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Green Chile Chicken Soup Recipe – hearty, rich chicken soup with green chiles, black beans, cannelleni beans, chicken and tomatoes!
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Chicken Green Chili
There is nothing more comforting than a cozy, warm chicken soup – we like to make chicken soup a couple times a week, with lots of different flavors.
In fall, when Colorado is full of the smell of chiles roasting, we love loading up soups with tons of flavor from our favorite roasted peppers.
This soup is simple and easy to make, loaded with vegetables, beans, and chicken – but only takes 30 minutes start to finish – and can be made mild, medium, spicy, or Courtney levels of insane heat (I like soup crazy hot, but I wrote this recipe mild – so be sure to read the “What chiles to use in this soup” and “How to cook with chiles” sections in this post just below this paragraph to add more heat if you are like me and want an extra punch!)
We didn’t top this soup with tortilla strips like a tortilla soup – but you can if you’d like!
Top with cheese, sour cream, corn chips, sliced avocado, crema, or come fresh chopped cilantro, and enjoy!
- Gluten free and full of flavor – this dish isn’t keto, but does work with slow-carb diets and gluten free eating plans!
- Change it up – chicken soup is meant to be made how you love it, so feel free to add in more vegetables you love, change out the type of beans we use, omit the chilies, make it your own!
- Can use pre-cooked chicken if you’re in a hurry – use our tips below!
How To Make Green Chile Chicken Soup
This soup is really easy to make, but we’re adding some of our favorite tips and tricks to make sure it comes out perfect, every time!
If you’re new at cooking with chiles, please use some of our notes below to help get a little more comfortable cooking with them – and then try our Easy Green Chile Sauce Recipe, Easy Beef Green Chile, Green Chile Spaghetti Squash Skillet Recipe, Green Chile Guacamole, Green Chili Whiskey Onion Burgers, Chicken Green Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes, Green Chile Pork Carnitas – you can tell we kind of have a thing for green chile around here!
What Chiles To Use In Chile Soup
If you’re new to cooking with chiles and not sure which ones to pick when cooking, we’re outlining our picks for this recipe and adding some notes on heat levels, so you can have the perfect flavor and heat for your soup!
Flavor tip: for the absolute mildest soup, please pick mild green chiles, mild Ro-tel, and use dried cascabel chile peppers that have been rehydrated and prepared with the seeds and membranes removed as noted in our preparation method below.
Green Chiles – when picking green chiles for this recipe, go by mild, medium, or hot based on the cans label.
Ro-tel and green chili cans will label heat clearly so you can pick the desired strength. I prefer medium or hot for this recipe, but I like a lot of spice. I am writing the recipe for mild – if you like heat like me, grab medium or hot!
You can go for Hatch green chiles, or my preference, Pueblo Colorado green chiles (Pueblo chiles tend to have more of a punch and are tangier and are much more unpredictable, heat wise – they are really not comparable, but I’m a Colorado girl and always going to pick my spicy Pueblo peppers!)
When picking green chiles, you can pick fresh roasted, canned (and drained), or frozen (thawed) chiles.
Cascabel Chiles – Cascabel chiles are fruity and smoky like Guahillo chiles as they are also from the Mirasol pepper – but pack a significantly milder heat at a 1,000-3,000 SHU range.
Guahillo Chiles – guahillo chiles are dried from the Mirasol pepper, and have a sharp, almost fruity and smoky flavor. Guahillo chiles have a Scoville heat unit (SHU) of 2,500-5,000, which puts them in the medium heat category.
Chiles de Arbol – chiles de arbol are bright red and have a nutty flavor (they are pictured here in my soup on top) and are very spicy with a 15,000-30,000 SHU. I like to form the flavor of my soup around a few guahillo peppers, and add extra heat to my soups with 4-5 chiles de arbol for an extra kick.
How to Cook With Chiles
If you’re worried about the heat in this soup – either that it will be too spicy, or not spicy enough, and would like to have more control over the heat, we’re adding a couple of tips on how to control the heat in this dish below:
When making a soup, it isn’t strictly necessary to rehydrate dried chiles, since they will rehydrate and give off oils in the soup as it cooks, however if you want to have control over the amount of heat in your soup you need to consider rehydrating and preparing your chiles (removing seeds and the membrane) before cooking with them.
I personally prefer rehydrating in the soup, since I like really spicy food – this gives off all of the chiles heat and oil into the soup as they rehydrate and gives a TON of flavor (and spice!!!) to the soup.
Since this isn’t going to be everyone’s preference, it’s really easy to prepare dried chiles for soups using the method below.
This will give you complete control over the heat and flavor of your soup:
- To cook with dried chile peppers, soak in hot water for 20 minutes to rehydrate.
- Wearing gloves, remove the seeds and inner membrane of the chile with a sharp knife and discard.
- Add chile to soup without seeds and membrane, minced.
How To Thicken Soup Without Flour
This green chile chicken soup is somewhat between a soup and a stew – it is thinner than some chilis, but thicker than a soup.
I personally prefer the soup as-is with the thickness coming from cheese, but my husband likes it a little thicker.
If you’d like to thicken your chicken chili, follow my ideas below:
To thicken soups without flour, add xantham gum as a thickener if desired, by making a xantham gum roux.
- Using two teaspoons of xantham gum (divided), with 1/2 cup butter, you’ll make a gluten free roux to thicken this keto soup.
- Get a nonstick pan or pot ready on the stove and turn heat to medium high.
- Add butter to pan and let start to melt.
- Add ONE teaspoon of xanthan gum, whisk vigorously to combine.
- Add the other teaspoon of xanthan gum, and keep whisking until roux is browned.
- Watch carefully, as roux browns quickly – do not let roux burn or overcook.
- Whisk in to soup about 5 minutes before it is done cooking, before adding the cheese.
- Roux will look a little thin when done – but don’t worry, it will continue to thicken when added to the soup!
Green Chile Chicken Soup Recipe Steps
- In large dutch oven or heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium high until shimmery, about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken and onion to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned – about 5 minutes.
- Stir in onion, cook until chicken is browned, another 5 minutes.
- Stir green chiles, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper, cook another 5 minutes, until fragrant and onions are browned and softened.
- Add Ro-tel, beans, chiles, and stock to pot.
- Bring to a boil, and then reduce to low.
- Simmer 15 minutes, until reduced and thickened slightly.
- If you’d like a thicker soup more like a stew, you can stir in cornstarch or xantham gum slurry.
- If you used dried chiles and rehydrated them in the soup as it cooked, you can remove them and mince (be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands from burning, remove the seeds and membranes before mincing to add back into soup.)
- Top with shredded Monterey jack cheese and chives, if desired.
Tips to Perfect Chicken Soup
Using these tips below, you can have the perfect chicken soup, every time!
What Beans to Use in Chicken Soup
We called for black beans and cannelleni (white kidney beans) beans in this recipe simply because we love them in soup and always have them on hand at home – but you can also use pinto beans, kidney beans, and even chickpeas if you prefer.
How To Use Rotisserie Chicken In Green Chile Chicken Soup
To save time, you can skip cooking the chicken in this white chicken chili – and just use rotisserie chicken!
Follow the steps below to save time by using a rotisserie chicken in this keto white chicken chili recipe:
Prepare soup as described below – except chicken.
In the first step, only sautee onions, while picking chicken and pulling from the carcass, and shred into 1″ chunks, set aside in a bowl.
Continue to cook soup as outlined, adding cooked pulled rotisserie chicken in with stock.
FAQs
Chicken is safe to eat and fully cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Chicken soup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days, or four months in the freezer.
What Drink To Pair With Spicy Chicken Soup
What Beer to Serve With Spicy Chicken Soup
Pairing a beer with this spicy chicken soup couldn’t be easier – our picks for this soup are simple and straightforward – we light light, refreshing, and crisp Mexican lagers to compliment the southwest green chile flavor in our soup!
We like to pair this soup with Modelo, Sol, Pacifico, Tecate, and of course Corona!
What Wine To Pair With Spicy Chicken Soup
For this soup, we love Vinho Verde (dry white Portugese wine that is incredibly budget friendly as many Portugese varietals are overlooked); Loire Chenin Blancs that aren’t overly sweet; unoaked California or Oregon Chardonnay; fruity Pinot Noirs from California, Oregon, or a left bank Bordeaux from the Médoc, if you’re in the mood for something a bit more complicated and robust.
In general, we love these tips that will help you pick wines for other soups:
- The saltier your soup tastes, the more acidic you will want your wine to taste.
- The spicier your soup tastes, you should pick more light bodied, low alcohol fruit forward reds (fruity does not mean sweet, it means actual fruit notes like cherry, plum, etc.)
- California and Oregon Pinot Noirs tend to be a little lower alcohol, fruitier, and lighter – French Pinot Noirs are a bit more complex.
- California and Oregon Chardonnays that are oaked can create muddled flavors with spicy soups, so grab something that hasn’t been aged on oak.
- Try new world or Portugese whites – South American and Portugese white wines are lighter without being cloyingly sweet (I do not recommend pairing with a sweet wine) and they are much friendlier on the wallet than many California or French varietals.
What To Serve With Green Chile Chicken Soup
This hearty and rich soup pairs perfectly with easy quick breads like our no knead bread, cheddar jalapeno bread, The Best Easy Keto Garlic Butter Rolls, and 4 Ingredient Keto Jalapeno Cheese Bread.
For more of our favorite side dishes that are delicious alongside this soup, check out some of our favorite sides below:
Try these salads:
You can find the rest of our side dish recipe archives here.
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Green Chile Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 4 ounces chopped green chiles can be canned, fresh roasted, or frozen – thaw/drain before using
- 1 10 oz can Ro-tel diced tomatoes and green chilies
- 3-4 Guahillo medium or Cascabel (mild) chiles, dried
- 3-4 chiles de arbol hot, dried, optional
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- 1 15 oz can white kidney beans drained
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained
- 2 14 oz cans low sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese to garnish
- ½ cup chopped cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into 1" chunks and dice onion.
- In large dutch oven or heavy pot, heat olive oil on medium high until shimmery, about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken and onion to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned – about 3 minutes.
- Stir in onion, cook until chicken is browned, another 5 minutes.
- Stir green chiles, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper, cook another 5 minutes, until fragrant and onions are browned.
- Add Ro-tel, beans, chiles, and stock to pot.
- Bring to a boil, and then reduce to low.
- Simmer 15 minutes, until reduced and thickened slightly.
- If you’d like a thicker soup more like a stew, you can stir in cornstarch or xantham gum slurry.
- If you used dried chiles and rehydrated them in the soup as it cooked, you can remove them and mince (be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands from burning, remove the seeds and membranes before mincing to add back into soup.)
- Top with shredded Monterey jack cheese and chives, if desired.
