White Chili with Pork or Chicken
Creamy-smooth and spicy, White Chili with Pork or Chicken is an easy and tasty alternative to red chili. Perfect for potlucks or winter comfort food.
Chili, like this White Chili, is always a delight. Whether it’s served as winter comfort food or at a summer potluck, it’s going to be a sure-fire hit!
Yes, that’s probably why I have a whole lot of red chili recipes (like Slow Cooker Chili or (Red) Pork Chili) which are dearly loved. But sometimes tomatoes and red beans aren’t your jam. Maybe today you’re wanting a dish that’s rich and creamy, with white meat and beans.
In that case this White Chili is just what you need, with a rich spice flavor from peppers and spices, plus a creaminess from a little cream cheese.
Now most White Chili recipes you see will have chicken or turkey, I designed this recipe to be versatile with pork as an option. Because well, you never know what might be leftover in your fridge or freezer.
What is White Chili?
Wikipedia tells us that white chili “is made using chicken or turkey meat and broth, white beans, and green chili peppers. The resulting dish appears light in color when cooked” (as opposed to the red color of most chilis from tomatoes, beef and red beans).
Although white chili is usually made with chicken or turkey, it sometimes uses pork instead, which takes it closer to the Mexican Chile Verde. After all pork is “the other white meat!”
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. The blend of mild and slightly hot peppers plus spices gives this white chili a lot of flavor without a ton of ingredients. Even my (semi) vegetarian “picky daughter” licked it enough to eat around the meat when she dropped in on my photo shoot!
Easy. This has a small number of ingredients, a short working time and is (usually) done in about an hour.
Adaptable. Got pork? Great. Wait, no, chicken? Also good.
What You’ll Need
Ingredients
- Oil. This is used to sautee the meat and vegetables.
- Pork chops. Or boneless chicken breast or pre-cooked and shredded pork or chicken.
- Onion, garlic. These add flavor.
- Poblano peppers. This provides heat
- Green banana peppers. Or green bell peppers.
- Cumin, oregano, cayenne, coriander (dried/ground). Spices add to the flavor complexity of the dish.
- Broth. This provides the liquid for the chili. I used chicken but you can use any k
- Cannelloni beans. Or another white bean.
- Cream cheese. This adds a creamy note to the stock.
- Toppers (optional). Chopped cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges, avocado slices, shredded cheese, chopped onions all make good toppers. The chili is plenty flavorful all on its own, so nothing is required. But I recommend sour cream to cut the heat if you may have some spice-averse eaters.
Special Tools
- No special tools are needed.
Step by Step Overview
If using pork chops or raw chicken breast, heat oil on medium high in a medium Dutch oven or stock pot. Brown porkchops (or chicken breasts) on both sides. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and cook until cooked through about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cube or shred the meat, discarding any bones.
Add onion to the pan with additional oil if needed. Cook until tender, scraping up any browned bits from the meat.
Add garlic, chopped chiles, spices, salt and pepper. Sautee a few minutes
Add broth, beans and either the meat cooked in step one or the shredded meat substitute.
Cook the chili for 30 minutes, then test the meat for tenderness. If still tough, cook another 30 minutes.
Mix softened cream cheese with a little broth then stir into the chili.
Serve warm.
Variations
This recipe is gluten free already. To make it dairy-free you can puree an additional can of white beans and add that instead of the cream cheese.
For some other tasty chili ideas, take a look at: Cincinnati Chili 5-Way, Copycat Wendy’s Chili, Creamy White Chicken Chili, Slow Cooker White Bean and Chicken Chili, or Southern Living White Chicken Chili Recipe.
Tips & FAQs
Peppers of all types (hot and mild) are usually on the Environmental Working Group’s list of most contaminated fruits and vegetables. So go organic if you can.
And just a heads up that, as a natural product, poblano peppers will vary in their heat. I have had them range from almost no spice (boring!) to another time when they were so spicy, my daughter’s hands turned bright red after seeding them for me.
Now you can always add more spice later, but it’s harder to “unspice” something (additional dairy will help some). To deal with this, I usually take a tiny taste before I add hot peppers to anything. Too hot? Use less. Too mild? Compensate with extra, add a jalapeno or increase the spicy dried seasonings (like cayenne or cumin).
Can I cook my own beans from dried? Of course you can! Just have them fully cooked before you begin this recipe and use like the canned beans. About three cups will be equivalent to two cans.
White Chili with Pork or Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 ½ pounds pork chops bone in or boneless or boneless skinless chicken breasts, or about 2 cups pre-cooked and shredded pork or chicken.
- 1 onion large, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic medium, choppe
- 1-2 poblano peppers chopped
- 1 cup green banana peppers chopped, or green bell peppers
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 cups chicken broth or other broth
- 30 ounces cannelloni beans (2 cans) or another white bean
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
Instructions
- If using pork chops or raw chicken breast, heat oil on medium high in a medium Dutch oven or stock pot.
- Brown pork chops (or chicken breasts) on both sides. Turn the heat down, cover the pot and cook until cooked through about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cube or shred the meat, discarding any bones.
- Add onion to the pan with additional oil if needed. Cook until tender, scraping up any browned bits from the meat.
- Add garlic, chopped chiles, spices, salt and pepper. Sautee a few minutes
- Add broth, beans and either the meat cooked in step one or the shredded meat substitute.
- Cook the chili for 30 minutes, then test the meat for tenderness. If still tough, cook another 30 minutes.
- Mix softened cream cheese with a little broth then stir into the chili.
- Serve warm.
This White Chili sounds like a perfect comfort meal that can easily adapt to whatever protein you have on hand, love the flexibility! The mix of creamy richness with a bit of heat from the peppers seems like the ideal balance. Definitely going to try this when I’m craving something lighter but still packed with flavor!
This is such a great idea to make this with chicken or pork. I never thought of that but it makes perfect sense! They’re both mild meats and love swimming in these flavors.
I definitely need to make this soon, Inger … in fact, I think I will make it next week when Marks sister comes to visit. The weather is going to get cool (well, cool for Tucson… still quite warm for folks from Wisconsin!) so it will be perfect.
Hope you enjoy David! Have fun with your sister!
I never thought about pork in white chili but it makes so much sense! It sounds delicious.
If you’d bought a half pig from a farmer, you’d think of it! And yes we love it!