🇺🇸 United States
White chili
An American chili made with chicken or turkey and its broth, white beans and green chiles instead of beef, tomato and red chile, often finished with white cheese or sour cream.
Origin and history
White chili is an American invention of the 1980s. Its earliest printed recipe appears in Beyond Parsley (1984), a cookbook of the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri; by 1987 newspapers were linking it to Kansas City, and in 1990 a Chicago paper called it a 'K.C. culinary original'. Through the early 1990s recipes for it spread through newspapers and cookbooks from Seattle to Syracuse and San Antonio, nicknamed the 'bowl of white' after Texas's 'bowl of red'.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 to 8 servings
- Total time
- 3 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 450 g1 lb (about 2 1/4 cups) dried large white beans: Great Northern, navy or cannellini, rinsed and soaked overnight, or for at least 3 hours
- 900 g2 lb bone-in chicken breasts or thighs, or 4 cups (about 600 g) cooked chicken
- 1.75 L7 1/2 cups chicken broth, unsalted or low-salt, plus a little water if needed
- 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp butter and vegetable oil
- 2 white onions, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 (about 450 g)4 (about 1 lb) poblano or New Mexico (Hatch) green chiles, roasted, peeled and chopped, or two 4-oz (113 g) cans chopped green chiles
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (optional, for more heat)
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp + 240 ml2 tbsp + 1 cup masa harina mixed with whole milk (optional thickener)
- salt and white pepper, to taste
- 250 g2 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated, to serve
- To serve: sour cream, chopped cilantro, sliced green onion, lime wedges, tortilla chips
Method
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1. Put the chicken in a pot with the broth, bring just to a simmer and poach gently for 20–25 minutes, until cooked through.
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2. Lift out the chicken, let it cool, then pull the meat off the bones in bite-size shreds or cut it in cubes; keep the broth.
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3. In a heavy Dutch oven, warm the butter and oil over medium-low heat and cook the onions and garlic for about 8 minutes, until soft and translucent but not browned (browning would darken the chili).
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4. Stir in the chiles, the jalapeño, the cumin, oregano, cloves and cayenne and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
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5. Add the drained beans and the reserved broth and bring to the boil.
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6. Lower the heat, cover partly and simmer gently for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring now and then and adding water if the beans are no longer covered, until the beans are creamy all the way through.
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7. Mash a cupful of beans against the side of the pot to thicken the broth, or stir in the masa harina and milk mixture and simmer 15 minutes.
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8. Add the chicken and simmer 10 minutes more, until heated through; season with salt and white pepper.
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9. Ladle into bowls and top generously with Monterey Jack, a spoonful of sour cream and some cilantro, with lime and tortilla chips on the side.
Notes
- Total time: 3 h 30 min, plus soaking the beans.
- White chili is related to the classic red chili con carne but changes its defining elements: chicken (or turkey) and broth for beef, white beans, green chiles for red, and no tomato. That pale, mellow pot is what earns it the nickname 'bowl of white'.
- The early Kansas City recipes cooked dried white beans for hours in chicken broth with green chilies, cumin, oregano, cloves and cayenne, and buried each bowl under grated Monterey Jack. Texan cooks such as Robb Walsh build it on roasted poblanos and thicken it with masa harina and milk.
- Turkey is the usual alternative to chicken, especially after Thanksgiving. Some cooks stir in sour cream, cream cheese or half-and-half for a creamy white chili.
- Quick version: use three 15-oz (425 g) cans of white beans, drained, and 1 L (4 cups) of broth, and simmer only 30 minutes; the broth is thinner and less savoury.
- Keep the colour pale: do not brown the onions, use white pepper and no chili powder beyond a pinch.
- It keeps 4 days in the refrigerator and freezes well; it thickens as it stands, so loosen it with broth when reheating.
Adapted from Beyond Parsley: Beautiful Food (Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri, 1984) and Robb Walsh, The Chili Cookbook: White chicken poblano chili (via Texas Cooking).
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in United States.
Earlier editions
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October 15, 2016
🇺🇸 Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
8th Annual Soup Walk
On the menu as White Chicken Chili
By Fratellos Waterfront Restaurant, 501 W. Water Street (bonus riverfront stop)