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?
Considering I don’t like chili and beans great compliment we loved it! I did saute onions and garlic first, used frozen breasts 30 hp than 10 nor and than added cream cheese and stirred really good. Served with tortilla chips and topped with sour cream and shredded cheese
Great to hear that you loved the results, Holly!
This recipe sucked. My beans wasn’t even done & everything in the pot was dry. Highly upset.
Hi Lakesa, it sounds like maybe you used raw beans? Those need to be cooked separately and usually for hours before using them in recipes. We have a tutorial on how to cook beans that may be helpful. You definitely should not put raw beans into this recipe as it is not enough time to cook them through.
You must have used dry beans. The recipe calls for canned beans. That would make a huge difference. I have made this so many times, I can make it without looking at the recipe, and it turns out great every time. It never sucks.
Can this be made in a crock pot? How long would I cook it -and what temp
Hi Janine, we have slow cooker instructions for Crockpot Chili here.
My family loves when I make this super simple but delicious recipe!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
I made this for my husband and son and it was a hit! I love using my instant pot. So happy you had a recipe that worked perfectly.
Hello Sandra, that’s great! I’m glad your family enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for your review!
This is more a soup than a chili and is bland. I even doubled the chili powder and added extra cumin. No one in my family enjoyed it until each added a bunch of things to make it more flavorful.
Hi Cheryl, I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy it. Did you make any changes or leave anything out like the ranch packet?
This is the BEST chili recipe, and I hate chili! This will always be a weekly dinner staple. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Sam!
Hi Natasha, have you tried this with starting with dry beans in the IP? I’m trying to get away from using canned good. Wondering if you’d tried cooking the beans in the IP along with the rest of the ingredients or if they needed to be fully cooked first.
I have not had the chance to test that out just yet, if you do please let me know how it goes!
Hi Natasha! We don’t have ranch dressing around here (hi there, from sunny Lisbon, Portugal). Can I omit it entirely or can I sub with something else? Thanks in advance!
Hi Marta, I think it could still work with a little garlic powder, onion powder, and a little more of the seasonings already in the recipe. You may need to add more salt to taste as well. Let me know how it goes.
This is really good! I have made it twice in 3 weeks and eat the leftovers for lunch. The first time I tried to double the recipe in my 6QT IP – don’t recommend that 😉 I do recommend adding a can of hatch green chillis just because they are so good! I will be making this on repeat this winter!
That’s awesome! Thank you, Michelle, for your great comments and feedback!
Hi Michelle, why did doubling the recipe in your 6 qt IP not turn out?
This was SO good! I probably would have never thought to add a ranch packet to chili, but it was SO good! I sautéed the onion with some garlic in my pot before adding everything, but otherwise it was incredible as is. Thanks for this recipe! Will be bookmarking & sharing!!
Isn’t it the best!! I’m so glad you loved it, Katie! Thank you for sharing your excellent review with me!
Serious question. My cream cheese didn’t melt and make it creamy. Instead, even when stirred it became soup like with little dots of cream cheese spread throughout. I thought about stirring more, but the black beans tended to make it turk darker. Does anyone know how to prevent and fix this?
Hi Jason, did you make sure to use the dip ranch and not the basic ranch seasoning? Also, you can use less liquid if you would like it to be thicker. I noticed if I use less chicken, that may also make it less thick. I hope this helps!
Hi Jason! I use low-fat cream cheese so it doesn’t melt as well as full-fat. What I’ve been doing to “fix” that problem is to use a big balloon whisk before returning the shredded chicken to the pot. Just whisk until the lumps are gone. I had originally worried about this mashing the beans but I can’t say that we’ve had that problem. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times & it’s worked each time! Hope this helps!
I also was finding the cream cheese in little dots. Instead of adding it to the Instant Pot, prepare it separately and add it afterwards. Melt the cream cheese in a sauce pan on the stove, stirring to keep it creamy. Now slowly add a can of chicken broth to the pan whisking as you go – this makes a very smooth cream sauce. Then before you add the shredded chicken back into the Instant Pot, stir this sauce into the Instant Pot stuff. This change to the recipe made all the difference in the taste and appearance of the chili. Love, love, love it!
Fry up your own corn chips in coconut oil and garnish with cilantro, avocado and lime. OHMYGOODNESSIT’SSODELICIOUS!!
Can you use ground chicken instead? Thank you
Hi Sue, I haven’t tried that but you would probably be adding a step with ground chicken – it would be best to cook that on the sautee function before adding everything else.
WOW!! This white chicken chile is SOOO delicious!! It was so easy to put together and the taste is delicious. Definitely the best chicken chile I’ve ever had! I don’t like cilantro, but I did put a little on top and it tasted so good! Please keep your wonderful recipes coming! I love your videos, too!
Hello Robin, great to hear from you. Thanks for your good comments and feedback, happy to know that you enjoyed this recipe!
Due to low sodium restrictions do you know the dry bean equivalent? I know I would have to cook the beans first and strain.
Hi Susie, I bet that could work. Because beans require a long cooking time, they really need to be cooked separately. I have a post on how to cook beans here.
I also live LoSo – I would am making this tonight and using no salt added beans – keeps it at like 30 or 45 mg in an entire can of beans. I am using homemade loso ranch powder, and No salt added Broth, lower sodium fresh chicken, no salt added Rotel. Should keep it pretty low. Natasha has it at about 451mg in 1 cup serving- so guessing can get this down by a 100 or more with modifications. #lowsodiumfoodieibe
I don’t even remember how nor from where this recipe popped up this morning – but I quickly ran to my pantry and saw that I had all the ingredients. OMGoodness – it is so, so wonderful.
I love your entertaining videos and will be perusing more of your recipes – they all seem so easy and look so good. Keep smiling, and keep us all smiling — and thank you for the wonderful dinner!!
I’m so glad you had everything on hand – that’s exactly what I love about this recipe!
Hi Natasha. I totally love your recipes! I just wanted to ask if you had another recommendation besides ranch for this dish, I’m just not a big fan of the flavor. TIA?
Hi Danielle, you could leave it out and add more of the other seasonings, but you can’t taste the ranch flavor in the finished dish, it just adds nice flavor notes. You wouldn’t be able to detect that there was ranch seasoning in there if you didn’t know it was added.
When I see “chili” I think “spicy” – will this be spicy? If so, what do I have to adjust or eliminate to make it less spicy?
Hi Dave, this recipe is not spicy. I’ve had several readers mention they chose to add cayenne to make it spicy! I hope you try and love it soon!
My daughter and I cook via FaceTime every Sunday. We’ve made a lot of recipes from Natasha’s Kitchen and this one didn’t disappoint. We like our food spicy so we doubled the amount of chili powder. Also, it was very rich and creamy, so I would probably use half a package of cream cheese next time. Thank you for such a delicious recipe Natasha. It’s a keeper for sure!
Hello Leslie, that’s a great bonding with your daughter, I’m glad you are enjoying the recipes that you have tried! Thanks for sharing, we appreciate the review.
Chili does not mean spicy. What is put in it makes it spicy.
My sister is allergic to tomatoes so I was going to omit those. Do I need to add a little more broth to compensate for the lack of juice from the tomatoes?
Hi Aly, I bet that could work! One of my readers mentions she omitted tomatoes – “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.” I hope this is helpful!
One of my favorite instant pot recipes. i have made this numerous times and it always comes out perfect. so easy too!
That’s fantastic, Alyssa. Thank you for your great comments and feedback!
Very good, I did a mixture of other beans too, added chopped peppers, a can of refried beans to thicken bc I didn’t have tons of cream cheese. I actually chopped the chicken and put insta pot on sauté while I added all other ingredients and by the time I was ready to put the lid on the chicken was nearly cooked all the way. I did about 6 min manual and natural release. FYI putting the pot to sauté prior to Turning on to manual heats the pot up abs takes less time to come to pressure!
Easy! Thanks
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!