Easy Crockpot White Chicken Chili {with Freezer Meal Option} (2024)

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by Katie Webster
February 14, 2020 (updated 10/26/22) Jump To Recipe

Hold onto your spurs, Cowboys and Cowgirls, I have the most magical Creamy Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili recipe to share with you today. It is sooo easy! I say that it’s magical because you literally just stir it together in the crockpot and you’ll end up with utterly delicious chili with tender chicken, white beans in creamy spicy sauce! For those of you who meal prep, I also have a freezer meal option that allows you to make ahead and freeze the ingredients for a freezer to slow-cooker dinner!

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Table of contents

• Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients for Healthy Crockpot White Chicken Chili
• Step By Step Instructions
• FAQs and Expert Tips
• What To Serve with White Chicken Chili
• More Chili Recipes

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

You are in for a treat when you try white chicken chili, if you haven’t had it before! Think of it as the creamy cousin to tomato-based chilis like my Turkey Chili with Pintos. It is a great alternative to beef chili!

Recipe Highlights

• Lots of Vegetables: The bulk of this chili is actually vegetables. You’re getting two servings of vegetables per serving of chili! So yay, it’s a complete meal in one bowl!
• Only 365 Calories: That’s for a nice big 2 cup serving too!
• High in Protein: This chili has a whopping 32 grams of protein per serving!! Here’s more about why I try to eat enough protein in my post about Chicken Power Salads.
• Gluten Free: Cornmeal is a gluten-free ingredient, so this chili is gluten-free.
• Less Saturated Fat: Many white chicken chilis call for a lot of cream or cream cheese. This version only has 1/2 cup of cream, so it has only 7 grams of saturated fat per serving.

This White Chicken Chili is so delicious!! The poblano peppers give it a nice rich taste. Love this and I will definitely be making it again. And next time I’ll be doubling the recipe for tasty leftovers!

~Alicia

Trust me you’re going to want to pin this one to save it for later! It is so incredibly handy to have a freezer meal like this one, that is creamy and comforting (and full of spicy flavor) but is so easy to throw together!

Ingredients for Healthy Crockpot White Chicken Chili

1. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs: Unlike chicken breast which becomes dry when it is cooked in the slow cooker, chicken thighs become more and more tender!
2. Onions: You’ll need two large onions (or three medium) for this recipe. The onion helps to add volume to the chili in addition to great flavor! Look for yellow onions when you’re shopping, but you can also substitute red, white or sweet onion.Learn the proper way to dice onion here.
3. Green or bell pepper or poblano peppers:You can use poblano peppers or bell peppers. The poblanos will give the chili more spice, so if your family doesn’t love spicy food, I’d recommend bell peppers instead. If you don’t like green pepper it is totally fine to use red, orange or yellow bell peppers instead.
4. Frozen corn kernels:The corn helps to make the chili more hearty. Measure out your corn while it is still frozen. It can go right into the crockpot (or freezer kit) while it is still frozen!
5. Cornmeal: This is the unique ingredient in this White Chicken Chili! It thickens the chili up, just like the texture of classic tomato based chili! Plus it makes it so that when the cream is added at the end it won’t curdle.
6. Garlic:The garlic adds tons of flavor to this chili! Use two tablespoons of chopped fresh garlic. It seems like a lot, but with all the other spices it will balance out!
7. Cumin, Coriander and Chili Powder:The trio of these three spices will give this Creamy White Chicken Chili classic chili flavor without coloring the chili.
8. Salt: Use regular table salt (iodized.) If you want to use coarse salt, read this first.
9. Cayenne pepper: You’ll get plenty of heat from 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne. If you don’t like heat, skip it all together.
10. Chicken broth: This is the liquid for the recipe (as opposed to tomatoes in classic red chili.) Homemade chicken stock works great too!
11. Canned White Beans: Choose whichever kind you like. I prefer Cannellini, which are just like kidney beans, only white. But feel free to use Great Northern beans or Navy beans instead.
12. Heavy cream: The heavy cream makes it creamy, and you only need 1/2 cup.
13. Optional Garnishes: shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro and lime wedges. Feel free to doll this chili up as much as you like. I love the way it tastes with cheddar and cilantro. My daughter insists that it is better with the lime. I’ll let you decide.

Step By Step Instructions

This recipe is so easy to make. Basically you’ll just stir everything together in the crockpot, turn it on and walk away. Then when the timer goes off, just stir in the beans and heavy cream. And you’re done!!

Combine the ingredients in the Crockpot

Now you’re ready to stir everything together. Simply stir the chicken with the cornmeal, onions, peppers, corn, garlic, broth and spices right in the insert of a 6-quart slow cooker. This is the slow cooker I have. Then cover the slow cooker and turn it on for 6 hours on low.

Add White Beans and Cream at the End

• Once the timer goes off, give the chili a good stir. You’ll immediately notice how thick the cornmeal makes it!!
• Then once it is stirred, simply stir the beans and cream into the chili.
• Note: If you are not home and the timer goes off, it’s okay for this chili to stay in “stay warm” mode for an hour or so. Then simply add in the beans and cream.
• Serve it in bowls with desired toppings.

FAQs and Expert Tips

Freezer Meal and Meal Prep Instructions

Ever since I shared my Chicken and Wild Rice Soup a couple months ago, you dear readers have been asking for more freezer meals like that so I have also adapted this recipe for a freezer to crockpot option!!

This ingredients for this white chili recipe can be prepped up and frozen up to three months ahead. To do so you want to keep a couple things in mind:

1. Toss the chicken, veggies and cornmeal in a bowl first. The cornmeal helps keep the chicken pieces separate so that they won’t freeze into a solid chunk.
2. Transfer the chicken and veggie mixture to a 1 gallon ziplock bag.
3. Then add in the spices. Since they go on top, they won’t get coated to the bag, and get wasted.
4. Take a second to press out any excess air when you seal the bag shut.
5. Lay the bag down flat to freeze it.
6. When you’re ready to make the chili, no need to thaw the chili kit. Just pull the bag out of the freezer and whack it with a rolling pin or mallet or heavy skillet several times to break the chicken and veggies apart.
7. Pour the ingredients into the slow cooker insert and add in the broth. Then just cover and cook the chili, but this time you’ll have to do it for 8 hours on high.
8. As with the non-frozen method, you’ll finish it the same way by stirring in beans and heavy cream in at the end.

See Also

Crockpot Creamy White Chicken ChiliHealthy White Chicken Chili | Ambitious KitchenHealthy White Chicken ChiliBest-Ever Creamy White Chicken Chili (Slow Cooker, Instant Pot-Friendly)

Need help menu planning? This recipe is featured in a Meal Prep Plan which also includes four more make-ahead dinners. In this plan, I give you the prep list, shopping list and plan to prep on the weekend, so you can have all your weeknight meals ready to go with 20 minutes (or less) of time in the kitchen!

Thanks so much for reading! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. It is very helpful and I appreciate it so much. If you’re new here you may want to join the conversation over on instagram too!

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About the Author

Katie Webster

Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.

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