One of the easiest meals you will ever make, this Pantry White Chicken Chili uses mainly all pantry items to create a hearty and delicious dish.

Pantry White Chicken Chili with Hominy

I am not at all exaggerating when I say this is the easiest meal I know how to make. That’s because this recipe basically just requires opening up a bunch of cans and emptying them into a pot. There is a little bit of dicing and some measuring but it is so minimal it hardly even counts.

This recipe was inspired by a friend's recipe that I learned over a decade ago. Through the years I have made this dish quite a bit, with a few modifications along the way.

However, the essence of the original recipe remains the same, which is using mainly canned products straight from your pantry to make a quick and delicious meal. Plus, if you dress it up with the suggested garnishes I provide at the end of this post, it makes this simple meal seem a lot fancier.

So let's learn how to make this Pantry White Chicken Chili with Hominy.

How to Make Pantry White Chicken Chili

First, gather your canned ingredients. You will need:

Two large cans of chicken breast (I like to buy mine in bulk at Sam's Club)
Two 15 ounce cans of white beans (Cannellini or Great Northern beans)
Two 15 ounce cans of white hominy or one 24 ounce can
One to two 7 ounce cans of green chiles (choose your heat preference)
Two 14.5 ounce cans of low sodium chicken broth or one 32 ounce carton (you want to have about 4 cups of broth)

Next, small dice half of a white onion and two small garlic cloves.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and garlic and sauté until soft and fragrant.

Now it is time to start opening the cans.

Open and drain the chicken breast and add to the pot. Use the back of a spoon to break up any big chunks.

Then open, drain, and rinse the beans and the hominy. Add to the pot.

Finally, add the green chiles (do not drain) and the chicken broth. For an even better flavor, use roasted green chiles such as Pueblo, Hatch, or Anaheim instead of the canned chiles.

Add ¼ teaspoon of ground cumin and season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together.

Let the soup come to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes until heated through and to allow all of the flavors to come together.

How to Serve

The chili is now ready to serve, but I think the garnishes make this soup even better! So here's my recommendation of how to top each serving of Pantry White Chicken Chili:

A dollop of sour cream
A sprinkle of diced cilantro
Some white shredded cheese
A splash of lime juice
Crumbled up tortilla chips sprinkled right on top (for an added bonus buy the lime flavored ones, you won't be disappointed)
For some spice, add sliced, pickled jalapeños and some of the juice

Other Variations

As I mentioned earlier, the great part about this recipe is that it is so ridiculously easy because it uses pretty much all canned products. However, here are a few ways you can modify the recipe depending on what you have on hand.

Replace the canned chicken with your own leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken (about 4 cups). Here is a recipe for an easy Instant Pot shredded chicken.
Replace canned green chiles with roasted Anaheim, Pueblo or Hatch chiles (about 3-5 diced, depending on your heat preference). Here's two ways to roast your own green chiles at home.
And of course, you can always use homemade chicken broth or bone broth instead of canned. Here's a recipe for homemade chicken broth.

There you have it, super easy and delicious Pantry White Chicken Chili.

I hope you enjoy!

Please leave me a comment below if you make this or tag me on Instagram @everydaylatina.

If you are looking for some other tasty recipes using chicken, then check these out:

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