White Chicken Chili

I made white chicken chili about 14 years ago and it was my first dish to make with that many ingredients. It was great, but I had not yet begun to love cooking.  It seemed to take all day, I was too overwhelmed, and I never repeated that recipe. 

Fast forward to this past Thursday night, I had all of these ingredients on hand, threw it together and had it on the table in under and hour.

“How do I use up my leftover/almost expired X ingredients” is my most common thought while planning dinner. I had a head on cauliflower that was on borrowed time and some chicken thighs with the same life span. Pinterest helped me out. I typed both into the search and came across white chicken chili.  

I did what I always do and scrolled to the bottom of the page for the ingredients. I checked most boxes, so I got started. I love chili because you just dump and simmer. But I didn’t have canned green chili’s which this recipe generally calls for.   Instead I sautéed onion and also an orphaned poblano … I turned the rest of the peppers into taco stuffed peppers Monday.  

It was a great addition!  You can also throw this all in a crock pot.  

A photo of a bowl of chili.
Jess prefers making a white chili when using chicken as the protein.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb cooked boneless skinless chicken chopped or shredded
  • 1 can Rotel
  • 1 head of cauliflower, roasted 
  • 2 tspn oil
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped 
  • 1 poblano pepper Chopped
  • 1 tsp  Cumin powder
  • 1 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1.5 tsp chili powder 
  • 1.5 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 tap black pepper
  • 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
  • 1 brick of cream cheese (room temperature)
  • Salt to taste
A bowl of white chili.
Although it is called “white,” the seasonings ultimately changes the color.

Directions:

  1. Either you can throw this all in a crockpot on low in the morning, (the chicken can be raw that method) and eat when you get home, or cook it like this… 
  2. Preheat oven to 375.
  3. Chop up cauliflower, drizzle with olive oil  and roast on parchment paper lined baking sheet for 15 minutes. 
  4. While that’s cooking, in a large pot, heat oil, onion and poblano and sauté for 4ish minutes.  
  5. Add chicken stock and cream cheese and stir until melted. 
  6. Add all remaining ingredients including cauliflower when it’s done roasting. 
  7. Simmer for 15 minutes. 
  8. Enjoy!

You can add cheese, sour cream, avocado, cheese chip … whatever you’d like. 

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