If you’re looking for an easy, warm meal, this One Pot Chicken Chili recipe is for you. It a great recipe made from pantry staples in under 40 minutes with minimal effort.
For more ideas of what to make, check out all of our recipes.
When we were growing up, my mom always made chili with ground meat. It started out as traditional beef chili and then eventually changed to half ground beef and half ground turkey (and us kids swore we knew the difference, sort of like that kid who went viral for saying he likes beach chicken but not salmon).
So, of course, when I made chili, for a long time, I only used ground meat.
And then Pete and I started making it with chicken. I morphed that recipe into what it is now … which is a delicious, easy recipe. It’s a base of tomato with beans, like a traditional chili (as opposed to a white chicken chili recipe). It has a little heat and a lot of pantry ingredients. Like, seriously, almost every simple ingredient is one you probably have at home right now.
And — the best part: It’s all made in one pot. Which means at the end of dinner, you just have to wash one pot.
If you bought too much chicken and you’re trying to figure out what to do with the rest, our list of Budget-Friendly Chicken Recipes will give you some new ideas. It’s filled with soup recipes, a recipe for a whole chicken, and more.
One Pot Chicken Chili Recipe
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One Pot Chicken Chili Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green)
- 1 red onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 to 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt plus 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 15 oz. can chili starter
- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 15.5 oz can dark red kidney beans
- 15 oz. can black beans
- 15 oz. can no salt added corn
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 oz. pepper jack cheese
How To Make One Pot Chicken Chili:
Warm the olive oil in a Dutch oven.
If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can use a large pot. I prefer the Dutch oven because it cooks evenly and holds heat better. But you can use whatever cooking vessel you have at home.
Dice the green and red bell pepper and add them to the Dutch oven. Cook the peppers for about five minutes over medium-high heat.
Chop the red onion and add it to the Dutch oven. Cook for five minutes.
Quick note: The red onion adds a little extra sweetness to the recipe, which balances out the beans and spices. If all you have in your pantry is a white onion, you can use that instead.
Chop the garlic and add it to the pot. Cook about two minutes.
If the vegetables sweat too much, you can add a little extra liquid (up to a quarter cup of water) to the pot to stop them from sticking to the bottom.
Shred the chicken breasts using a knife. Season it with a teaspoon of salt and the garlic powder.
Add the shredded chicken to the Dutch oven. Cook about five minutes.
Add in the cans of chili starter and diced tomatoes. Don’t drain either can. Add all the contents of the can right into the Dutch oven.
Drain and rinse the dark red kidney beans and black beans. Add them to the Dutch oven.
Drain the can of corn and add it to the Dutch oven.
Add the chicken broth.
Then, add the Italian seasoning, chili powder, and the remaining salt.
Turn the heat up to high and bring everything to a boil. This should take about five minutes.
Lower the heat to low and let the chili simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure to stir up any browned bits that may get stuck to the bottom of the Dutch oven.
Serve in a big bowl with a garnish of shredded jalapeño jack cheese and saltine crackers on the side.
At least, that’s how we garnish it, like a classic chili. You can use your favorite toppings, like a different cheese, fresh herbs, sour cream, or tortilla chips.
One Pot Chicken Chili: Frequently Asked Questions
Let the chili cool to room temperature, then put store the chili in an airtight container. You can keep it in the fridge for up to five days. Pete thinks it tastes better the next day, so you might want to make sure you have some leftovers. If you’re not going to eat it then, you can freeze chili. It’ll last four to six months that way.
We love freezing some and then pulling it out before busy weeknights so we can have something delicious for dinner with minimal effort.
The best way to reheat chili is on the stovetop. If you’re reheating frozen chili, make sure to defrost it overnight in the fridge before heating it.
If you have leftover chicken from another dinner, this is a great way to use it. Just shred the cooked chicken and add it when the recipe says. You don’t need to cook it for five minutes, though, like the recipe says to do with raw chicken. Just add the leftover chicken to the Dutch oven and continue on.
I should note, this is if you have leftover chicken pieces or rotisserie chicken, not ground chicken.
This chili recipe is meant to be made on the stove top. You probably could adapt this to be a slow cooker recipe, but we haven’t tried that. So, if you do, be sure to let us know so we can update this post with what worked for you.
More Dutch Oven Recipes:
If you want to make this the way we do, we do it in the Dutch oven. I honestly am obsessed with ours and how it cooks. A Dutch oven cooks more evenly than a regular pot and it holds the temperature better too.
So, if you bought a Dutch oven and that’s how you found this recipe, but you’re looking for other ways to use it, try our Dutch Oven Whole Roast Chicken Recipe, our One Pot Sausage Pasta Recipe, or our One Pot Lasagna Soup Recipe.
One Pot Chicken Chili
If you’re looking for an easy, warm meal, this One Pot Chicken Chili recipe is for you. It a great recipe made from pantry staples in under 40 minutes with minimal effort.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green)
- 1 red onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 to 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon salt plus 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 15 oz. can chili starter
- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 15.5 oz can dark red kidney beans
- 15 oz. can black beans
- 15 oz. can no salt added corn
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 oz. pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a Dutch oven.
- Dice the green and red bell pepper and add them to the Dutch oven. Cook the peppers for about five minutes over medium-high heat.
- Chop the red onion and add it to the Dutch oven. Cook for five minutes.
- Chop the garlic and add it to the pot. Cook about two minutes.
- If the vegetables sweat too much, you can add a little extra liquid (up to a quarter cup of water) to the pot to stop them from sticking to the bottom.
- Shred the chicken breasts using a knife. Season it with a teaspoon of salt and the garlic powder.
- Add the shredded chicken to the Dutch oven. Cook about five minutes.
- Add in the cans of chili starter and diced tomatoes. Don’t drain either can.
- Drain and rinse the dark red kidney beans and black beans. Add them to the Dutch oven.
- Drain the can of corn and add it to the Dutch oven.
- Add the chicken broth.
- Then, add the Italian seasoning, chili powder, and the remaining salt.
- Turn the heat up to high and bring everything to a boil. This should take about five minutes.
- Lower the heat to low and let the chili simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, making sure to stir up any browned bits that may get stuck to the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Serve in a big bowl with a garnish of shredded jalapeño jack cheese and saltine crackers on the side.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 421Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 58mgSodium 29275mgCarbohydrates 45gFiber 13gSugar 6gProtein 33g
Have you made this One Pot Chicken Chili recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments.