Chicken Jalapeño Popper Chili – the BEST of the BEST chicken chilis! SO good and ready to eat in under 20 minutes! Rotisserie chicken, white beans, jalapeños, chicken broth, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, half-and-half, cream cheese. Top with some extra bacon, jalapeños and pepper jack cheese. Makes a ton. Freeze leftovers for a quick meal later. #chili #jalapenos #chicken #mexican #rotisseriechicken
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Pin This RecipeThe Best Chicken Jalapeño Popper Chili
It is August, and I have Fall on my mind. The kids are going back to school, college football is starting and I am dreaming of soup and chili season! Today I’m sharing an AMAZING Chicken Jalapeño Popper Chili recipe with you. This stuff is crazy delicious!! Chicken, fresh jalapeños, bacon, cream cheese – YUM! It is also crazy easy to make. It only takes about 20 minutes!
How to Make Quick Chicken Chili
This chili is super easy to make. Start with making a roux with butter and flour. Slowly whisk in chicken broth and half-and-half. Cook until it starts to thicken and then add the remaining ingredients – chicken, jalapeños, bacon, white beans, seasonings, and cream cheese. Cook for a few minutes until everything is warm and serve.
- I used a whole rotisserie chicken in this recipe. A whole chicken will yield about 4 cups of chopped chicken, depending on the size of the chicken.
- Can substitute turkey bacon for regular pork bacon.
- You can use 1 cup precooked chopped bacon instead of cooking raw bacon.
- Can I make this in the crockpot? Yes! Prepare the soup through step 1 below and transfer the broth mixture to the slow cooker and add remaining ingredients.
- Is this chili spicy? No. Because you remove the membranes and seeds from the fresh jalapeños, there isn’t a lot of heat.
- I don’t have fresh jalapeńos. What can I use? You can substitute a 4-oz can of chopped jalapeños for fresh jalapeńos.
- Can I use a can of diced green chilies? Sure. That would be just fine.
- Can I freeze leftover chicken chili? Yes! I usually divide the soup into individual servings and pop it in the freezer. To reheat partially thaw and reheat on the stove or in the microwave. You may need to add more chicken broth.
We topped this Chicken Jalapeño Popper Chili with some extra bacon, sliced jalapeños, and some pepper jack cheese. SO good! Feel free to add some sour cream and corn chips too. If you aren’t a fan of pepper jack cheese, try some cheddar. Either way, it will taste delicious.
What to Serve with Chicken Chili
We ate this for lunch with some quick cornbread sticks. We had the leftovers for dinner and it was equally delicious. This Chicken Jalapeno Popper Chili is perfect for a quick weeknight meal and tailgating!!! Just whip up the chili and throw it in the slow cooker to keep warm. SO easy and perfect for a crowd!
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Chicken Jalapeño Popper Chili
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 rotisserie chicken skin removed, meat pulled off bones and chopped
- 1 pound bacon, cooked and chopped
- 2 (15-oz) cans white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 fresh jalapeños, seeds removed and diced
- 2 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 (8-oz) block cream cheese
Instructions:
- In a Dutch oven melt butter and stir in flour. Cook for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in chicken broth and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, until thickened.
- Add remaining ingredients and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with additional bacon, jalapeños and pepper jack cheese, if desired.
Notes:
Steph
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Can I use great northern beans
You can use any beans that you prefer.
Made this for a casual chili cook off. I used cornstarch instead of the flour to keep it gluten free. I was pleased with the results. Next time I may be a little less through when removing the seeds and ribs from the jalapeños to increase the heat.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome! I came to the comments to see if there was a gluten free option! How much cornstarch did you use?
Substitute the flour for cornstarch and it will be gluten-free.
I made this tonight but I changed up a few things. I separated some of the bacon and jalapeño for a topper but I cooked some of the jalapeño and onion in the bacon grease. I used the bacon grease with flour to make the roux. It made a little more roux than the recipe so I used 32 ounces of broth with about another ounce of half and half. This was absolutely amazing!!!!
I made this for my daughters baby shower and just the taste testing was amazing. When it came to serving it, I actually served the bacon in separate bowls and also served pepper jack cheese separately as well. The Chili is so good!! People raved and for a week after the shower I took calls and emails regarding the chili recipe. I started directing them to Plain Chicken. It’s been a month since the shower and people are still making it and talking about it. Yum Yum. Double the recipe, you will be sad when it’s gone.
I have entered this in two chili cook offs, and it has won 1st place in both, with multiple people always asking me for the recipe in the weeks that follow. Very different from a typical chili, but so much more enjoyable and tasty! For someone who has very few ‘go-to’ recipes, this became one of them immediately.
This is so delicious and easy!! I made it in the slow cooker with chicken breasts and bacon bits since that’s what I had on hand and it came out great. The jalapenos were mild enough that even my boyfriend who hates spicy food said several times how good it was! I’ll definitely be making it again.
How long in the slow cooker?
This soup is amazing. I was actually afraid to try it because I saw jalapeño peppers in it but it was not hot at all. I will definitely add this to my dinner rotation. Thanks!
Wow, this was amazing. Not your typical Fall, cold weather Chili, it’s wayyyyyy better. So much flavor and not allot of fussy ingredients. My picky 14 year old son… gobbled it up and my husband liked it, so I guess this is a keeper.
I made this tonight and It is amazing!!! This will be in the regular rotation at my house.
Im low carb so beans are not in my diet. However, black soy beans are an acceptable replacement. I also didn’t use flour. This chili turned out amazing❤️❤️
Has anyone froze this? Does it seperate when reheated? It was delicious but I have so much leftovers
When I told the family what I was making they all kind of looked at me like I was crazy. It is 100o outside and I’m making chili?! And spicy chili at that?! Then I served it and my husband actually turned around and looked in the kitchen at the stove as if to say, “I watched what you were making, this is more than the sum of its parts.” With membranes removed and well seeded the peppers’ spice level was that of a bell-pepper. It worked well with a Fiesta cheese (that’s what I had on hand) but the pepper jack was even better when I made it again. We threw on some croutons to represent the crispiness of the outside of a popper. 10/10 have already made again! 🙂
YAY! So glad you enjoyed it!
This chili is the BOMB! So delish!
I want to make this tonight but I'm confused. It says 3 1/2 chicken broth so does that mean 1 &1/2 cups?
nope – means 3.5 cups of broth
The store didn’t have rotisserie. Would chicken breast work?
Any cooked chicken is fine
Can you leave the beans out or won’t it be thick enough?
I don’t have half and half can I use regular milk
I haven’t made this with milk, so I can not say how it works. You can try it. If the chili doesn’t thicken like you want, add some cornstarch.
i don't have bacon everything else you think this might work well
I’m sure it will taste just fine. Enjoy!
Can I use half sour cream and half milk if I don’t have half and half.
I’ve only made the recipe as written, so I can not say how that would turn out. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I would like to cook this in my slow cooker. What do you recommend for time and temp?
Maybe 4 hours on LOW
I don't have a dutch oven… how else could I make this?
any large pot will work
Making this today
Made this tonight and it was a huge hit! I plan on entering this in our church's chili cook off next year! 🙂 Thank you!
SO glad you enjoy it!!! Hope you win first place in the chili cook off!
Oh my – this looks amazing! Do you think it can be made ahead and then just warmed up in a crockpot – thinking for our Thanksgiving potluck here at work… Thank you! So glad I found you – I love so many different recipes that you share!
I think that would work great! Enjoy!