Ingredients

• 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, cut into cubes and left out to soften
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 cans (4 oz / 113 g each) diced green chiles, undrained
• 4 cups (960 ml) low-sodium chicken broth
• 1½ lb (680 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 cans (15 oz / 425 g each) cannellini or Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1½ cups (210 g) frozen corn (no need to thaw)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Soften and saute: Cut the cream cheese into cubes and leave it on the counter while the pot heats so it isn’t fridge-cold when you need it. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onion and 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and cook 5 minutes until the onion is translucent and the edges pick up a little color. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, until it smells sweet, not raw.
2. Bloom the spices: Add the cumin, oregano, coriander, paprika, and cayenne. Stir 1 minute until the spices darken a shade and smell toasty. If they start to stick, splash in a tablespoon of broth so they toast instead of scorch.
3. Simmer the chicken: Pour in the broth and the undrained green chiles, scrape up the browned bits, and nestle in the chicken thighs. Bring to a gentle simmer with small bubbles around the edge, not a rolling boil, then cook uncovered 15 to 18 minutes, until the thickest thigh reaches 165°F (74°C) and the meat shreds with two forks. Transfer the thighs to a cutting board.
4. Mash beans for body: Stir the drained beans into the pot. Mash about 1 packed cup of them against the side with a potato masher or the back of a spoon until the broth looks cloudy and slightly thick, with plenty of whole beans still visible. Shred the chicken and return it to the pot with the frozen corn.
5. Temper the cream cheese: Ladle about 1 cup of hot chili into a bowl with the softened cream cheese and whisk until smooth and pourable, with no white lumps left. Drop the heat to low, stir the slurry back into the pot, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring, until the chili coats a spoon. Don’t let it boil or the dairy can split. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro, taste, and add salt if the beans flattened the seasoning.

What I tried and skipped

• Cold cream cheese cubes dumped into the simmer sit as white lumps even after 10 minutes of stirring. Soften the block, whisk it with a ladle of hot broth until it’s a slurry, then stir that in off a hard boil.
• A flour-and-milk roux in a second pan thickens the pot, but the chili tastes like gravy. Mashing a packed cup of beans against the side of the pot gives the same body and keeps it tasting like chili.

What I serve it with

• A square of buttermilk cornbread to scrape the bowl.
• Baked jalapeno poppers if this is a game-day spread.
• Skillet Mexican street corn on the side for the same cumin-and-chile lane.

Storage

Cool the chili, then refrigerate it in an airtight container within 2 hours. It keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat gently on the stove over low heat and don’t boil, or the cream cheese can split. It freezes up to 3 months; the dairy can turn slightly grainy after thawing, so stir well while it warms and add a splash of broth if it tightened up. USDA leftover food safety guidance is the 3-to-4-day fridge window I follow for cooked chicken.

FAQ

Can I use chicken breasts instead of thighs?

Yes, boneless breasts cook faster and dry out sooner in this pot, so simmer 12 to 14 minutes and pull them as soon as they hit 165°F (74°C) and shred. Thighs stay juicier through the extra minutes the beans and corn need.

Can I make white chicken chili in a slow cooker?

Saute the onion and bloom the spices on the stove first, then add them to the slow cooker with the broth, green chiles, raw thighs, beans, and corn. Cook on low 5 to 6 hours or high about 3 hours. Shred the chicken, mash a cup of beans in the cooker, then temper the cream cheese with a ladle of hot liquid and stir it in on Warm, not High.

Why is my white chicken chili watery?

Usually the beans went in whole and nobody mashed any, or extra broth never got a chance to reduce. Mash a packed cup of beans against the pot, simmer uncovered a few more minutes, and make sure the cream cheese went in as a slurry so it actually thickens the liquid.