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?
I haven’t made this yet. Is the time reduced if I use rotisserie chicken? Seems like it should be greatly reduced. Thanks
One of my readers reported using chicken meat from a fully cooked rotisserie chicken – it seems she added it with everything else as usual with great results & without any other changes. I hope that helps.
I’ve made lots of Natasha’s recipes and this is hands down my favorite and my family’s favorite for that matter. Additionally, it’s one of the easiest recipes on the website to make! This is a must try recipe so get to cooking!!! It’s also easy to change it up and add more beans, corn or tomatoes as you prefer.
Thank you for sharing, Dan! I’m so glad you love my recipes.
Hi! Wanting to make this with a slow cooker. Any adjustments I should make? Thank you!
Hi! You can follow the slow cooker version HERE.
So easy to throw in the ingredients for a quick yummy dinner. We topped with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips. So good!
Thank you for your good comments and feedback, Megan!
I make this recipe several times a month, everybody loves it so much. Quick question though, if I swap out the chicken breast with 1lb of chicken tenders since that is all I currently have, do you think I would reduce the cook time? Thanks 🙂
Hi Emmy! This is what one of my readers said, “Oh my goodness! This is SO good! And easy!! I had chicken tenders, so I changed it from 20 minutes to 17 and it was perfect. Thanks for sharing!” I hope that helps!
I literally make this on a weekly basis. It’s incredible!! I recommend eating some of it with tortilla chips
Hi Brittany! I love hearing that! It sounds like this is a family favorite!
SO GOOD!! I’ve made this recipe so many times I basically have it memorized! My whole family loves it! The more recent times I’ve made it I shred a rotisserie chicken and add it to the chili after it’s done pressure cooking. Instead of using raw chicken breasts and cooking them with the chili. Love this recipe will continue to make it for the rest of my life ❤️
Using rotisserie makes it even easier to make! I’m so glad you loved this recipe, Holly!
Absolutely love this recipe! Super easy, reheats well, have made it 5 times in last 6 weeks. Made it exactly as written first two times, and then tweaked it just a smidge for my personal preferences. I like spicy, so added one small can of Rotel chopped green chilis, used fire roasted cans of Rotel tomatoes and fire roasted corn, and use 4 oz of greek style cream cheese (1/3 less fat than reg cream cheese) and 2 oz of greek 1% yogurt. Use some Cholula poblano jalapeno hot sauce with other garnishes, and now my mouth is watering. Good thing I have batch #6 in Instant pot right now! 🙂
That sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad you love this recipe.
All I can say is Wow! So much good flavor! I followed the recipe as-is and loved it. Thanks!!
That’s great, Phil! I’m so glad you loved the recipe.
I absolutely love this and how it’s so simple and easy to make! Are there any variations or substitutes for the beans and corn so that I can make this keto friendly? I would still love to have the exact same taste and flavors, but just less carbs. Thank you!
Hi Stephanie! I have not tested any substitutions. You could look at some other recipes for ideas. I think replacing it with some other vegetables may work but not sure how the texture would turn out in the instant pot.
This was fantastic! Quick and very flavorful meal in a pinch. I would definitely use this as a freezer meal to prep all the ingredients and then dump n go on the night of. Super simple! Only changes I made (in error when I prepped it but turned out excellent) was to put a full packet of the Ranch mix and a lot more than a tsp of Cumin.
Will double up next time! No leftovers for a family of 5!
So glad you loved it, Claudia! Thank you for sharing.
I know I’m in the minority but I am not a fan of this white chicken chili. The ranch seasoning paired with 8oz of cream cheese give this a very luxurious flavor but it doesn’t pair well with the southwest inspired ingredients. The cumin and chili powder just don’t do enough. Maybe swapping ranch for taco/fajita seasoning would be better? I realize now I prefer Greek yogurt/cream versus cream cheese.
Only change I made was I used leftover chicken from the chicken I roasted. Was amazing and came together in 6 minutes
Glad you enjoyed this, Lisa!
Can I used cooked leftover turkey for this? I have leftovers from Thanksgiving I want to use. Original recipe is amazing btw!!!
Hi Luba, I bet that cold work. One of my readers, LaTasha reported using chicken meat from a fully cooked rotisserie chicken – it seems she added it with everything else as usual with great results & without any other changes. I hope that helps.
This is one of the best recipes I have made in the Instant Pot. I used frozen chicken breasts and cooked for 30 min as another user suggested. It was perfect! Corn still came out crisp and nothing was overcooked. I doubled the recipe but forgot a 2nd pack of ranch seasoning and I accidentally put in 2 tbsp instead of tsp of chili powder, but the flavor was incredible. Might just keep doing it that way from now on. Topped with Colby Jack cheese and tortilla strips. Thank you for this recipe! Even hubby says “It’s so good we aren’t sharing the extra with anyone”
Haha! That’s great, Samantha! I’m so glad it was a hit.
can i use frozen chicken breast in the instant pot or will that make the texture weird?
Hi Rachel, I bet that could work! 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.
Hi, this may be an obvious answer but would you recommend cutting back on cream cheese or adding more broth to make it more like soup? This recipe looks delicious and actually want to make it for a “meal train” I am signed on!
Hi Peggy! Yes- I think adding more broth would help. You’d have to experiment with it.
This is our favorite chili recipe. I entered it this year in our neighborhood chili cookoff and took home first place! I do not have an InstantPot, so I just use an old fashion pressure cooker and it comes out great every time.
That’s awesome, Jerry! I’m so glad to hear that. Thanks for sharing.
I entered this recipe in a chili kick off with about 20 other chilis and it got 4th place with the pot completely empty! Will be making again!
That’s wonderful! So glad to hear that. Thanks for sharing.
I absolutely love this recipe. I’ve been making it in a 3 quart instant pot. But I now want to make it for 12 or more people. How should I adjust the recipe and cooking in a six quarter?
Hi Karen, I always make this in my 6 qt instant pot and it should serve about 8 people as written. If you wanted to adjust it, you could click on servings and adjust the ingredient list. I hope that helps!