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?
Super easy and delicious! Definitely a keeper. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review Nicole!
This was the BEST chicken chili I have had! Even my husband said it was delicious and got another helping. Normally he is not a huge fan of chicken chili, so him saying it was 5 starts was a big deal!
I left the corn out since I am allergic, but the spices called for were all perfect. I don’t usually have ranch packets on hand because most have some sort of corn based product or preservative so I found a recipe to make my own and it worked great! I never would have thought to put ranch type seasoning in my chili. Thank you!!!! This is going on our list of favorite recipes.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Veralyn!
Absolutely delicious! I did not have chicken breasts and Ranch Mix on hand. I used 4 skinless and bone-in chicken thighs. I sautéed onions in the instant pot for 5 min, removed them and browned chicken (seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, dry parsley, garlic powder, chili) 3 min per side. Then followed the recipe and it turned out heavenly delicious. Definitely going on my Instant Pot favorites list 🙂
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite Rachel!
Will this come out as well if done in a regular crock pot over the course of 5-6 hours?
Hi Laurel, I have crockpot / slow cooker instructions for cream cheese chili posted here. The instructions should be similar
So good! I used the chipotle Rotel, and added a chopped jalapeño. Everything else as listed. Best thing I’ve ever made in the pressure cooker! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it Scott!
Made this in a presto six quart conventional pressure cooker. Used the 1.0 oz Hidden Valley Ranch Dip packet. It came out perfect. I added a quarter cup hot sauce and 3 large Jalapeños because I think of Chili as hot. Possibly the best flavor of any dinner I’ve made. It really was an astounding yet simple meal. The cost split over two nights is less than most dinners would be.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Chris! That is exactly why we make this chili so often! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe & thank you for that awesome review!
How much of ranch dressing mix package is .04 oz ?? My pkg says 0.74 oz
Hi Leigh, see the section above titled: “What Size Ranch Dressing Mix Should I Use?”
I would like to freeze all of these ingredients together as a freezer meal for when my baby arrives. Do you know how long I should cook this for if i put everything except the cream cheese into the instant pot frozen?
Thanks!
Hi Michelle, 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 re-heating foods from frozen). I will definitely freeze a batch the next time I make this.” I hope this helps. Congratultions by the way!
Absolutely my favorite white chicken chili, especially excited that it’s in the instant pot.
I add fresh minced garlic and just one of the two chicken breasts. It’s DELICIOUS. Thank you for sharing the recipe! 🙏
Sounds like you found a new favorite! Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, Laura!
I would like to double this recipe to make for more people. What size pot would I need to double it? I have a
Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt
also, would I need to lengthen the cooking time. Thank you!
Hi Donna This should work just fine in an 8 qt pot but I have not tried doubling it in a 6 qt pot. One of our readers wrote: “I doubled the recipe in my 8 qt. Instapot and the recipe worked perfectly!” I hope this helps.
Hi Natasha. I made this soup tonight, and I got a burn notice, but it wasn’t the chicken that was burning, it was the beans! Do you have any tips for this? I managed to get the chicken cooked by scraping the bottom and trying again, even though it burned 2 more times.
Hi Elizabeth, that’s so interesting, I haven’t had that happen! We like to give it a nice rough stir so that some of the liquid goes to the bottom to avoid that.
I am excited to try this recipe this week! One question – could I cut the chicken into bite size pieces before cooking rather than taking it out and shredding afterwards? Would the cook time be the same? Thanks!
Hi, Kaitlyn, I feel that will change the texture somewhat. Since it is shredded towards the end and it will be tough to shred bite-size pieces. If you try that I would love to know how you like it!
My health concious husband wants this chili once a week as his “cheat” meal. It is so easy to make in the Instant Pot or in a Crock-Pot. I’ve always followed the recipe and had great results!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Rebecca!
Oh my word!! This was absolutely incredible! I added a touch of cayenne because I love extra heat and an extra can of white beans because why not 🙂 Amazing! Thank you so much
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it Rebecca!
Hi! I’m dying to make this, but we don’t have a IP or a slow cooker :(. Is there a way I can make this on the stove in a big pot?
Hi Tiffany, I haven’t tried it on the stovetop but I think you could make it work over low heat – get it to a simmer then cover and cook until the chicken is pull-apart tender. It should be close to the timing of the slow cooker – maybe a little faster since it may come to a simmer quicker.
So good and so simple!
This is the tastiest white chicken chili recipe I’ve ever tried! Whole family loves it! Only thing I do different is mix the cream cheese in with the hot shredded chicken before I mix it all back it. If I put it in first, it gets bit curdled but I seem to be one of the only ones who’s had this issue. Great either way!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Samantha! Thank you for sharing that with me.
Best chili of any flavor/variety ever! My hubby found this recipe and we loved it so much we’ve sent the link to it to quite a few friends who wanted to try it. I’m making it for the third time for dinner this evening and my mouth is already watering!!! Thanks!
Also, was just thinking… I write for a blog and am looking for some fun new articles to write. Would it be ok if one of these days I write an article that may include mention of this recipe (I wouldn’t publish the recipe in the article but would just show a few pics of me prepping it and a serving bowl ready to eat with the chili in it and then would give credit for the recipe to your blog and hyperlink readers to this page to get the recipe from you if they want to try it). I review products, too, but am needing a bit of a break and a change of subject matter to recharge and reinvigorate myself as a writer. 🙂
Hi Wendy, that would be fine and thank you in advance for sharing and linking back to the original recipe.
This recipe came out amazing! I did tweak the recipe. I used shredded rotisserie fully cooked chicken from Costco. My family loved it. Especially my 9 year old who loves White Chicken Chili. Stated this was the best she ever tasted.
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great Latasha! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
That is a great tip and a bit of a time saver if someone finds a good price on a rotisserie chicken at the store or just has several leftover chicken breasts from another dinner they want to use up!
Finally got around to getting myself an instapot, took me only a week to get it out of the box! 😆 Making this chili right now, 2nd time with week. Sooo delicious! (Also made eggs in it last night, 10 mins per your instructions and they turned out perfect!!) Thank you for another amazing, super easy recipe! More instapot recipes pretty please! Thank you! ❤️
I’m so happy you got one Liliya!!That’s so great!
I have not yet tried this recipe since I don’t have an Instapot, but the ingredients sound great. Has anyone tried this with either a slow cooker or just stovetop pot?
Hi Vera, yes! Here is the slow cooker version of our white chicken chili. An oldie but goodie.
Thanks! I’ll have to try it.
Made this for dinner last night and it is amaaazing!!! Definitely going to make again and again!!!
That’s so great! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Danyell! Thank you for sharing this awesome review with me!
Made this today for a family gathering. Doubled the recipe in an 8 quart instapot and it just fit. Used chicken thighs instead of breasts, added the juice of 1 lime and chopped, fresh cilantro. Served with toppings bar: Jack cheese, chopped avacado tossed in fresh lime juice, plain sour cream, sour cream with lime zest. Everyone LOVED it! Thanks so much for sharing this winner!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Did you change the time needed to cook at all for doubling it?!