This Easy Green Chicken Chili is a healthy and comforting one pot soup made with salsa verde and white beans. Naturally gluten free, it’s a perfect weeknight meal for the whole family!
What’s healthy, filling, easy to make and requires only one pot from start to finish? Hint hint – you’re looking at it right now!
This Easy Green Chicken Chili is full of some of my favorite flavors – creamy and hearty white beans, tangy and slightly spicy salsa verde and savory onions and garlic. Top it with some freshly squeezed lime juice, cilantro and avocado and you’ve got yourself a perfect meal for a cozy day.
Why This Easy Green Chicken Chili Is Great
- It’s a warm and comforting dish that will take the chill off.
- This chicken chili verde is really easy to make and has super fast cleanup because you make everything in just one pot!
- This soup is sure to keep you full and satisfied for hours until your next meal.
How To Make Green Chicken Chili
In a medium pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add in onions, poblano peppers and green chiles. Saute for 10 minutes, until onions and poblanos have softened.
Feel free to remove the seeds from the poblanos if you don’t want it slightly spicy. You can also adjust the heat level by using either mild or hot diced green chiles.
Next, add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so, until fragrant.
Add chicken breasts, chicken broth, salsa verde, salt, cumin, dried oregano and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
I love using my homemade salsa verde in this recipe, but if you’re short on time, your favorite store-bought version will work just fine.
Then, uncover and discard bay leaf. Remove the chicken from the pot and transfer to a plate. Carefully shred the chicken with a fork and transfer it back into the pot. Add the white beans, bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
I used Great Northern beans, but you could also use Cannellini beans if you prefer.
Stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice for a little brightness, and eat up!
Serve with your favorite toppings like sour cream, avocados, sliced radishes and tortilla chips.
Cooking Tips
One of the best things about this chicken chili verde is that it’s extremely versatile. You can follow the recipe as it’s written, or you have two other options – the under 30 minutes version or the slow cooker version.
- To make this recipe in under 30 minutes, you can use pre-cooked shredded chicken that you have leftover in the fridge or a store-bought shredded rotisserie chicken. Simply sauté the onions, poblanos, diced green chiles and garlic according to the recipe below, and then add in all the other remaining ingredients, except for the beans. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, then add in the beans and bring to a boil. Stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice and eat up!
- To make this recipe in the slow cooker, place all ingredients except beans in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. 30 minutes before it’s ready, add in beans, cover and cook for 30 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the slow cooker, shred with a fork on a plate and transfer shredded chicken back to the slow cooker. Mix together and serve.
- To make this recipe in an Instant Pot, turn on the Sauté function and follow instructions 1-3, except don’t bring to a boil. Instead, put the lid on, seal the pressure valve and cook under high pressure for 25 minutes. Do a quick pressure release, set to the Keep Warm function, discard the bay leaf and transfer the chicken to a plate and shred. Add shredded chicken back into the pot along with beans. Turn on Sauté function and bring to a boil. Turn Instant Pot off and stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice. Serve.
Variations
- Mix up the beans! Instead of great northern beans, try cannellini or even black or pinto beans.
- If you have leftover turkey breast from Thanksgiving, use that instead of chicken! Just follow the 30 minute version of this recipe.
- To reduce a bit of the heat in this dish, remove the seeds and veins from the poblano peppers and use mild diced green chiles instead of medium or hot.
What To Pair With This Easy Green Chicken Chili
- Homemade Tortilla Chips
- a Mexican Bolillo Bread Roll
- these Homemade Lime Tortilla Chips
- some Easy Jalapeno Cornbread
I hope you love this recipe – be sure to give it a review below! To get more easy Mexican recipes delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my weekly email newsletter. You can also follow Isabel Eats onFacebook, Instagram and Pinterest!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 poblano peppers, diced (seeds removed if desired)
- 2 4-ounce cans diced green chiles (mild or medium)
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups homemade salsa verde (or your favorite store-bought salsa verde)
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 14-ounce cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 4 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
- for serving: chopped cilantro, lime wedges, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced radishes, diced avocados
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, poblanos and diced green chiles. Saute for 10 minutes, until onions and poblanos have softened.
- Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Add chicken breasts, chicken broth, salsa verde, salt, cumin, oregano and a bay leaf. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Uncover and discard bay leaf. Remove chicken from pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate. Shred chicken with a fork and knife. (Leave the soup uncovered simmering on the stove while you shred the chicken.)
- Add shredded chicken and beans to the pot. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
- Stir in chopped cilantro, lime juice and serve with optional toppings, if desired.
ISABEL’S TIPS
*Nutritional information does not include garnishes.
Kim says
Love this recipe, so flavorful and it’s easy! Going to make it again soon. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Lynne Durkin says
I just made this in the crock pot and LOVED it! So much flavor with the lime juice and cilantro! I just added a spoonful of sour cream and a handful of tortilla chips in my bowl and it was perfect! I will definitely be making this again….thank you for a such a great recipe!
Isabel says
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you liked it!
Kris says
Amazing flavor. I was all set to make my standby white chicken chili and decided to hop on isabel eats to see what there was in ways of chicken chili. I was not disappointed! The lime and cilantro gave it a wonderful finish. It was much healthier than my version, and now I will never go back. So far everything I have tried from Isabel has been fabulous!
Renee says
So good! So much flavor! Thank you for sharing.
Debbie Miller says
Thank you, Isabel, for this scrumptious recipe! I thawed some frozen Hatch green chiles bought in Albuquerque last spring, subbing them for the Poblanos & the canned green chiles. My husband asked me to make it again the next nite!
Jackie says
Made this soup this evening for dinner. I used leftover roasted chicken which made this recipe go together so quickly. The squeeze of lime, avocado and cilantro took it to the next level! I also added spicy, roasted pepitas for a little texture, and some queso fresco cheese crumbled over the top. HUGE hit! Instant classic with my family! I used the Herdez salsa verde (medium), not too hot but a really great flavor. Such a nice change from our usual green chili stew. Thank you for posting this yummy recipe!
MissAinCA says
I made this with roasted pheasant and it was so beyond delicious! I used either TJ’s chili verde or Herdez, but can’t remember plus, added carrots, celery and kale. Thank you so much for sharing this very delicious recipe! I’m sharing it in an action basket that I’m creating for my daughter’s annual school crab feed. Enjoy your new home!
Isabel says
Ooh, roasted pheasant in this chili sounds so good! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. And thank you for the well wishes! Things are going really well so far!
Meridith Manning says
Has anyone made this using soaked dry beans? Wondering what the cooking time would be and how much extra liquid I’l need. Thanks!
Becki says
Did I miss when you put the beans in?
Isabel says
They’re added in Step 3, after you add in the shredded chicken.
Satina says
Is it 388 cals just the soup/chili alone or is that with the garnishes you have listed? Like cheese, avocado, etc? I made it and I am dieting/counting calories and would love to know how many calories I just ate? 😂😂😂
Isabel says
Hi Satina! Haha, totally understand 🙂 The nutrition information does not include the garnishes. Sorry! I’ll be sure to mark that in the recipe. Thanks for asking!
Sara says
Made it, loved it. I blended half of the bean mixture to make it creamy as I am dairy free and it was great.
Thank you for posting
Isabel says
I’m so happy you loved it! Thanks for letting me know, Sara 🙂
Katie says
Made this intending to eat on it all week, but it was gone the next day! My husband and I are on a huge green chili kick and have a go-to white bean chili recipe that is cheesy, addictive, and probably terrible for you. This one was so good, flavorful, and easy to make (also, nutritious and actually good for ya!) that it has surpassed and replaced our old “white chicken chili” recipe! Can’t wait to make it again this week.
Isabel says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that, Katie! I can’t believe it replaced your old go-to, that’s so great 🙂
Karly says
Currently drooling. And daydreaming of chili weather. All kinds of excited right now! I MUST try this!
Isabel says
Chili weather is definitely the best!
Kristin says
I’m in Switzerland so not familiar with what exactly you mean by a tin of green chillis – what sort of chillis? Do you use a certain brand? Would love to make this soup!
Isabel says
Here’s the kind of green chiles that I use – http://amzn.to/2wqO4yP . I hope this helps!