This Slow Cooker Chicken Chili is our family's go to slow cooker recipe when we want something easy to prepare, yummy and ready to eat at the end of a long work day. Topped with fresh onions, cilantro, and cheddar, there’s no pre-cooking or complicated prep required, so it’s a true “set it and forget it” slow cooker meal.
There are so many varieties of chili out there. This Slow Cooker Chicken Chili is our family’s go to slow cooker recipe when we want something easy to prepare, yummy, and ready to eat at the end of a long work day. Topped with fresh onions, cilantro, and cheddar, there’s no pre-cooking or complicated prep required, so it’s a true “set it and forget it” slow cooker meal.
Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
This easy slow cooker chicken chili is relatively light and low-calorie compared to the classic beef or pork chili. Boneless chicken breasts and a variety of canned beans make the chili super easy and convenient. We used cannellini beans for their fluffy texture and a slightly nutty, mild flavor. We added the obvious kidney beans too. These add not only fiber and protein but also a good hit of antioxidants.
Just dump everything in the slow cooker and close the lid. It literally takes about 5 minutes to prepare. Use just enough liquid to cover the ingredients, but no more than that. Liquid tends to double in a slow cooker meal. For thicker chili, add a few tablespoons of cornmeal about thirty minutes before it’s done.
What if I’m vegetarian?
We always encourage you to play with our recipes and adjust them however you feel necessary! Sometimes I will add more garlic if I’m sick, an extra jalapeño, or more beans if I’m extra hungry. This recipe serves as a convenient base recipe where you can add or reduce pretty much anything in order to fit your family’s preferences. If you’re vegetarian, feel free to swap out the chicken for more beans and cubed sweet potato. All you need is some homemade Old-Fashioned Cornbread and you’re ready to eat!
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Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup sweet onion diced
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless and skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces (optional skinless, boneless thighs or a combination of breasts & thighs)
- 14 1/2 ounce fire roasted tomatoes can - with liquid
- 6 ounce tomato paste can
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth fat free, low sodium (optional vegetable broth or water)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- kosher or sea salt to taste
- 15 1/2 ounce cannellini or navy beans can - drained and rinsed
- 15 1/2 ounce kidney beans can - drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all the above ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8 hours in a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Spoon into bowls and garnish with a little cheddar cheese and diced onion, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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This is delicious – tastes as good as any chili I've had – can't believe its 4 pts
Is the serving size 1 and 3/4 cup or 1 to 3/4 cups per serving.
Thanks, Sarah. There was an error in our nutritional data. The serving size should read 1 cup. It's not been updated.
We cannot have beans, any suggestions on what we can sub for them or should we just leave them out?
Hi Mary Ann, You can leave them out. However, a good substitute is diced red potatoes. 🙂
Hello: Can I use beef instead? If so; what “part” of the beef? I hope you can get my question :-!
Thank you.
Sure. I would recommend using Beef Stew Meat. Be sure to get cubed. 🙂
Still 1.5 lbs of Beef Stew Meat?
Thank you
Yes, That works! 🙂
Have this in the slow cooker now… I can’t wait to try it!
One person asked about a substitution for beans, so I wanted to suggest canned hominy. I use white hominy (drained) in a pork posole soup, and it has a taste and texture similar to beans or potatoes. In fact, one woman tells her husband it’s potatoes because he won’t eat hominy. lol
Thanks for the suggestion, Linda!
Have you ever subbed ground turkey for chicken?
Ground turkey works great!
If I double the recipe, would I then cook it for 16 hours on low or would 2 hours on high and then 4 hours on low suffice? Any help would be appreciated
Doubling the recipe doesn’t change the cooking time in the slow cooker, at least for this recipe. 🙂
i found this to be lacking something in the taste department
Hi Deb, please feel free to adjust the seasonings to fit your preferences!
I would guess that you can just leave the chicken breasts whole and then shred them at the end? Works for a chicken taco recipe that I use with the same cooking time.
Patricia, That will work as well. 🙂