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I’m a sucker for a good bowl of soup, no matter what time of year. But, now that the really chilly months are here, I’m even more excited to share this slow cooker white chicken chili recipe that I love to make for my family and friends often. It’s always a huge hit and perfectly combines both creamy and subtlety spicy elements. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can also make this chili on your stop-top by combing everything and just letting it sit — so easy and delicious!

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili Ingredients
Onion & Garlic: The building blocks of pretty much any soup recipe is onion and garlic. They add a base of beautiful flavor to soup and perfectly caramelize in the pot to prepare it for the other ingredients. A sweet yellow onion is best but feel free to substitute for a red onion for a bit of a different flavor.
Peppers & Chiles: Adding in chopped jalapeno peppers and a can of green chiles adds a bit of spice to the chili. Depending on how spicy you’d like your soup to be, you can choose to deseed the jalapeno or you can choose to keep the seeds to make it extra spicy.
Chicken: For the white chicken chili, I recommend using boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You could also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs as a replacement but I prefer the breasts in this recipe because it shreds much better than thighs. I’ve also made this with turkey breast before and it was delicious!
Chicken Broth: Chicken broth serves as the main liquid in the recipe. Depending on how you prefer the thickness of your chili, you can add less of more of the broth. As you guys probably know by now, my absolute favorite broth is Kettle & Fire. You can use my code JENN20 here to save money on your order!
Spices: The spices you’ll need for this recipe include salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and smoked paprika. These are some of the spices commonly found in chili recipes, which contributes to the smoky, chili-like flavors of the soup. You can adjust the spices to your liking as well.
Corn: Adding a can of sweet corn to the chili is one of the most important additions to the recipe in my opinion. It not only adds that sweetness to contrast the spiciness of the peppers and saltiness of the other ingredients, it also adds another texture that thickens the bite.
Coconut Milk: Full-fat, canned coconut milk is the best option for the white chicken chili. It adds the creaminess to the soup that I love. You won’t taste the coconut, but if you’d like to use something different, feel free to use half and half or even whole milk as a replacement if you don’t need to keep it dairy-free.
Lime: If you’re going to miss any of the ingredients in this recipe, definitely do not miss the lime! You’ll ideally like to get a fresh lime so you can first zest the outside directly into the post, then squeeze its juice. If you don’t have a zester, just add more lime juice to make up for it.
Cilantro: Fresh cilantro is the finishing touch that is mixed into the soup. I love pairing cilantro with spicy recipes because the contrast is so tasty. Be sure to save some extra cilantro to top off each soup both with, alongside any other topping you prefer such as extra jalapeno slices or shredded cheese.

How To Make Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Step One: Turn on the slow cooker to the high 6-hour setting, then add in the avocado oil, chopped onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers and green chiles.
Step Two: Place the raw chicken breasts on top of the vegetables and cover everything with the chicken broth. If the broth doesn’t completely cover the chicken, add in enough to cover it.
Step Three: Cover the slow cooker and let cook for four to five hours, until the chicken in fully cooked. This will vary based on thickness of the chicken, so check for doneness with a meat thermometer at 160 degrees if you have it.


Step Four: Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and shred it with an electric mixer or two forks. Place the shredded chicken back in the pot.
Step Five: Add in the salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and smoked paprika, as well as the corn, coconut milk, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro. Give everything a big stir and cover the pot again.
Step Six: Let the chili cook for another hour or two to allow for the flavors to mix, then switch the setting to keep warm until serving. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days or in the freezer.
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SLOW COOKER WHITE CHICKEN CHILI (GF, DF)
4-6
servings20
minutes4
hoursGluten-Free, Dairy-Free
I’m a sucker for a good bowl of soup, no matter what time of year. But, now that the really chilly months are here, I’m even more excited to share this slow cooker white chicken chili recipe that I love to make for my family and friends often. It’s always a huge hit and perfectly combines both creamy and subtlety spicy elements. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can also make this chili on your stop-top by combing everything and just letting it sit — so easy and delicious!
Ingredients
2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and chopped
1 4oz can green chiles
1 + 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breast
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 + 1/2 cup sweet corn
1 15oz can full-fat coconut milk
juice + zest of 1 lime
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions
- Turn on the slow cooker to the high 6-hour setting, then add in the avocado oil, chopped onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers and green chiles.
- Place the raw chicken breasts on top of the vegetables and cover everything with the chicken broth. If the broth doesn’t completely cover the chicken, add in enough to cover it.
- Cover the slow cooker and let cook for four to five hours, until the chicken in fully cooked. This will vary based on thickness of the chicken, so check for doneness with a meat thermometer at 160 degrees if you have it.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and shred it with an electric mixer or two forks. Place the shredded chicken back in the pot.
- Add in the salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and smoked paprika, as well as the corn, coconut milk, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro. Give everything a big stir and cover the pot again.
- Let the chili cook for another hour or two to allow for the flavors to mix, then switch the setting to keep warm until serving. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days or in the freezer.
Notes
- If you’d like to make this recipe on a stovetop rather than slow cooker, you’ll want to cook the chicken separately and shred it on its own. Start by sautéing the onion and garlic in the avocado oil until soft. Then add in the jalapenos, green chiles, salt, black pepper, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes and paprika. Cook for a few minutes, until aromatic, then pour in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and add in the chicken, corn, coconut milk, lime and cilantro. Let simmer until serving.
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