This healthy white chicken chili gets its creamy body from mashed white beans and a scoop of Greek yogurt instead of heavy cream or a block of cream cheese. It takes about 45 minutes on the stove, feeds six, and comes in at roughly 316 calories and 38 g of protein per bowl. If you want it hands-off, there’s a slow cooker version below.
White chicken chili is having a moment again this fall. A creamy version made the top 20 on Half Baked Harvest’s most popular fall recipes of 2026, and it’s easy to see why: it’s cozy, mild enough for kids and done in one pot. Most of the popular versions lean on cream and cheese, though. This one keeps the thick, spoon-coating texture and loses most of the extra fat.
Healthy White Chicken Chili Ingredients
Serves 6 (about 1½ cups each). Prep 10 minutes, cook 35 minutes.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chili powder (or ½ tsp cayenne for more heat)
- ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cans (4 oz each) diced green chiles, with their liquid
- 1½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cans (15 oz each) low-sodium great northern or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn
- ¾ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- Juice of 1 lime
- Chopped cilantro, sliced jalapeño and diced avocado, to serve
How to Make It on the Stovetop
- Soften the aromatics. Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes, until soft and see-through. Stir in the garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Poach the chicken. Pour in the broth and green chiles, then nestle the whole chicken breasts into the liquid. Bring to a boil, lower to a gentle simmer, cover and cook 18 to 20 minutes, until the thickest part reads 165°F.
- Mash some beans. While the chicken cooks, put 1 cup of the beans in a bowl with a splash of the hot broth and mash them with a fork into a rough paste. This is what thickens the chili, so don’t skip it.
- Shred and simmer. Lift the chicken onto a cutting board and shred it with two forks. Return it to the pot with the mashed beans, the whole beans and the corn. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until slightly thickened.
- Finish with yogurt. Take the pot off the heat. Whisk the yogurt in a bowl with a ladle of the hot liquid, then stir it into the pot. Adding it off the heat keeps it from curdling.
- Season and serve. Stir in the lime juice, taste, and add more salt if needed. Top with cilantro, jalapeño and avocado.
How to Make White Chicken Chili Creamy Without Cream
Most “creamy” white chicken chili recipes get their texture from a cup of heavy cream, sour cream or 8 oz of cream cheese. You can get very close with two cheaper moves:
- Mashed beans. The starch from a cup of mashed white beans thickens the broth the same way a roux would, with no flour and no extra fat. For an even silkier result, blend 1 cup of beans with ½ cup broth instead of mashing.
- Greek yogurt at the end. It adds the tang and richness people expect from sour cream, plus about 17 g of protein across the pot. The only rule: add it off the heat, tempered with hot broth first.
My honest take: if you love the cream cheese version, this won’t taste identical. It’s lighter and brighter, with more lime and green chile coming through. But it’s still thick enough to coat a spoon, and nobody at my table has asked where the cream went.
Nutrition per Serving
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient, for 1 of 6 servings, without toppings:
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | About 316 |
| Protein | 38 g |
| Carbohydrates | 28 g |
| Fiber | 5.5 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
Most of the protein comes from the chicken breast (22.5 g per 100 g raw), with the beans and yogurt adding the rest. The beans are also where the fiber comes from. If you want more, see our high fiber meals for other easy ways to work beans and lentils into dinner.
Slow Cooker Healthy White Chicken Chili
The crock pot version is the one I make on busy weekdays. Everything except the yogurt, lime and mashing goes in raw.
- Add the onion, garlic, spices, broth, green chiles, whole beans and corn to the slow cooker. Skip the olive oil.
- Lay the raw chicken breasts on top. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken reaches 165°F.
- Shred the chicken right in the pot. Scoop out about 1 cup of beans, mash them and stir them back in.
- Turn off the cooker, let it sit 5 minutes, then stir in the tempered yogurt and lime juice.
Raw onion in a slow cooker stays a little sharper than sautéed onion. If you have 5 extra minutes, soften it in a skillet first. For more set-it-and-forget-it ideas, our healthy one-pot meals work the same way.
Easy Swaps and Variations
- Dairy-free: Leave out the yogurt and blend 1½ cups of beans with broth instead of mashing 1 cup. Finish with extra lime.
- Chicken thighs: Boneless, skinless thighs stay juicier and are harder to overcook. Expect a bit more fat per bowl.
- Rotisserie chicken: Skip the poaching step. Simmer the broth, chiles and beans for 10 minutes, then add 4 cups of shredded rotisserie meat for the last 5 minutes.
- Ground turkey: Brown 1½ lb lean ground turkey with the onion, then follow the recipe from step 2.
- More heat: Add a diced jalapeño with the onion, or use hot green chiles instead of mild.
- More vegetables: A diced poblano or two handfuls of baby spinach stirred in at the end fit right in.
Meal Prep, Storage and Freezing
White chicken chili is one of the best soups to batch cook, because it tastes just as good on day three. Portion it into containers once it stops steaming and refrigerate within 2 hours.
- Fridge: 3 to 4 days, the FoodSafety.gov guideline for soups and stews with meat.
- Freezer: 2 to 3 months for best quality. If you plan to freeze a batch, freeze it before adding the yogurt. Yogurt can turn grainy once thawed, so stir it in after reheating.
- Reheating: Warm on the stove over medium-low heat until steaming hot, adding a splash of broth because the beans keep thickening it in the fridge.
Pair it with a simple prep plan like the one in our meal prep guide for busy days and you’ll have lunches covered for most of the week.
What to Serve With It
A bowl is filling on its own, but these make it a full dinner:
- A crisp green salad with lime vinaigrette
- Baked tortilla strips or a small piece of cornbread
- Brown rice or quinoa underneath, if you want a heartier bowl
- Roasted sweet potato wedges
Looking for more cozy weeknight options? Try our healthy soup recipes or these healthy chicken recipes for weeknights.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Boiling the chicken hard. A rolling boil makes breast meat stringy. Keep it at a gentle simmer with the lid on.
- Adding yogurt to a bubbling pot. It will split into little curds. Off the heat, tempered first, every time.
- Skipping the rinse. Rinsing canned beans washes off the starchy, salty liquid, so you control the seasoning.
- Under-seasoning. Low-sodium broth and beans need a final taste. Salt and lime at the end make the whole pot come alive.
Sources
- Half Baked Harvest: The Most Popular Fall Recipes of 2026
- USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): chicken breast, meat only, raw (NDB 05062); great northern beans, canned, low sodium (FDC 173791); onions, raw (FDC 170000); green chili peppers, canned (NDB 11329); chicken broth, reduced sodium (FDC 172888); sweet corn, frozen (NDB 11178); Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat (NDB 01256); olive oil; garlic, raw
- FoodSafety.gov: Cold Food Storage Charts
