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Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans. A quick chicken chili from dried beans, ready in under an hour if you remember to soak the beans overnight.
White chicken chili seems like the wimpiest of wimpy chilis. No chili powder or tomatoes, because we don’t want the red color. White beans, chicken, green chilies, and some spices. This should be bland, shouldn’t it?
And yet…
When I make it for my annual work ChiliFest, it is a huge hit. At home, my kids devour it. Turns out, you can take the color out of chili without taking out the flavor.
What makes White chili white?
The white (or, admittedly, tan) color of the ingredients. Instead of red kidney beans, we’re using white navy beans. Instead of red meat (ground beef), we’re using white meat (ground chicken.) And, probably most important for the color of the final bowl, we use light tan coriander and cumin for the spices, instead of red chili powder.
Pressure cooker magic
As always, I’m taking advantage of pressure cooking to start with dried beans. Sure, canned beans are OK, but starting from dried beans adds depth to this recipe, even with soaking. And yes, I do soak the beans for this one. I want to keep their cooking time down to where they can work with the ground chicken in this recipe.
Recipe: Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans
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Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans
- Total Time: 8 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 3 quarts of chili 1x
Description
Instant Pot White Chili with Ground Chicken and Navy Beans. A quick chicken chili from dried beans, ready in under an hour if you remember to soak the beans overnight.
Ingredients
Soaked Beans
- 8 ounces dried navy beans
- 4 cups water
- 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
White Chili
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 cups chicken broth or water (preferably homemade broth, or store-bought low sodium broth)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (if using homemade broth or water)
- 4 ounce can diced green chilies (Hatch diced green chilies if you can find them)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Sort and rinse the beans: Spread the beans out on a rimmed baking sheet and discard any stones, dirt, or broken beans. Rinse the beans, then do an overnight soak or a quick soak.
- Overnight soak: Cover the beans with the 4 cups of water and add the 1½ teaspoons of salt. Leave the beans to soak at least 8 hours, or overnight. Drain the beans and discard the soaking liquid.
- OR: Pressure Quick Soak for 1 minute with a 30-minute Natural Release: Put the beans, 4 cups of water, and 1½ teaspoons of salt in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Pressure cook at high pressure for 1 minute (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot), then let the pressure come down naturally for a full 30 minutes. (Quick release any pressure remaining after 30 minutes, but let the beans rest for the full 30 minutes, even if the pressure releases itself earlier.) Drain the beans and discard the soaking liquid.
- Sauté the aromatics and spices: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode adjusted to high (medium-high heat in a stovetop PC). Add the vegetable oil and heat until shimmering, about 3 minutes. Stir in the onions, garlic, and jalapeño, and then sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Make a hole in the center of the onions and add the cumin, coriander, and oregano. Toast for 1 minute, then stir the spices into the onions.
- Start the chicken, then everything in the pot: Add the ground chicken to the pot, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, then stir the chicken into the onions. Cook, stirring and breaking up the chicken, until the chicken loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth (and ½ teaspoon salt if using homemade broth). Scrape the bottom of the pot one last time to loosen any browned bits of chicken chicken, onions, or spices. Stir the drained navy beans into the pot, and then stir in the diced chilies.
- Pressure Cook for 15 minutes with a Quick Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (Use “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot), or for 12 minutes if using a stovetop pressure cooker. Quick release the pressure.
-
Serve: Carefully remove the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Stir in the brown sugar and fresh ground black pepper. Ladle into bowls, add your favorite chili toppings (mine are sliced jalapeños, sour cream, diced onions, Fritos, and shredded cheese). Serve and enjoy!
Notes
This is a medium heat chili, thanks to the jalapeño pepper. If you need more heat, add a second jalapeño (or substitute a couple of minced serranos). Or, see if you can find hot green diced chilies; the green chilies I have available are all mild chilies.
On the other hand, if you want to lower the heat, skip the jalapeño.
Speaking of chilies, why Hatch chilies? Because the Hatch Valley in New Mexico is known for their local green chiles. they have a famous harvest festival where they fire roast the chiles. Of course I want the chiles that have their own dedicated festival.
Regular readers know about my love of Rancho Gordo beans. Their Alubia Blanca beans are a great substitute for the Navy beans in this recipe, if you can find them.
Tools
6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot 6-Quart Pressure Cooker)
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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Justin T says
Love it!