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?
This has become a family favorite. It was perfect on this cold Eastern NC day!
Today, we doubled the recipe so that we would have extra for our lunches at work.
Hello Sean, that’s so great to hear! I hope that you and your family will love every recipe that you will try for them.
Popular with the family. Used Costco rotisserie chicken breast.
That’s so great! Thank you for sharing that with me!
when would be best to add the already cooked chicken?
Hi Wendy, you could add the shredded cooked chicken at the end and then just bring it to a simmer, or you could probably add the shredded chicken in at the beginning. It should remain tender.
this is great! When did you add the pulled chicken to the pot?
odd to see this recipe include tomatoes. the idea of white chili is it doesn’t have anything in it to make it red like traditional chili. that kind of defeats the point.
Hey Natasha! I plan on making this tonight but I only have chicken tenderloins. Will I need to adjust the cooking time? It’s about 1 lb chicken tenderloins
Hi Mekayla, I haven’t tried this with tenderloins but I imagine that will work great. I would love to know how you like this recipe if you experiment.
Made exactly and served with cornbread. Everybody had seconds. Great recipe, Natasha! Thanks!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi there, planning to make this early next week. Have you ever used dry beans in this recipe instead of canned beans?
Hi Rikki, you would need to cook the beans first before using them in this recipe.
Love this! Everyone gets seconds (or thirds).
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
This was great! I didn’t have rotel or white beans so I improvised with a 15oz can of crushed tomato and a lil chipotle in adobo. Also added bell peppers because I needed to use them up. I skipped the broth due to the other additions and used frozen chicken on high for 30 min. Love the flexibility of the recipe, it’s a keeper!!
I’m so glad that worked out, Elle! Thank you for that great review!
Can this recipe be doubled in an 8 quart Instant Pot? Thanks!
Hi David, I haven’t tried doubling in a 6 qt. A reader reported doubling in an 8qt just fine.
Thank you so much for the quick response. I’ll be giving this recipe a try this weekend!
With the cream cheese, does this freeze well?
Hi Faith, I haven’t tested freezing this but it should work. Here is what once of our readers wrote “I’m so happy you enjoyed this chili! Here is what one of our readers wrote “I ate one of the containers that I froze. I simply microwaved it using the Frozen Dinner button. It was creamy and delicious. The cream cheese didn’t curdle. But, I think next time I re-heat the last container, I will add a bit of liquid to it since by the time I got to the bottom of the bowl, it was a bit dry (which isn’t unusual when reheating foods from frozen). I will definitely freeze a batch the next time I make this.” I hope this helps.
Can I make this with frozen chicken? What adjustments should I make?
Hi Kelly. I saw someone else shared this in the comments below the recipe “It was a hit! I only had frozen chicken breast, so I adjusted the time to 30 minutes as suggested in previous comments. The chicken came out extremely tender and took no effort at all to shred.” I hope that helps.
This sounds so good! Do I need to change the cooking time if I am using soaked northern beans? Not canned.
Hi Calli, you would want to pre-cook the beans since the cook time won’t be adequate. Check out our post on how to cook beans.
I made this reciepe serveral times, my wife and I love it, we served to several freinds and they liked it as well
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
This dish was delish & super easy. I’m new to the instapot cooking & if I can do it, anyone can. 😅 the only thing I did different was I sautéed my onions ( & a garlic clove ) first with a table spoon of olive oil. I also added 2 blocks of cream cheese & an extra can of black beans. But it was soooo good! Even my kids, who are both super picky, loved it. ♥️ Thank you for the recipe!!
Thank you for sharing that wonderful feedback, Allison! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe.
My cream cheese curdled and made it sour. The first time I added it after cooking and I think it was much better.
Can I use a slow cooker
Hi Sharon, we have slow cooker instructions for Crockpot Chili here.
Sharon that’s how I did it originally but it seemed to take wayyy longer in the crockpot but tasted just as good! ☺️
I made this last night for my family. It was a hit! I only had frozen chicken breast, so I adjusted the time to 30 minutes as suggested in previous comments. The chicken came out extremely tender and took no effort at all to shred. The only thing I changed was adding some chopped bell peppers because I had some that needed to be used. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Josie, I’m so happy you loved our instant pot whole chicken.
Can you tell please me how much a serving is: I.e. one cup or one half cup? The nutrition label doesn’t give a quantity of serving or how many servings the recipes makes.
Hi Keri, this recipe makes 8 servings, and the serving size is about 1 cup.
Incase anyone is using this awesome recipe it stays well in the fridge. I have made it many times and it tastes great up to 6 days in the fridge. After that it will begin to taste off. I looked for this in the recipe and comments and didn’t see it,so I tested it myself
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
My family doesn’t like crunchy onions. Do they stay crunchy in this recipe? If so I can sauté them but I thought I would ask before I try it. It sounds Amazing!
Hi Dana, it shouldn’t come out crunchy but someone also shared this comment “I sautéed onions and added little minced garlic and it turned out amazing, especially topped with avocado, cilantro, shredded cheese and sour cream!”
Hi Natasha. This sounds delicious. Could you tell me if you think I need to modify anything to make this in a slow cooker?
Hi Patricia, we have slow cooker instructions for Crockpot Chili here.
I appreciate the nutritional information but I’m not seeing the serving size that this is based on. How much is considered 1 serving?
Hi Crystal, this recipe makes 8 servings, and the serving size is about 1 cup.
Chicken Chili LOOKS AMAZING. My friend posted it and sent me the recipe. However, I do not have an insta pot. Is there a NON Insta pot recipe ? otherwise will try to cook stove top and see how it comes out…..will take longer obviously.
thanks
Hi Tammy, I have a slow cooker white chili (essentially the same recipe).