Healthy White Chicken Chili Recipe That Is Creamy Without Cream

We like a chili that tastes of the beans and the cumin, not of cream. This healthy white chicken chili recipe starts with lean chicken breast and white beans, and gets its creamy body from the beans themselves and a little Greek yogurt at the end. It is a one-pot supper for six, ready in about 45 minutes.

Simmer 1 1/2 lb of chicken breast with an onion, white beans, green chiles and 4 cups of low-sodium broth for 20 minutes, shred the chicken, mash a cup of beans in and stir in Greek yogurt off the heat for a creamy chili without cream. A bowl has about 366 calories and 42 g of protein.

White chicken chili recipes at a glance

Version	What changes	Where to find it
This chili (stovetop)	Chicken breast, white beans, green chiles, Greek yogurt	The recipe card below
White chicken chili slow cooker recipe	Same ingredients, cooked low and slow	A section below
White chicken chili recipe in crock pot	Another name for the slow cooker version	Covered by the same section
White meat chicken chili recipe	Chicken breast is the white meat used here	This recipe
White beans chili with chicken	The same dish, named by its beans	This recipe

What goes in the pot

Start with good ingredients and let them do the work. Each one has a job.

• Chicken breast, 1 1/2 lb (about 680 g). Lean and mild. It simmers whole in the broth and is shredded at the end, which keeps it tender.
• White beans, 3 cups (about two cans). Drained and rinsed. Two cups go in whole, one cup is mashed to thicken the chili, so there is no flour and no cream.
• Low-sodium chicken broth, 4 cups. It carries the flavor, and low sodium lets you decide the salt.
• Green chiles, 1/2 cup. Mild, a little smoky and a little tangy. Add more if you like heat.
• Cumin and oregano. Two teaspoons of cumin and one of oregano, cooked in the oil for a minute so they bloom.
• Greek yogurt, 3/4 cup, and lime. Stirred in off the heat for creaminess and a gentle tang, and a squeeze of lime to finish.

How to make white chicken chili: the three steps

Cook the onion slowly, simmer the chicken gently and finish off the heat. That is the whole method. The detail that matters most is the finish: stir a ladle of the hot broth into the yogurt before it goes in the pot, and keep the chili from boiling afterwards.

For the chicken, go by temperature, not by the clock. The USDA safe temperature chart lists 165°F (73.9°C) for poultry breasts (USDA FSIS safe temperature chart). A thermometer in the thickest part tells you when it is done.

White chicken chili slow cooker recipe

You can make the same chili in a slow cooker. Put the onion, garlic, spices, broth, chicken, 2 cups of the beans and the chiles in the pot and cook on low until the chicken shreds easily and reaches 165°F (73.9°C). Then shred the chicken, mash the last cup of beans into the broth, and finish with the yogurt and lime as in step 3. Trust the thermometer rather than the clock.

White chicken chili recipe in crock pot

A crock pot is the same thing as a slow cooker, and the method above works for it. Cooking the onion in oil first for a few minutes adds flavor, but you can skip it when you are short of time.

Slow cook white chicken chili recipe: a few tips

Add the yogurt and the lime only at the end, after the heat is off, because long cooking splits yogurt. Taste for salt after the beans and the broth have cooked together.

How many calories and how much protein?

The totals are built from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient. One bowl, a sixth of the pot, has about 366 calories, 42 g of protein, 34 g of carbohydrate and 7 g of fat, and about 798 mg of sodium. It is an estimate: the real numbers move with your beans, your broth and the size of the bowl, and the yogurt weight is a documented assumption.

Most of the protein comes from the chicken, with the beans adding protein and fiber. The sodium is the number to watch: 798 mg is about 35 percent of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, and it comes mostly from the broth, the canned beans and the salt. Low-sodium broth, well-rinsed beans and salt added last all help.

Creamy white chicken chili recipe without the cream

The creaminess has two sources. One cup of the beans is mashed with a splash of hot broth and stirred back in, which thickens the chili with no flour. Then the Greek yogurt goes in off the heat, so it stays smooth. Add the yogurt after the heat is off, and do not boil the chili again, or it can split.

Healthy white chicken chili: a high protein bowl

By USDA data, a bowl has about 42 g of protein and 366 calories, so this is a high protein white chicken chili. Most of the protein comes from the chicken breast, with the beans adding protein and fiber. Healthy here means lean chicken, beans and yogurt instead of cream. It does not mean low in sodium: a bowl has about 798 mg, so use low-sodium broth and rinse the beans. If you are planning more suppers like this one, our high protein weight loss dinner ideas are a good next stop, and our high protein low carb meals are another.

Kerth's notes on this chili

Kerth's verdict: delicious, with a great texture. It is not the quickest pot to put together, since it took a moderate amount of work, but Kerth would cook it again anyway.

Serving ideas

Serve the chili in warm bowls with a lime wedge. A handful of chopped fresh herbs, a few slices of avocado or a spoonful of Greek yogurt on top work well, and warm tortillas or a slice of good bread to scoop it up. It also goes well next to a green salad.

Tips and common mistakes

• Simmer, do not boil. A hard boil toughens chicken breast and clouds the broth.
• Temper the yogurt. Stir a ladle of hot broth into the yogurt first, then stir it into the pot off the heat.
• Go by the thermometer. 165°F (73.9°C) in the thickest part of the chicken, then stop.
• Rinse the beans. Canned beans are salty, and rinsing them lets you control the salt.
• Season at the end. Broth and beans both add salt, so taste before you add more.
• Common mistakes: boiling, adding the yogurt too early, over-salting early and overcooking the chicken.
• Troubleshooting a thin chili: mash a few more beans into the broth, or simmer it uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes before the yogurt goes in.

Variations and substitutions

• More heat: add a diced jalapeño with the onion, or a pinch of cayenne with the cumin.
• Chicken thighs: skinless thighs work too, with a little more fat and flavor. The numbers above are for breast.
• Different beans: cannellini, great northern or navy beans are all white beans. The numbers above are for canned white beans.
• Rotisserie chicken: a fast option is to stir shredded cooked chicken in near the end. We have not calculated the numbers for it.
• No dairy: leave out the yogurt and add a splash more lime and a little extra mashed bean for body.

Storage and reheating

Let the chili cool, then refrigerate it in shallow containers soon after cooking. The USDA lists 165°F (73.9°C) for leftovers, so reheat it until it is steaming hot, gently so the yogurt does not split (USDA FSIS safe temperature chart). No official shelf life exists for this exact chili that we could find. Freeze portions you will not eat soon.

For an easy make-ahead breakfast the next day, see our Greek yogurt parfait or the cottage cheese breakfast bowl. For a meatless pot to alternate with the chili through the week, our vegetable soup with cabbage and white beans is built on beans and broth as well.

What the evidence says about protein and beans in a bowl like this

This bowl leans on lean chicken and white beans, so here is what research actually says about them, in plain words.

• Chicken and fullness. A small 2011 crossover trial (PMID 21056606) gave 30 women pork, beef or chicken breakfasts matched for calories and protein. Hunger, fullness and what they ate at lunch did not differ between the meats. The trial was small, tested one meal, and says nothing about chili.
• Beans and cholesterol. A 2021 review of reviews (PMID 33762150) graded the evidence that pulses lower LDL cholesterol as moderate, with small to moderate reductions. It looked at beans in general, not this recipe, and the effect was modest.
• Greek yogurt in place of cream. We found no solid human study on this swap, so we make no claim beyond the nutrition numbers above.

None of this proves that a bowl of this chili will change anything in your body. It is a reason the ingredients are a sensible choice, not a promise.

Safety: chicken, dairy and labels

This chili contains dairy (yogurt) and chicken. Check the labels if you or your family have an allergy or intolerance, and cook the chicken until it reaches 165°F (73.9°C). If you are watching your sodium or your blood pressure, run this recipe past your doctor or a registered dietitian; it is not dietary advice.

Sources

• Nutrition: values come from USDA FoodData Central for each ingredient; the weights of the yogurt, the cumin and the oregano use documented assumptions, so the total stays an estimate.
• Food safety: we read the USDA FSIS safe temperature chart linked above on October 19, 2026.