Three Easy White Chicken Chili Recipes

Reading Time: 5 minutes
From shishito peppers to cumin, try these easy white chicken chili recipes for different tastes, all topped with toasted oyster crackers.
Story and photos by Rita Heikenfeld.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE times of year to make chili is during harvest in August and September. Why? Well, we have an abundance of both sweet and hot peppers ripening daily. This year, we’re growing shishito peppers as well, and I wanted to experiment with them in my classic chicken chili. Shishito peppers always offer a surprise. Most are mildly spicy but every once in a while I’ll run into a rogue pepper that packs some heat.
The ears on our late crop of silver queen corn are plump and full. And those little cloves of garlic we planter last fall have grown into full-crowned heads. See where I’m going here?
Late summer and early autumn is the perfect time for a supper of hearty, nutritious white chicken chili. Along with my recipe for white chicken chili with shishito peppers, I’m sharing two more chicken chili recipes that I hope you’ll try. As far as the herbs and spices in the recipes, go to taste. Remember, you can add more of any one ingredient, but you can’t take it away!
Chili made with rotisserie-roasted chicken gives the cook a “leg up” Rita grows her own shishito peppers. when it comes to meal prep.
Eat straight out of the bowl or serve buffet-style with an array of savory toppings. Protein-packed chicken chili is an easy, satisfying, and freezer friendly meal. You can substitute any poultry meat that suits your taste.

Chicken Chili Recipe With Shishito Peppers, Beans, & Corn
A combination of white and dark meat works well here. Since chicken tends to shred naturally as it cooks into the chili, I like to cut it into fairly large pieces prior to cooking.
Whatever white beans you have in the pantry will taste good. If you want beans that mash easily, cannellini would be my choice.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound or so cooked skinless, boneless, chicken, cut into large pieces
- 1 large onion, diced (yellow storage or white, not sweet onion)
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 3 large cloves garlic, diced
- 2 shishito peppers, seeded and sliced thin
- 4-ounce can fire-roasted green chilies, mild or hot, diced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 can black beans, drained, rinsed, and drained again
- 2 cans white beans (15.5 ounces each), drained
- 10 ounces frozen corn, thawed, or equivalent fresh or canned, drained
- 1 quart chicken broth, low fat, low sodium, or more if necessary
- Salt and cayenne or black pepper, to taste
- Garnish: You choose! Mexican blend cheese, sliced shishito or other peppers, sour cream, cilantro, avocado, green salsa, lime wedges.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour 3 tablespoons olive oil into the bottom of a soup pot and heat to medium.
- Stir in onion, bell pepper, garlic, and shishito peppers. Cook until onions soften.
- Add canned chilies, cumin, oregano, and coriander. Cook for a few minutes
- to blend flavors.
- Add beans, corn, broth, and chicken.
- Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, 20 minutes.
- If chili is too thick, add more broth a little at a time.
- Mash some of the beans with a potato masher to make a creamier chili. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Ladle into bowls with garnishes alongside.
Yield: 8 servings
Freeze up to 3 months.
Tips
No shishito peppers? Swap in one Anaheim. Green Anaheim peppers are mild; the red ones have more heat.
Punch up the heat even more by stirring in a teaspoon or so of your favorite chili powder blend when adding other seasonings.

Deli Roasted White Chicken Chili Recipe
Using a rotisserie-roasted chicken makes this easy, white chicken chili meal-in-a-pot a family favorite. When sautéing onions and garlic together, always add onions first and put the garlic on top. Garlic, with its natural sugar content, tends to burn easily. Leftovers make a yummy totable lunch.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 rotisserie chicken, skin and bones removed and shredded
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cans Great Northern beans (15.5 ounces each) drained
- 1 teaspoon chili powder blend
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 cups chicken broth or more, if necessary
- Salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Lightly coat a soup pot with olive oil over medium heat.
- Stir in onion and garlic. Cook until onions soften.
- Add chicken and beans and give it a good stir.
- Add chili powder, cumin, and broth.
- Lower heat to simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes or so.
- Adjust seasonings and serve.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Freeze up to 3 months.
Krista’s White Chicken Chili Recipe with Brown Rice
Krista is a member of our recipe group, and her recipe uses garlic powder along with the usual chili herbs. Krista stirs in sour cream and half and half right before serving to give the chili a creamy, rich texture. If substituting fresh garlic for the powder, use 2 cloves, minced.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound chicken breast, cut into half-inch cubes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 cans (15.5 ounces each) Great Northern beans, drained
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) low-sodium, low-fat chicken broth, or more if necessary
- 8-ounce can green chilies, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup half and half or milk
- 1 cup brown rice, cooked according to package directions
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add oil to soup pot over medium heat.
- Sauté chicken, onion, and garlic powder until chicken is no longer pink.
- Add beans, broth, chilies, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, lower to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and half and half.
- Adjust seasonings.
- Serve immediately with a scoop of brown rice per serving.
Yield: 8 servings
To freeze up to 3 months, don’t add sour cream and half and half. Stir those in when reheating.
Two-Way Roasted Oyster Cracker Recipe
Make a batch of chili-roasted or lemon pepper-roasted oyster crackers to serve alongside or to crumble on top of the chili.
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups oyster crackers
- 2 tablespoons oil
- Either 2 tablespoons chili pepper blend or lemon pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour oyster crackers into a bowl, drizzle oil on top and toss well.
- Then, sprinkle on chili powder blend or lemon pepper and toss again.
- Spread in single layer on cookie sheet and bake in preheated 275-degrees-Fahrenheit oven for about 15 minutes. Store covered in pantry for up to 2 weeks.

Rita Heikenfeld comes from a family of wise women in tune with nature. She’s a certified modern herbalist, culinary educator, author, and national media personality. Most important, she is a wife, mom, and grandma. Rita lives on a little patch of heaven overlooking the East Fork River in Clermont County, Ohio. She’s a former adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati, where she developed a comprehensive herbal course. rita@communitypress.com
Originally published in the August/September 2023 issue of Backyard Poultry magazine, and regularly vetted for accuracy.