Instant Pot Cheesy White Chicken Chili

This delicious, hearty cold weather meal is made with the perfect combination of white chicken chili ingredients of spices, green chilies, and jalapenos. From start to finish this cheesy chili recipe is done in about 45 minutes.

Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken Chili is the perfect meal to serve on a cold winter’s night! It is so delicious that you will want to serve this recipe any time of the year when you are craving a creamy bowl of chicken chili.

Enjoy the flavors of cheesy chicken chili with minimal work. Toss all the ingredients into your Instant Pot and let this handy appliance do all the work!

Cheesy chicken chili only takes 9 minutes to pressure cook. From start to finish with the time it takes to come up to pressure you will be serving a delicious white chicken chili in about 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• boneless skinless chicken: I like to use white meat chicken but boneless skinless chicken thighs will work also.
• Broth or stock: I like to use chicken broth or stock when I am cooking with chicken. It adds a depth of flavor to any chicken chili or soup recipe.
• chili vegetables: corn kernels, diced or chopped onion, fresh or pickled jalapeno peppers, canned green chiles.
• chili beans: a white or light bean like cannellini beans, pinto beans or even great northern beans can be used to make a white chili recipe.
• chili herbs and spices: minced garlic, ground cumin, ground oregano, white ground pepper and salt.
• shredded cheese: I used Monterey jack cheese to make this chicken recipe but you can substitute sharp white cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese that will add a little spicy kick.
• my favorite chili thickener: a slurry of corn starch and water that will thicken the chili perfectly but not change the flavor.
• optional chicken chili toppings: sour cream, more shredded cheese, Salsa Verde

Directions

Step 1 filling the Instant Pot: Place the chicken in a single layer on the bottom of the pot.

Add the drained cannellini beans, drained corn kernels and the diced onion to the pot.

Next add the green chiles, diced jalapeños and minced garlic to the pot.

Lastly add the ground cumin, dried oregano flakes, salt and pepper.

• Step 2 combining the ingredients: Stir the ingredients together to evenly distribute and to combine so they cook evenly.

• Step 3 Pressure cooking: Place the lid on and lock into place. Make sure the steam valve is in the closed position. Press the manual button and set the timer for 9 minutes of pressure cooking.

• Step 4: Once the 9 minutes of pressure cooking time is finished allow a 10 minute natural release of pressure before opening.

• Step 5: Push the steam valve to the open position and allow any remaining steam to release until the safety valves drops down. Carefully remove the pressure cooker lid. Press the cancel button to turn the Instant Pot off.

• Step 6 shredding the chicken: Transfer the cooked chicken to a bowl and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before shredding.

Shred the chicken apart using two forks and return to the pot.

Return the shredded chicken to the pot with the rest of the chili ingredients. Use a large spoon to mix the shredded chicken into the other chicken chili ingredients to combine.

• Step 7 thickening the chicken chili: Press the sauté button on the Instant Pot appliance.

Mix the corn starch with equal parts of cold water until the corn starch has dissolved completely. Add the cornstarch slurry to the broth and mix with a large spoon.

As the pot heats up to bring the chicken chili broth to a simmer it will start to thicken. Sauté until the broth has thickened to your liking.

• Step 8: Add the shredded Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream to the thickened chili broth. Stir to combine.

Continue stirring until the cheese and sour cream have melted into the broth completely.

Serve the cheesy Chicken Chili in a bowl and top each serving with your favorite chili topping like sour cream, shredded cheese and Salsa Verde.

Serving Suggestions

What should you add to a bowl of creamy chicken chili as a topping. You can add some delicious toppings to a bowl of chili that will take the chili flavor up a notch. Top each serving with one or more of the below chili topping suggestions.

• sliced avocado
• more shredded cheese
• sour cream
• Salsa Verde
• hot sauce
• fresh or pickled sliced jalapeno peppers
• serve with crackers or some crusty bread

Recipe FAQs

Recipe Expert Tips

• chicken: boneless skinless white or dark chicken can be used.
• jalapeños: I used my quick pickled jalapeños because that was what I had on hand. You can use store bough pickled jalapenos or even fresh sliced jalapeños instead.
• ground pepper: I used ground white pepper because I like the flavor better and because this is a white chili recipe. You can substitute ground black pepper if you don’t have white pepper.
• Natural release of pressure. A natural release of pressure is when you allow the steam to slowly release without pushing the valve to open position as soon as the recipe is done cooking. You wait until the suggested time has passed before opening the pressure valve. There may still be a very small amount of steam left in the pot when you open the valve.
• How long does it take the Instant Pot to come to pressure: how long it takes the instant pot to come to full pressure for each recipe will be different. The pressure cooking will not start until then. The amount of time it takes will depend on the recipe and how full the pot is. The fuller the pot the faster it will come to pressure and start cooking. It takes about 20 minutes for this recipe to come to pressure.
• sour cream substitution: Sour cream is added to this chicken chili recipe to give it a creamy broth. You can also add the same amount of cream cheese to the recipe if you don’t have sour cream.

Check out my other chicken chili recipe.

More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes

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