White Chicken Chili
Shredded chicken and creamy white beans in a light, green-chile broth of poblano, Anaheim and jalapeño, finished with lime, cilantro and scallions.
Chicken in chili is older than it looks. Food etymologist Barry Popik found "Chili and Chicken" on a Phoenix menu in 1901 and chicken chili recipes in newspapers from the 1920s on. "White chili", made with chicken and white beans and no tomatoes, is newer: the first printed recipe Popik found is in "Beyond Parsley", a 1984 cookbook from the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri. Popik also quotes a 1977 New York Times report that during the Texas chili debate one legislator, a gumbo fan, demanded to know whether anyone had ever heard of "chicken chili".
🇺🇸 This one is American
Shredded chicken and creamy white beans in a light, green-chile broth of poblano, Anaheim and jalapeño, finished with lime, cilantro and scallions.
🇺🇸 The original
The Texas bowl of red is chunks of beef simmered with dried chiles and spices until tender. No beans, and in the strict version no tomatoes. See the Texas Bowl of Red (San Antonio Chili con Carne) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Blended beans for body
Puréeing some of the beans with the vegetables and broth thickens the chili without cream or flour (ATK).
Three green chiles
Poblano, Anaheim and jalapeño together give earthy, fruity and hot notes, so a pale chili still tastes like chili.
Step by step
- Step 1
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the chicken skin side down without moving it, about 4 minutes, then turn and brown the other side 2 minutes. Move it to a plate and pull off and discard the skin.
- Step 2
Seed and mince 1 jalapeño (save the other). Pulse the poblanos, Anaheims and onion in a food processor, 10 to 12 one-second pulses, until they look like chunky salsa.
- Step 3
Pour off all but 1 tbsp fat and lower the heat to medium. Add the minced jalapeño, the chile mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft.
- Step 4
Blend 3/4 cup of the cooked vegetables with 3/4 cup of the beans and 3/4 cup of the broth until smooth, about 20 seconds. Pour it back into the pot with the remaining broth and the chicken and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on medium-low 15 to 20 minutes, until the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F.
- Step 5
Move the chicken to a plate. Stir the remaining beans into the pot and simmer uncovered 10 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Step 6
Shred the chicken, discarding the bones. Mince the second jalapeño (keep the seeds for more heat). Stir the chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions and jalapeño into the pot and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
White Chicken Chili
Serves 4 (about 1 1/2 cups each) · about 6 cups · 1 hr 10 min total
Chicken
- 2 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, trimmed
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Green chiles and aromatics
- 2 jalapeños
- 2 poblano chiles, stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces
- 2 Anaheim chiles, stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces
- 1 large onion, cut into large pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
Chili
- 2 cups canned cannellini beans (from two 15 oz cans), drained and rinsed
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsp minced cilantro
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
To serve
- Optional: sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack, tortilla chips
Method
- Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the chicken skin side down without moving it, about 4 minutes, then turn and brown the other side 2 minutes. Move it to a plate and pull off and discard the skin.
- Seed and mince 1 jalapeño (save the other). Pulse the poblanos, Anaheims and onion in a food processor, 10 to 12 one-second pulses, until they look like chunky salsa.
- Pour off all but 1 tbsp fat and lower the heat to medium. Add the minced jalapeño, the chile mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft.
- Blend 3/4 cup of the cooked vegetables with 3/4 cup of the beans and 3/4 cup of the broth until smooth, about 20 seconds. Pour it back into the pot with the remaining broth and the chicken and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on medium-low 15 to 20 minutes, until the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F.
- Move the chicken to a plate. Stir the remaining beans into the pot and simmer uncovered 10 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Shred the chicken, discarding the bones. Mince the second jalapeño (keep the seeds for more heat). Stir the chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions and jalapeño into the pot and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "White Chicken Chili" by Sandra Wu (2013), scaled to two thirds (from 6 to 8 servings to 4). We cook the chicken to 165°F (USDA FSIS) instead of ATK's 160°F. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Wash the processor bowl only after step 4; ATK reuses it unwashed for the bean purée.
- Thighs work too: ATK says cook them to 175°F, about 40 minutes.
- Wear gloves when seeding the jalapeños (CSU Extension).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Chicken is done at 160°F. Disputed: ATK pulls breasts at 160°F; USDA FSIS says all poultry 165°F. We follow FSIS.
- White chili was born in Kansas City. Disputed: the earliest printed recipe Barry Popik found is the 1984 Kansas City Junior League book; other food writers place it in the Southwest without a dated source.
- Chicken chili is a modern invention. Documented as false: chicken chili was on menus by 1901 (Barry Popik).
- No tomatoes, white beans, green chiles. Documented as the definition of white chili (Wikipedia; Barry Popik).
- A white cheese or sour cream on top. Documented as common (Wikipedia names Monterey Jack and sour cream).
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