Before you start
What this method is trying to achieve
The corn tortillas are part of the structure, not just garnish. They soften into the broth while the beans and chicken simmer, helping the pot move from brothy to lightly thickened without a flour slurry.
Success looks like
Know the target before you cook
The chili should be creamy-looking and spoonable with tender beans and chicken, but not gluey or as thin as plain broth.
Ingredients
What you need
Base
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 small jalapeños, one diced and one halved — Remove seeds for less heat.
- 1 large poblano pepper, seeded and diced
Spices
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
Meat
- 900 g ground chicken — About 2 lb.
Beans
- 2 15-oz cans white navy beans, undrained
Chiles
- 1 4-oz can chopped green chiles, undrained
Liquid
- 475 ml low-sodium chicken broth — About 2 cups.
Thickener
- 3 small corn tortillas, torn into pieces
Finish
- 1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped — Use to taste.
Method
Cook by the cues, not just the clock
Toast base
Heat the oil over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic, jalapeños, poblano, cumin, coriander and oregano until the vegetables soften and the spices smell toasted.
Brown chicken
Add the ground chicken with salt and pepper. Break it apart and cook until the meat loses its raw color and begins to brown.
Build the chili
Add the beans with their liquid, canned green chiles, chicken broth and about 300 ml / 1 1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil.
Add tortillas and simmer
Stir in the torn corn tortillas, reduce to medium-low and simmer about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tortillas soften into the broth and the chili is lightly thickened.
Finish
Remove the halved jalapeño, stir in most of the cilantro and adjust salt, pepper and thickness. Serve with optional cheese, sour cream, lime or pickled jalapeños.
Critical checkpoints
Stop here and check
Before simmering: tortillas fully torn into the pot?
Corn tortilla pieces are distributed through the broth.Add them before the long simmer so their starch can contribute body.
After 40 minutes: slightly thickened?
The broth clings more to the beans and chicken than it did at the start.Continue simmering uncovered if it is still distinctly watery.
White chili too thin?
The pot remains brothy after the tortillas and full simmer time.Use CookClue's chili-too-thin-or-watery diagnosis to separate liquid, reduction and thickener causes.
If yours looks different
Route the failure before changing the recipe
After cooking
Storage, reheating & substitutions
Storage
Refrigerate covered after cooling. The chili will thicken further during storage.
Reheating
Warm gently and thin with a small amount of chicken broth if the chilled chili becomes too thick.
Substitutions
Cooked shredded chicken can replace ground chicken; add it after the broth begins simmering so it does not dry out.
Evidence
Sources & methodology
Technical claims and method decisions are tied to sources. Recipe-specific advice is not presented as a universal food-science law.
- Everything You Need to Know About How to Make ChiliFood Network Kitchen
Food Network Kitchen describes browning meat, softening aromatics, blooming spices and tomato paste, then simmering until thickened; it also identifies longer simmering and starchy ingredients as ways to correct thin chili.
publisherPassage verified - White Chicken ChiliFood Network Kitchen
Food Network Kitchen uses white beans, green chiles and torn corn tortillas, then simmers about 40 minutes until the chili is slightly thickened.
publisherPassage verified