White chicken chili is the pale, creamy answer to the red beef kind — shredded chicken and white beans in a broth built on green chiles, cumin, and oregano, thickened by pureeing part of the beans rather than by flour. Cream cheese stirred in at the end makes it velvety without turning it into soup-with-cream. It's mild enough for a weeknight, and the bowl gets finished at the table with lime, coriander, and a handful of grated cheese.
Ingredients
- 700 gchicken breast
- 800 ggreat northern beans
- 120 ggreen chiles
- 900 mlchicken stock
- 120 gcream cheese
- 1 pcsonion
- 150 gsweet corn
- 2 tspground cumin
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 pcslime
- 100 gmonterey jack
- 1 bunchcoriander
Method
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01
Chop the onion and cook it in a little oil in a large pot over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the minced garlic, ground cumin, dried oregano, and a pinch of cayenne, and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
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02
Pour in the chicken stock and the green chiles with their liquid, then slide in the whole chicken breasts. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook 18–20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
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03
Lift out the chicken, let it cool a few minutes, and shred it with two forks. Keep the pot at a low simmer.
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04
Scoop about a third of the drained beans into a blender with a ladleful of the hot broth and puree until smooth. This is what thickens the chili — there is no flour in it.
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05
Stir the pureed beans back into the pot along with the remaining whole beans and the sweet corn. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes so it reduces and the flavours settle.
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06
Lower the heat until the surface barely moves, then whisk in the cubed cream cheese a piece at a time until it melts completely. Don't let it boil after this point or the dairy will split.
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07
Return the shredded chicken, warm it through, and season with salt, pepper, and the juice of the lime. Serve topped with grated monterey jack, chopped coriander, and extra lime wedges.
Note from Sergei
“The thickening is the whole trick. Blending a third of the beans with hot broth gives body and a creamy texture without a roux, without cornstarch, and without drowning the dish in cream — which is why this stays a chili and not a chowder. The cream cheese goes in afterwards for richness, not for thickness.”
Once the dairy is in, keep the pot below a simmer. Boiling cream cheese or sour cream after it has been stirred through will curdle it into grainy specks that won't come back together. And add the lime juice off the heat at the very end — cooked lime turns dull and slightly bitter.
