White Chicken Chili
Mild on purpose — the warmth here is cumin and coriander rather than heat, so it suits people who do not want a burn. Anyone who does can add it at the table without touching everyone else’s bowl.
Ingredients
The chili
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cans (4 oz each) diced green chiles, mild
- 3 cans (15 oz each) cannellini or great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded — a rotisserie bird is ideal
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
To finish
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 oz cream cheese, cubed and at room temperature
- Juice of ½ lime
- Fresh cilantro, chopped
At the table
- Hot sauce or pickled jalapeños, for anyone who wants heat
- Extra sour cream, grated Monterey Jack, tortilla chips, lime wedges
Instructions
Melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook 6–8 minutes, until soft and translucent but not browned.
Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano and black pepper. Stir for a minute, until it smells toasted — this is where most of the flavour comes from, so do not rush it.
Stir in the green chiles and cook another minute.
Add one can of the beans and mash them roughly against the side of the pot. This is what thickens the chili, so you do not need flour or cream to do it.
Add the remaining beans and the broth. Bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring now and then.
Stir in the chicken and heat through, about 5 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat. Add the cream cheese a few cubes at a time, stirring until each batch melts, then stir in the sour cream. Off the heat matters — boiling after the dairy goes in will make it grainy.
Add the lime juice and taste for salt. Serve with cilantro, and put the hot sauce on the table rather than in the pot.
Notes
Mashing a can of beans is the whole thickening technique. If you want it thicker still, mash a second can; if it tightens up on standing, loosen it with a splash of broth when you reheat.
Rotisserie chicken keeps this to about 45 minutes. Poaching two breasts in the broth first works too — pull them at 165°F, shred, and return them at step 6.
The dairy goes in off the heat. Cream cheese and sour cream both split if you boil them, and no amount of stirring brings the texture back.