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?
IS there a reason for putting ingredients in in a certain order? Then it says to mix them together and make sure liquid is under the chicken so it doesn’t burn. Doesn’t seem to matter but wondering?
Hi, The idea of ordering that way is so you don’t end up with chicken floating at the top (it cooks better in the chili) and you do want to add the cream cheese last. To avoid any kind of burn, you need to make sure you stir to get liquid under the chicken. If the chicken is sitting directly on the surface, it is more likely to scorch. You can also add 3/4 cup broth to 1 cup if your pot gives you problems with burning.
This has been my go-to recipe for white chicken chili since I first bought my Instant Pot 4 years ago! My husband requested it tonight during our 10th wedding anniversary month-long celebration:)
Thank you so very much!
Good to know that, Marcee! Thanks for sharing and I’m happy to hear that this has been your go-to recipe.
LOVE this chili! so flavorful! I really liked the addition of the ranch seasoning
So glad you enjoy this recipe! Thank you for the review.
Can you make this recipe on the stovetop or in a slow cooker?
Yes, I have a stove top chicken chili recipe HERE
Natasha, this has been my go to favorite white chicken chili recipe for several years now and just want to let you know that my family requests that I make this a few times a year. So good!
I use either chicken breasts or thighs depending on what I have. Do you have nutrition facts for this recipe? I’d like to track it in Myfitness Pal if possible.
Thanks 😊
Hi Yola! So glad you and your family enjoy this recipe! This recipe makes 8 (1 cup) servings. The nutrition facts are in the recipe card above.
The amounts can easily been entered in your diet program and it will calculate. Otherwise, each product has the nutritional values printed on the packaging.
I made this tonight for my family and they raved about it.
I used a whole smallish rotisserie chicken (about 3.5 cups of chicken) and fresh corn (from 4 cobs, cut off the cob). Oh, and half a seeded jalapeno, diced (I like a little heat). Other than that, it was verbatim.
I will be making this again, often.
Thank you for the recipe!
Sounds great! I’m glad that worked out well, thank you for the good review, Tom!
Natasha, Is there an alternate for Ranch Dip mix? I have everything in the crockpot at this time but dont have the ranch mix and I live 15 miles from town. I do have ranch salad dressing or ranch chip container dip, or should I just leave it out? Mike
Hi Mike! I haven’t used ranch dressing in here, but it could work. Another option is to use your favorite herbs and spices to make a homemade mix, things such as garlic powder, onion powder, chives, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, etc…
Looove this recipe, it’s my family’s favorite. If I want to double for a big crowd could I do that in a 6 qt instant pot?
Hi Jaclyn, someone commented this “I just doubled it tonight in my 6 qt. and cooked it for the same amount of time as the single recipe calls for. It came out perfect!” I hope that helps.
We do love this recipe! We are start to count our calories intake daily and need to know How many cup is per serving for this recipe and all other recipe in your website? Thank you!
Hi Stephania. I’m glad you enjoy this recipe. This recipe serves 8 (1 cup per serving). All of my recipes have nutrition facts listed and I also mention how many servings are per recipe. You can also adjust the servings per each recipe if you want to make a larger or smaller amount. You do this by hovering your cursor over the number of servings in red and sliding it to decrease or increase the servings. You’ll have to look at the recipe card for each individual recipe to find the servings amount. Not all servings are measured in cups.
We love this recipe, I double it all the time, but only do about 10 oz of cream cheese!! My daughter is vegetarian now, so I am thinking about modifying. Veggie stock, and adding diced potatoes instead of chicken. Would you change the liquid, thinking of increasing broth? Thoughts?
Hi Tanya, I would increase the broth, although I haven’t tried that myself to advise.
FYI It worked GREAT! If you ever need to make this vegetarian, I diced 4 russet potatoes, veggie broth 14.5oz, and knocked the cooking time down to 10 min. with a 10 min slow release. My family loved it. You could also dice a cooked chicken for individuals to throw in their own bowls when serving.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Tanya! I’m so glad it worked out!
Is that for the regular recipe or doubled? And if doubled what size instant pot do you use? I have a 6 qt and wondering if I can double it in that. Thanks!
I made this last night and I think my husband wants to marry me all over again! I followed the recipe and it turned out great! I may have added a little more chili powder, but this is a keeper!!
Haha! Thank you for sharing, Kat. So glad you found a keeper!
Hello! Can I use frozen chicken breasts? If so, how long is the cook time? Thank you!
Hi Stephanie, 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.
How important is the ranch packet? I don’t have one and don’t really like ranch flavoring. Can I add additional spices instead?
Hi Tina, 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.
WOW! This was amazing! I doubled the recipe, I didn’t have corn so I added more broth and an extra can of green chilies. And instead of the ranch seasoning packet, I added garlic and onion powder and some seasoning salt and it came out delicious! Can’t wait to make it again
Fantastic! Thank you for the review and for sharing your experiment! I’m glad you enjoy this recipe.
Did you double the recipe in the 6 qt instant pot? I’d love to make this for a bigger crowd.
I’ve made this recipe a few times and love it! I use 3 chicken breasts but kept everything else the same and really enjoyed the extra meat in it. Oh we did add extra green chile, we like it spicy.
This is a very easy meal to make in the instant pot and it’s so flavorful! I was making it for an easy cold day meal but will be making it pretty often with how easy and tasty it is!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Kell! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can I used Costco canned chicken? Their cans are large (12.5 oz) – how many cans would be the equivalent of “2 large chicken breasts?”
Hi Dave, I have not tested this but I think it would be fine. I don’t know what adjustments are needed since the chicken is already cooked. You might be able to add the chicken in towards the end. In my experience, an average size chicken breast is about 6oz. I don’t know how many cans you’d need but I would aim for at least 12oz or more.
One of our favorite recipes, can it be frozen? If so for how long. Im leaving out of town and trying to stock up of dinners for hubbie
Hi Lynn, I haven’t tried freeezing this recipe but one of my readers has and it sounds like it works! Here’s what they said “We freeze leftovers In a ziploc bag all the time and they reheat beautifully! I prefer to reheat slowly on the stove and usually add just a touch of liquid to start it out. You’d never know it had been frozen. One of our absolute favorite go to recipes!” I hope this helps!
I made this last night. My husband is not a fan of white chicken chili at all, but I have always loved it and I figured he could eat a hot dog if he didn’t want any chili. He absolutely loved it! He ate a huge bowl and he scraped it clean. I loved it , too. So easy and so full of flavor. I kept thinking I must have forgotten something, but no, it was just that easy. I was a little bit short of cumin because I have no idea what I did with the new bottle, but it was still yummy. I had to make one change and only because I am out of Rotel…I subbed in one can of diced tomatoes and a 4oz can of diced green chiles.
This recipe is a keeper! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Wow! I’m so glad he loved this too! Thank you for sharing your fantastic review with me, Karyn! I’m so excited it’s a keeper!
I made this recipe tonight and it was a big hit with my family, including my 12 year old sometimes picky eater. This will definitely be on my rotation.
Also, for those asking, I doubled the recipe and cooked for the same amount of time and it was perfect!
You know it’s good when the picky eater agrees! Thank you for sharing your awesome feedback, Lori!
Amazing!!! Delicious!! I made exactly as recipe says, turned out perfect. My 5 and 8 year old loved it. We added the cilantro and avocado with tortilla chips.
Great to hear that you both loved the recipe! Thank you for your good comments and feedback, Chelsea.
Hi first, i wanna say thank you for all your lovely recipes. My question is can you double this white chicken chili recipe or would it not turn out. I have a big family thank you in advance
Hi Dawn, I haven’t doubled it myself to advise on the cook time adjustment. Reading through the comments, I’m not seeing our readers mentioning they doubled it, but I imagine a few extra minutes wouldn’t hurt it. One of my readers mentioned the following: “I have doubled the recipe and added extra chicken and did not need to adjust cook time. Fantastic recipe – thank you!” I hope this helps!
I just doubled it tonight in my 6 qt. and cooked it for the same amount of time as the single recipe calls for. It came out perfect!
I’m so happy to hear it came out perfect! Thank you for sharing that with us!
Love all the recipes, Can I make this in the slow cooker? I need to be out of the house all day and I think this would work. Has anyone tried it?
Hi Diana, we sure can! We have the slow cooker version pinned HERE.