This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy.
This white chicken chili is super rich and creamy, with tons of flavor, AND it’s Whole30 compliant! Dairy-free, grain-free, and gluten-free, this soup recipe fits perfectly into a round, and your family wouldn’t even know it’s paleo. Quick and easy to make in under 30 minutes, too!
🥣 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- One pot. One spoon. 30 minutes. That’s all you need for a rich, creamy, super flavorful pot of chili with minimal prep and minimal clean up. What could be better? I mean, besides actually sitting down and enjoying a giant bowl of this Whole30 white chicken chili.
- There’s so much flavor here! Diced green chilies, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne, garlic, onion, lime juice. Everything blends together beautifully and it’s all complimented by the creaminess of the cashew cream and the earthy, fresh cilantro.
- White chicken chili is perfect for meal preps and feeding large groups. I honestly love making soups and chilis when I’ve got a bunch of mouths to feed. They’re fairly cost effective, and they’re easy to scale up without a ton of extra work. You can also make up a batch and eat on it for a few days if that’s your thing.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container up to 5 days. To reheat, I recommend using the stovetop and simmering the chili over medium-low heat until it’s warmed through. You can also reheat it in the microwave. Just be sure not to add any garnishes (cilantro, lime wedges, avocado) until right before you serve the chili.
- For a freezer-meal option, let the chili cool completely and then transfer it to a freezer-safe airtight container or sealable plastic bag. Freeze it up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat the chili, just defrost it in the fridge overnight and reheat it on the stovetop.
- I don’t feel like this is a Whole30 white chicken chili with a lot of heat to it. If you’re especially heat sensitive, though, you might reduce the amount of cayenne pepper you use, or eliminate it altogether.
More Whole30 Recipes to Try
- Whole30 Breakfast Tacos
- Whole30 Everything Bagel Chicken and Scallion “Cream Cheese” Sauce
- BBQ Chicken Bowls with Sweet Potatoes and Coleslaw (Whole30)
- Whole30 Gyro Meatballs
- Whole30 Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Egg Roll in a Bowl Meal Prep (Whole30, Paleo, Keto)
- Oven-Roasted Diced Potatoes
Whole30 White Chicken Chili
Rich and creamy, with tons of flavor and no dairy, grains, or gluten.
servings
Equipment
- Large pot
- Large wooden spoon
- high-speed blender
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil olive oil, avocado oil, etc.
- 1 small yellow onion diced, approximately ¼ cup
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 7-ounce can diced green chilies
- 1 ¼ teaspoons cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk or coconut cream, see Notes
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 2 ½ cups cooked, shredded chicken see Notes
- 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro plus more for serving
- sliced or diced avocado for serving
Instructions
- Heat large pot over medium-high heat. When pot is warm, add neutral oil and continue warming until oil is hot and shimmery.
- When oil is hot, add diced onion. Sauté onions 4 minutes or until softened, then add minced garlic. Stir to incorporate and sauté garlic 30 seconds or until just fragrant.
- Add chicken broth, green chilies, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper to pot. Stir well to incorporate ingredients. Let mixture come to low boil, then immediately reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes.
- While mixture simmers, add coconut milk (or coconut cream) and raw cashews to high-speed blender. Blend until mixture is smooth.
- After broth mixture has simmered 10 minutes, add cashew cream to pot along with shredded chicken, fresh lime juice, and cilantro. Stir to incorporate and simmer until chicken is warmed through. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Divide soup into preferred portions. Garnish with additional cilantro and diced avocado, and serve immediately.
- Coconut Milk or Cream: Do not use coco lopez or a sweetened coconut product, like coconut creamer. They aren’t the same as coconut milk or coconut cream and won’t work in this recipe.
- Chicken: You can use compliant rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, or chicken cooked specifically for this chili.
- Make it Vegetarian/Vegan: Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Replace the chicken with extra veggies (bell pepper, carrots, etc.)
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 520calProtein: 28gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 685mgPotassium: 638mgTotal Carbs: 17gFiber: 5gSugar: 7gNet Carbs: 12gVitamin A: 244IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 55mgIron: 4mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
Never Miss A Meal!
New Recipes Straight To Your Inbox
A curated selection of our most recent recipes, delivered straight to your inbox once a week.
Leave A Review
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Do you have recipe to make this in the crock pot?
Hi Stephanie! We do not, but if you’re not following a specific diet, we do have an Instant Pot version that you might enjoy! Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
Delicious! I would eat this when I’m not on whole30
So glad you loved it, Sharee! 😊
This was really yummy. I used ground chicken instead of shredded and added a can of white northern beans and topped it with shredded red cabbage along with the avocado and cilantro. Was wondering about making it vegan or pescatarian by subbing potatoes or a mild fish and maybe scallops for the chicken. This is a delicious base. I only had salted roasted Cashews and soaked them in 1/2 c broth for about an hour and whirred them in the food processor for about 5 minutes and it worked great!
Yumm- your additions sound delicious! Be sure to let us know if you try it with the potatoes or fish/scallops!
Can I cook the chicken in the Chile? Or does it need to be premade?
Hi, Meg! We use pre-cooked chicken (like rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken) for this recipe! 🙂 You can cook chicken specifically for this recipe if you’d like, but the cook times aren’t long enough to fully cook raw chicken within this recipe.
Hi! Curious if you could leave out the cashews?
If you’re not following a Whole30 or paleo way of eating, you can replace the cashew cream (made from the cashews + the coconut cream) with heavy cream at room temperature. Otherwise, the cashews are really needed to give the soup its thick, creamy consistency. You could try replacing them with additional coconut cream, but I’m not sure how that would affect the overall flavor or consistency.
Let us know if you try it!
Looks amazing ! Is there a substitute for the cashews , we just have some nut allergies, thank you! 🙂
Hi, Kendall! If you’re not following a Whole30 diet, you could definitely use an equal amount of heavy cream (at room temp!). However, we didn’t test this recipe with dairy, so we don’t have too much advice for that!
If you have an Instant Pot, you could click here for our Instant Pot version of the white chicken chili that doesn’t include cashews.
Let us know if you try either of them! I hope this helps! 🙂
This wasn’t too bad, good flavour
Thanks, Kylie!
This is AMAZING! I’ve tried several different white chicken chili recipes and resigned myself to not liking the soup altogether – until I found this one. It knocks it out of the park. If you like heat at least double the spices and add an extra can of chilis. I also added 2 jalapeños. Made this 2 weeks in a row for meal prep. Thanks for the amazing dish!
So glad it was a hit for you, Jen! Thanks so much for the review!
Made this for the first time today and it is DELICIOUS! Picky hubby even liked it (he did add some crushed Tostitos to his). Will definitely make this again. Had to sub dried cilantro because I didn’t have fresh.
So glad you both enjoyed! Thanks so much for the review, PJ!
could I use cream or milk vs coconut milk and cashews?
Are you on a Whole30 round, or following a paleo lifestyle? Cream or milk wouldn’t be allowed in those cases, and you’d want to use a dairy-free alternative like the cashew cream created in this recipe. If you’re not avoiding dairy, though, then you could likely use an equal amount of heavy cream (at room temperature) instead. We didn’t test this recipe with dairy products so I can’t say for sure what, if any, changes you’d need to make to accommodate it.
If you have an Instant Pot, you might enjoy this white chicken chili recipe that’s not specific to any dietary needs. https://40aprons.com/instant-pot-white-chicken-chili/