This tender and savory Instant Pot white bean chicken chili is the best ever with flavors of corn, tomatoes, and onion! So easy to make, cooking dinner in the pressure cooker is perfect for whenever you want a delicious soup ready in minutes.
Why This Recipe Works
Imagine a big bowl of warm chicken soup filled with corn, fresh spinach, savory broth, and tomatoes with green chiles. Are you sold yet? This Instant Pot white bean chicken chili recipe is full of flavor and protein!
Tender chicken breasts are cooked to perfection in the pressure cooker with juicy tomatoes, cumin, and cayenne pepper–what chili dreams are made of.
Super easy and ready in about 30 minutes, this chicken chili recipe is great for quick lunches and dinners or just whenever you need to get a comforting meal on the table. If you’re looking for a toasty sandwich to serve with this recipe, then you will love my pesto turkey sandwich.
Add this recipe to your list of soup ideas for the fall and winter because I guarantee you will definitely want to make this Instant Pot soup recipe.
Serve this recipe with your favorite homemade sweet cornbread recipe or tortilla chips for additional comfort and texture. Don’t worry about the carbs because your body needs carbs! Be sure to read my guide to intuitive eating if you’re curious to learn more about how to enjoy all food without thinking it’s “bad”!
Ingredients
- Chicken: Be sure to use whole chicken breasts!
- Onion: One white onion is all you’ll need! Be sure it is diced before starting this recipe.
- Celery: Fresh celery adds a extra flavor and crunch to the soup. What is soup without celery?
- Beans: Canned Great Northern beans taste delicious with chicken because they are tender and full of flavor. Be sure to drain and rinse the beans, too.
- Tomatoes: Canned diced tomatoes with green chiles give this soup enough spice and heat. Feel free to add more green chiles or use tomatoes with the chiles.
- Corn: I like to use canned corn because it is sweet and easy to use. Frozen or fresh corn will also work for this Instant Pot white chicken chili recipe.
- Broth: Use storebought or homemade chicken broth. You can also use veggie broth, too.
- Seasoning: A blend of cayenne, cumin, and salt are all that’s needed!
- Cheese: I like to use pepper jack because it is slightly spicy and so cheesy. Mmm.
- Spinach: Fresh spinach gives this soup extra iron and color! Feel free to use kale instead of spinach leaves.
How to Make This Recipe
Ready in about 30 minutes or less, you will love this pressure cooker chicken chili! This soup is comforting, delicious, flavorful, and full of protein to keep you warm.
Step One: First, add everything to the Instant Pot in this order: whole chicken breasts, diced onion, celery, drained beans, tomatoes, corn, broth, and seasoning. No need to mix the ingredients!
Step Two: Next, set the Instant Pot to the pressure cook setting and set to 22 minutes of cooking time.
Once the chili has finished cooking, you can either forcefully or naturally release the steam from the pressure cooker. With a fork or tongs, take out the cooked chicken breasts.
Step Three: In a bowl, shred the cooked chicken with a hand mixer or two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the Instant Pot and mix everything together.
Finally, add the shredded cheese to the soup and stir. The cheese will melt and become extra creamy.
Step Four: Next, fold in the fresh spinach. The broth will cause the spinach to wilt and it will become smaller.
Step Five: Serve the white bean chicken chili with additional cheese and some fresh cilantro on top, if desired. Don’t forget the cornbread or tortilla chips!
Recipe FAQs
If you would like for your chicken chili to be thicker, then you will need to mix a little bit of cornstarch with some cool water and add it to the soup.
It just depends on what kind of chili you are making! My favorite types of beans for chili are navy beans, kidney beans, pinto, Great Northern, black beans, chickpeas, and much more.
If the chili has not had a long enough time to sit and allow the flavors to blend together, then it can taste bland. The longer the chili sits, the tastier it will be.
Expert Tips
- Instead of using raw chicken breasts, stir in some precooked shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken or other type of leftover chicken.
- Make this soup vegetarain by omitting the chicken and using veggie broth instead of chicken broth.
- Freeze the leftovers in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag in the freezer for up to four months.
- When ready to reheat the white chicken chili, allow it to defrost in the refrigerator overnight and allow it to sit in a bowl of tap water until thawed.
- Warm the leftovers in a saucepan or in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl.
- Add additional heat to this recipe by adding canned or fresh jalapeños.
- Instead of pepper jack, use any kind of shredded cheese like cheddar, Mexican-style, monterery, etc.
If you love this recipe, be sure to leave a star rating on the recipe card and leave a comment below!
Don’t forget to pin it on your Pinterest board for later, or tag me on IG @no.food.rules if you try the recipe and love it!
Instant Pot White Bean Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts ~2 pounds
- 1 white onion diced
- 1 cup of celery chopped (slice lengthwise first, then chop!)
- 2 cans ~15 ounces of Great Northern beans rinsed and drained
- 2 cans 10 ounces of tomatoes with chilies (with the juice- don’t drain)
- 1 can 15 ounces of corn (with the juice- don’t drain)
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 ounces ½ cup of shredded pepper jack cheese (full fat recommended)
- 2 cups fresh spinach roughly chopped
Instructions
- Add ingredients to the Instant Pot in the following order: chicken breasts (whole, not chopped or diced), onion, celery, beans, tomatoes, corn, broth, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper. You do NOT need to mix it, just layer it all in there!
- Set your Instant Pot to the pressure cook setting and set to 22 minutes cook time.
- You can force release or naturally pressure release (it doesn’t really matter!) and then take out your full chicken breasts. You’re going to place the chicken into a bowl and shred the chicken breasts. I like to use an electric hand mixer to easily do this but you could also use two forks.
- Return your shredded chicken to the Instant Pot and mix it all up.
- Now, add in your cheese and stir. Your cheese will melt and give you the creamiest base!
- Now fold in your spinach. This will reduce in size as you stir it.
- Serve your white bean chicken chili with additional cheese and some fresh cilantro on top, if desired. I like to also have a side of tortilla chips!
- Enjoy!
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