, that should still work fine. One of my readers wrote that they used frozen chicken thighs with a cook time of 30 minutes.
Do you know what may cause the cream cheese to not melt all the way? It’s just in little pieces all over
Made this twice, both time same thing
Thanks
Hi, did you give it time to manually depressurize? Also, it does seem that way initially but as it sits and when you stir it, it should come together. If you see it’s still hasn’t melted fully, you can set the instant pot to the saute mode and heat just until it melts into the chili.
Have made this many times and the whole crew loves it. Question for anyone, I currently have frozen solid chicken but would like to make this recipe tonight, any suggestions?
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I haven’t personally tried this but someone else commented “I have used frozen chicken breasts and cooked the regular 20 minutes on high pressure, then let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes and they shredded perfectly” I hope that helps!
Can I cook this in a pressure cooker? Don’t have an instant pot. But do have an electric pressure cooker.
Hello Carey, I imagine that should work. Always read the instruction manual and safety warnings for your machine as various brands or even models might have a different process and settings for use.
I’ve made this recipe several times now, and it’s definitely a keeper! I usually add an extra chicken breast (add 4min HP), and only put in 4oz of Neufchâtel cheese, and it’s still fantastic! I have a 6’2” teenager, who always wants more meat, lol. I add an extra cup of chicken broth (Better than Bullion low sodium) to account for the extra meat, as well as replacing the fluids/juice in the corn & tomatoes. I have never experienced a burn in my IP, yet.
Thanks for the fantastic recipe!!
Thanks for your awesome feedback, Christine. I’m so glad that you loved this recipd. I hope that you enjoy every recipe that you try!
Okay, so the virus quarantine caused me to alter this recipe a bit, but honestly it turned out amazing.
I omitted the tomatoes and black beans and doubled the white beans and added a can of diced green chilies. I also threw in some chopped kale and chard I found dying in the fridge.
The chicken comes out so tender and the consistency is perfect: not too soupy, not too thick. Really yummy!
Oh I love that you were able to make it work using the ingredients that you have on hand. Thank you for sharing that with us and for the amazing review!
Can I make this in the crockpot too???
Hi Lindsay, I do have a crockpot version of chicken chili here and it is just as good.
Hello; my husband is sensitive to tomatoes… do you think this recipe could work without the rotel?
That should work too. Let me know how it goes if you do an experiment.
Hi!
This recipe looks and sounds delicious. I’m planning on making this for dinner tonight but I don’t have corn in the can. I do have frozen corn. What do you suggest I do?
Hi Natalia, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work, here is what one of our readers wrote “I used a Costco chicken that was frozen and threw it into the pot. I didn’t have canned corn, so I used a package of frozen corn and used half Greek yogurt and 1/4 pkg of cream cheese to make it a little healthier. The chili was absolutely delicious.”
I can’t say enough good things about this recipe! It is fantastic. The only thing I do differently is I added some extra cumin and I like to throw a can of chopped green chilies in with everything else but that’s not necessary. It’s just a personal choice. If you make it exactly like the recipe you will not be disappointed!
I love it! Thank you for the great review and for sharing some tips too! That is really useful.