October, November, and December are my favorite months of the year as a food blogger because every recipe is focused on highlighting delicious ingredients and bringing people together. It's so fun to create each exciting dish!
So far I'm loving my Apple Pecan French Toast Casserole, Homemade Shepherd's Pie, and my chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Each recipe is so different, but yet they all celebrate the fall flavors and enjoying time with those you love.
When I was thinking about a new soup recipe, I remembered a white chicken chili my mom made once for my high school marching band and how much I loved it. It was so creamy and so different than any other chili I'd ever had! I knew this was the soup recipe my blog needed.
And let me tell you, today's Instant Pot Healthy White Chicken Chili isn't just amazing, it's THE BEST. Like, better than every other white chicken chili recipe on the Internet. It's so easy to make, it's macro-friendly, and it's packed with protein!
Pulling this Instant Pot dinner together is quite easy and affordable. For this healthy white chicken chili, you'll need:
The beauty of the Instant Pot is that it has more than one function. With this white chicken chili recipe, we're using the 'saute' function and the 'pressure cooker' function. This means literally EVERYTHING is done in one appliance!
Start by sauteing the corn, bacon, onions, diced green chilis, and garlic with the olive oil. You'll press the 'saute' function and adjust the time for 7 minutes. Add in the spices and salt and watch the magic happen!
From here, it's pretty simple: add in all the remaining ingredients except for the cheeses.
To make sure you chicken is cooked thoroughly, chop the chicken breasts into 4 oz pieces. If you're eyeballing it, let's say you bought two pounds of chicken and there are two breasts. That means each breast is a pound (16 oz), so you'd cut each breast into 4 large pieces.
Seal your Instant Pot lid and make sure to turn the valve to "seal." Cook on HIGH pressure for 8 minutes, then allow for natural release for 10 minutes.
This means the display will read "L:10," and you can then manually release the pressure by switching the valve from "seal" to "vent."
Remove the chicken and shred, then mix back into the chili with the shredded cheese and the cream cheese. To ensure the cream cheese mixes thoroughly and you don't have random chunks, your cream cheese MUST be at room temperature.
Yes, this is different from nuking it in the microwave until soft. I promise. I've done it both ways and the microwave just doesn't do it right!
Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy! I love using extra shredded cheese, diced avocado, cilantro, and tortilla chips.
I've found that when the display reads "burn," one of two things happened. One, you didn't have enough liquid, so the pressure combined with the heat is burning your food to the bottom of the Instant Pot (this recipe has enough liquid, so this isn't the problem) or;
Two, none of the liquid you added made it to the bottom of the pot to prevent burning. This is most likely the reason. When you add the remaining ingredients, be sure to stir it all together so the liquid is evenly dispersed in the pot.
You didn't cut your chicken into small enough pieces. Some Instant Pot recipes let you put in entire chicken breasts, but that means the cook time is much longer and some of the other ingredients are sacrificed in the process.
For this healthy white chicken chili, I wanted the cook time to be as short as possible, but in order for that to be possible, you need to cut your chicken into small portions - I recommend 4 oz portions.
Yes! However, you'll need pre-shredded chicken. Bringing the chili to a boil to cook the chicken will affect the other ingredients too much. You'll also need to let the soup simmer with a lid for at least 30 minutes before adding in the chicken and cheeses.
Yes! Follow all the instructions for the recipe, but cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours. Cook the raw chicken in the chili and stir in the cheeses at the end.
No, a single recipe already fills up the pot, so if you want to double the recipe, I would either have two pots going at the same time or make a double recipe in one slow cooker.
I haven't tried the latter method, so I'm not sure about how the cooking times need to adjust, so please leave a comment below if you try it!
You are going to LOVE this healthy white chicken chili! I can't wait to hear what you think!
Please leave a star rating and review below if you try the recipe so other readers know how you liked it. You can also tag me on Instagram! I love seeing you make my recipes!
This Healthy White Chicken Chili is creamy, delicious, and incredibly easy to make. Made with shredded chicken, pinto beans, sweet corn, and cream cheese all in the Instant Pot, this white chicken chili recipe will be an instant family favorite!
*Chicken should be cut into approximately 4 oz. portions. See blog post for more info.
Nutrition facts are a calculated estimate of 1 cup of chili, not including any toppings.
Serving: 1 cup / Calories: 288 / Fat: 7.9g / Saturated Fat: 0.3g / Sodium: 888mg / Carbohydrates: 19.9g / Fiber: 2.9g / Sugar: 2.1g / Protein: 34.4g
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