If you’ve been reading my blog, you may already be quite familiar with my undying love for chili. But if you’re new here, allow me to enlighten. I once rushed home to a text that I misread as “Netflix and chili?” Imagine my dismay when I realized there was no chili. Only chill. Ugh. Seriously though, I’m a bit of a chili fiend… my week just isn’t complete without it. If there’s one thing I know, it’s chili. I can guarantee you this shredded chicken chili recipe is a keeper!
Don't forget to PIN it for later! ?
I’m all about that meal prep and shredded chicken has become part of my regular routine... it’s always in the fridge ready to go!
With a stock of shredded chicken on hand, this dinner comes together for me in a matter of minutes.
If you aren’t much of a meal planner or prepper, you can quickly boil and shred the chicken before combining all of your chili ingredients or you can go the rotisserie chicken route and shred that up instead.
See! Cooking doesn’t have to be that complicated!
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For weeknight dinners, I like to make things that are quick and as simple as possible; this recipe totally fits the bill.
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as mixing a few ingredients together over heat to enjoy a healthy, comforting home cooked meal without having to stress over it.
Using shredded chicken for chili can be a refreshing change from pork or beef. The texture and flavor lend itself nicely to the combination of spices in traditional chili.
While I’ve always loved white chicken chili, this is definitely not that! Try it out and let me know what you think!
Update: to increase serving sizes and make it even lower carbs per serving, I updated the recipe to reflect how I'm currently preparing this at home!
Instead of 2 chicken breasts, we use four large chicken breasts. There was so much sauce that it made sense to stretch the recipe a tad bit more. As a result, the shredded chicken chili recipe can easily feed a family with leftovers, and it's a bit more keto friendly per serving. Don't worry though, if you are married to the original version of the recipe, just use two breasts instead of four.
You can even use the leftovers as filling for these delicious low carb hand pies!
↓ Be sure to watch the shredded chicken chili recipe video! ↓
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts large, shredded
- 1 tbsp Butter
- ½ onion chopped
- 2 cups Chicken broth
- 10 oz diced tomatoes canned, undrained
- 2 oz tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Chili powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- ½ tbsp Garlic powder
- 1 jalapeno pepper chopped (optional)
- 4 oz Cream cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare chicken by boiling chicken breasts in water or broth on stovetop for 10-12 minutes, just barely covered in liquid. Once the meat is no longer pink, remove from fluid and shred with two forks. This same technique can also be used with a pressure cooker at pressure for 5 minutes with a natural release, or a slow cooker for 4-6 hours. Whatever’s clever for you! Rotisserie chicken meat can be substituted for the breasts as well.
- In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent.
- Add the shredded chicken, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and jalapeno to the pot and combine by gently stirring over the burner. Bring to a boil, then drop it down to a simmer over medium-low heat and cover for 10 minutes.
- Cut cream cheese into small, 1-inch chunks.
- Remove lid and mix in the cream cheese. Increase the heat back up to medium-high and continue to stir until the cream cheese is completely blended in. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Eat as-is or garnish with toppings of your choice. I love cilantro and Monterey jack cheese for ooey gooey goodness.
Nutrition
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Hi, I'm Tasha–nutritionist, recipe developer, and multi-published cookbook author.
Hi! I made your chicken chilli last night and it was amazing! I was wondering if you had the carb count? Mayne I missed it in your article!
So glad you like it! I've been having some issues with the nutrition table that I'm using not showing in the posts... but it looks fixed now! Thanks for pointing that out. To answer your question: 1/4 of the recipe = 10 net carbs, 1/6 of the recipe = 6.8 net carbs.
Tasha
What site do you use for your nutrition table? Im new at Keto so im trying to learn my way.
I use the USDA website and generate an excel table for the specific quantities for each ingredients. It's the most reliable source of nutrition information that I've found. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list
I made this for dinner tonight! It is the second week of our keto diet and my husband is enjoying it less than I am... well this was the first thing that he had a second serving of! I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, and used a few extra fresh peppers! Delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! I'm thrilled you guys liked it! Comments like this make me so happy, thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Can you tell ne what hiw many caloriers are in the chili?
Sure thing! For the whole recipe, you'll have 1267 calories. 1/4 of the recipe is 316 calories and 1/6 of the recipe is 211 calories. Hope that helps! 🙂
How much is a serving size?
Can you use tomato sauce instead of paste?
It's quite a bit thinner and the flavor isn't quite the same... but I don't see why not! It's worth experimenting with if that's what you have on hand.
Though, if you're eating a low carb/keto diet, you may want to check the nutrition label to make sure it's not a high sugar tomato sauce. Some brands are surprisingly high in carbs. Hope that helps!
Looks delish! How many cups of cooked chicken would you say is needed?
It's about 4 cups total.
Really love this recipe.. would I be able to make this with turkey and then freeze the recipe?
Absolutely! That sounds fantastic. Great idea for turkey leftovers!
Great recipe! I'm going to try this tonight, but I'm going to take out the butter and replace the cream cheese with plain Greek yogurt to make it a bit more healthier! Hopefully it will still be just as flavorful and the texture will be just as creamy as it looks in the picture! 🙂
hey i was thinking of doing the same! how did it turn out with the yogurt instead of the cream cheese?!
Can this be frozen?
Butter and cream cheese aren't unhealthy. This is a keto recipe, healthy fats like butter are allowed (and delicious!)
I was definitely thinking the same thing Megan! Cutting the butter and the cream cheese as those types of fats are not healthy for you. I love this recipe but I am not a Keto-dieter nor would I ever be one. 800 calories a day is essentially killing yourself. You need to eat to lose weight and eating 800 calories a day will send your body into starvation mode and you will cease and desist losing weight. 800 calories a day isn't good for ANYONE at least eat 1200 calories. Anywho, I'm stepping off my soap box but I do hope you all just learn how to eat, I used to be a fad dieter and then I learned how to eat and the weight started flying off. So just be careful if you're going to continue this diet.
No one who knows the facts about a keto diet suggests eating only 800 calories per day. It's more likely that they recommend at least 1800 calories per day or more depending upon each individual's TDEE. There's plenty of true information out there about a ketogenic diet if people want to research the honest facts about a keto diet.
Anyways this recipe looks divine as is, and perfectly keto. I'm filing into it in my recipe folder to try when the weather cools off. Thank you for a delicious sounding chili that I can't wait to try.
You have no idea what you are talking about as a Keto diet is not about 800 calories! As far as your opinion in regards to butter and cream cheese, that is YOUR opinion. I've been doing a Keto diet for years, I am incredibly healthy because of it, cardiovascular as well. Comment on the recipe and move on.
This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it! Do you think it would work if I just dumped everything but the cream cheese in the crock pot for 6-8 hours, then shredded the chicken and add the cream cheese at the end?
HI Kelly,
I cooked this recipe exactly that way and it turned out really well. Sauteed veggies, dumped them with chicken, tomatoes, broth into crockpot on low all day with spices. Added cream cheese and shredded the chicken about 15 min before serving. We really enjoyed it.
Made this tonight.. and it was delicious! Thought I was going to miss having some beans or other stuff in there and I didn’t! Thanks for the easy and yummy recipe. Made a double batch... and thankfully I did!
This looks very good. I also like your blog set up, the pictures and that you list the nutrition facts.
This is a very good recipe. I made it for dinner tonight and we really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for sharing it!
This was...absolutely...amazing!!! KETOGASM is my new favorite place for recipes and inspiration! Thank you so much for this blog!!!
Eek! You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I made this last night, and it was great. I literally just threw all of the ingredients into the crock pot, cooked for 8 hrs overnight. I added shredded cheese and a spoon of sour cream on top. Yummy!
This chili was so yummy! I made it last night and have it all ready to go for lunches this week. I had not tried a keto chili recipe yet...and I like this one so much, I don't think I need to try anything else. Thank you so much!
This recipe looks awesome! I've got everything going in the ol' crockpot right now. Just a note/question, in the nutrition info for diced tomatoes, is that for 28 oz? And if so, what brand did you use?! That number was what I ended up getting for just 14 oz of tomatoes.
No, you're totally right! Sorry for the confusion, I fixed it. I use 14.5 oz cans! Organic Costco diced tomatoes are what I always pick up.
Thank you for a great recipe!! I'll be following your blog now. This was a hit tonight.
This looks amazing! I was looking at the nutrition info for diced tomatoes though and was a bit confused. 1/2 a cup of canned diced tomatoes is 5 grams of net carbs and 30 calories? How did you get your numbers?
We are definitely making this tonight but I just want to get the numbers right. We are loving your blog!
Hey there! I always pick up the organic diced tomatoes from Costco (Kirkland brand). The nutrition label has 3 total carbs, 1 gram fiber per 1/2 cup. I realize my can size was a totally off though in my recipe! I use a 14.5 oz can, correcting now!
Has anyone tried adding beans?
That was what I wanted to know Ashley. But are beans against the keto woe?
You can use a can of Black Soy Beans, they are only 1 carb per 1/2 cup!
I just made this and added about a cup of cooked black beans. It is so delicious! I am not actually following a keto diet, just low carb, so not sure about the rules.
This looks so yummy! I'm making it tomorrow night. What is 1 serving size? 1 cup?
This was fantastic!!!! I added a little more jalapeño and some extra chilli powder because I like spicy food... it was delicious... definite keeper in my keto playbook 🙂 Thank You!!!
I'm making this now...it doesn't seem like it could possibly be 4 servings---its barely coming up 2 inches on my dutch oven. Is this meant to feed a family of 4?
Any reviews on using Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese?
What would you say is an actual serving if I was to split into 4 servings total? Is that 1 cup? 1/2 cup? Just trying to get the actual amount for the calorie/macro breakdown.
When you say "large chicken breasts", do you mean 2 whole breasts (from 2 chickens) or 2 breast halves (from 1 chicken)?
Great question! Two breast halves, from 1 chicken. Sorry for the confusion!
You can certainly add more to your liking and increase the protein content of the recipe. 🙂
Made this for a chili cook-off potluck we recently attended and of all the chili's brought to the party it was by far the crowd favorite! So good! Only tweak we made when cooking was using 8oz of cream cheese instead of 4oz to thicken the chili up a tad more (and cut down on a bit of heat since my husband went a big gung ho with the spice factor). SO GOOD! New favorite in our house! Thank you so much for sharing!
Has anyone used a can of diced green chilies instead of jalapeño?
I made this tonight for supper and used 2 oz of the canned green chilies instead of the jalapeño - it was fantastic! Next time I won't shred the chicken quite as much, or maybe leave 1/2 the chicken a little chunkier. Great recipe - thanks!!
We used Rotel tomatoes which has the green chilies in it. It was a great sub.
Just made this chili and LOVED IT! Did have to sub a can of Rotel for the diced tomatoes and jalapeno because I didn't have one and left the onions only partially cooked for the crunch. Next time we make this I want to try it with shredded pork. Hubby is not dieting so he added chili seasoned kidney beans to his. He also liked it even though he does not like chicken! This put me in mind of the richness of Lobster Bisque. Can't wait to try some other dishes. THANK YOU
I have made this twice so far & my teenagers LOVE it! It's my new go-to.
Thank you for sharing!
I can't wait to try more recipes
Can I cook everything at once together in a crock pot? Will it turn out the same? We have made the regular recipe 6 times now.
Yep! I've had a few people let me know they prepare it in a crockpot all together. 🙂
I know you broke the servings down to 1/4 but is there a more definitive amount we can use for a serving. i.e 1 cup 1. 5 cup ?
I was wondering the same thing!
Made this in a slow cooker! Sooooo good! Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
I'm making this tonight, can't wait!
http://thegirlswhobrunch.com
I made this last night and came out super yummy!! The boyfriend loved it =]
This is one of my new favorite recipes! I've made it quite a few times and my husband loves it too! Thank you! 🙂
Made it tonight! Yum! will definitely make again. My husband said he could almost taste the beans!!
Does this freeze well? with the cream cheese?
Mine freezes beautifully.
What is the serving size and nutrition reads on this recipe in cups?
This is delicious! I made this for the second time and found that it’s a delightful meal that pairs perfectly with cold weather.
The only change that I made was boiling the chicken for 20 minutes rather than the suggested 10-12. The first time, I tried the suggested 10-12 but the chicken was incredibly difficult to shred and was still raw in the middle. Boiling for 20, it was much easier to shred and was fully cooked (and didn’t dry out).
I love this recipe - have made it several times. Trying to reduce the carbs - I wonder how it would be if I omitted or reduced the tomato paste?
I haven't tried this particular recipe without, but I've done it with other chili recipes. Turns out a tad more soupy, but still delicious. I'm working on developing a white chicken chili recipe for the site without the paste and tomatoes and the flavors are still awesome.
Let me know if you try it without the paste, I'm sure others are wondering the same question! <3
Made this chili tonight. Ended up doubling it. So yummy! Thanks for a new go-to recipe for those chilly winter nights! I’m sharing it with all of my friends!
I guess I was expecting something different... maybe... ??? I think the word "chili" through me off. I think my family had in mind chili made with chicken instead of burger. This is basically my chicken enchilada soup... although MUCH, MUCH tastier than mine! 🙂 Soooo... this will be replacing my old recipe for that particular soup as it is quite YUMMY, just not chili.
I won a chili cook off contest with this recipe!!! I made a couple alterations but stuck to the main recipe. Cooked my chicken in beer in a crock pot, added some ground cinnamon to the main portion, and added a little more jalapeño. Everybody loved it. Delicious!
Don't boil chicken. I cook chicken breast sous vide at 150 degrees for 2 hours, shock cool and store in the fridge for up to a week. Very tender. And hands on times about 5 minutes. I'm currently munching out on Sous Vide Chicken Salad with Cilantro and roasted almonds with Kwepie mayo.
Is the serving size 3/4 cup? or 1 cup? I made this chili and it's my first KETO recipe. Delicious! Thank you!
My family and I loved this dish!
Yes, it was so easy and taste GREAT....thank you so much.
This is the best thank you so so so much!! I have made it a dozen times now and it never gets old. I also made it for family and they were impressed the first day but the next day when they were having the left overs they elated!! Thank you for sharing!!
This is sooooo good! I highly recommend adding some peperoncinis as topping. I don't like hot and it adds such good flavor!!
I loved this recipe. Can you help me with knowing the actual serving size in cups as make double/triple the recipe for my big family? I am tracking my Keto diet and don’t know what would be 1/4 of the recipe in cup size. Help please.
Loved this and using rotisserie chicken made it so easy!
Made this as called for with the exception of leaving on stove for way longer than 10 minutes. Was serving to workmen and was unsure about timing. Didn't hurt it at all; just make sure the temperature isn't too high. The men absolutely loved it! (And I thought it was pretty tasty also.) This is quite easy to put together; doesn't require a lot of attention.
Is this something you can do on the crockpot?
I find the next day alot of the liquid was gone...any suggestions? should i add more diced tomatoes and chicken broth?
If you are watching your carbs, adding more chicken broth would be lower in carbs over additional tomatoes. If that's not a concern, I think both suggestions would work really well to add liquid volume to your leftovers. If the nutritional info is important to you, you may want to plug in your ingredients into a tracker like Cronometer or MyFitnessPal so it calculates the nutrient breakdown with the updated quantities. Hope that helps!
I love traditional chili and miss it. But, this chicken chili is fantastic!! I made it for the first time today but no doubt will be making it many more times. Thank you!!
What is the serving size by volume?
Can i substitute cream cheese with cheddar or mozzarella? I don't really like cream cheese!
What is a serving size??
I loved this recipe this is a definite keeper! Thanks for sharing it!!!
I am lactose intolerant. Can I remove the cream cheese all together or maybe replace it with something else?
have you tried the kite hill brand of cream cheese? they are pretty darn tasty & the (keto) macros are amazing.
I love this recipe! However what is the serving size?
Wowie! A new favorite! This is really quick to pull together! (I shred my chicken with my kitchen aid...takes seconds!) Thanjs for a wonderful weeknight meal!
Quick and easy dinners are the best! Happy to hear it was a hit!
I made this recipe last week for my Keto Catering/ Meal Prep business and i was so extremely sad that there was no leftovers for myself. I'm making a big pot now just for my bf and I. It was so good! I used cayenne pepper instead of jalapenos and I did half of a jar of salsa and half diced tomatoes- only because thats what i had on hand. Thanks!
I made this tonight so yummy and delicious. My family ate it all gone. Thank u for sharing this delicious recipe
Cant wait to make it again.
I have been making this now for 2 years. It is my absolute favorite soup....I even eat it in the summer because it's too good to wait for chilly weather! I usually have to double it to have any leftovers! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Another question about how much this actually makes/serving size by volume. I know you gave 1/4 or 1/6 serving nutrition info, but I'm hoping for an actual volume amount. If 1/4 serving is a cup, I may consider it. If that's 1/2 cup, it's not worth it to me in terms of carbs. Thanks!
Do you think the flavour would still be good without the cumin? Sadly I'm just not a fan of cumin but otherwise I'm anxious to try this recipe!
I think it would still be totally fantastic without the cumin - and I'm a big fan of the spice! It's just something I usually add to most chilis I make, but there is enough flavor in the other ingredients to make up for it.
Can you help me figure out total carbs? My functional medicine practitioners recommend using total carbs not net carbs.
No problem, total carbs are easy. The total carbs per serving are listed on the nutrition label as such; if you eat more than one serving just multiply that number by how many servings you ate.
Net carbs subtract the fiber from the total carb count, so there's a little extra math involved. But if you are counting total, you can take the carb counts on the label at face value.
Side note, I know a lot of FM practitioners eliminate dairy in their patients' diet - you can omit the cream cheese and butter in this recipe (or perhaps substitute with ghee) with no problem. Still a very tasty and filling dish!
Thank you for clarifying. I misunderstood and thought your video stated net carbs so that’s what I thought you were listing as total carbs. I can have dairy and have cooked two of your recipes. My favorite is the Thai coconut chicken soup . This recipe is a close second. You are awesome. Thank you
Of course, no problem! So glad you are enjoying the recipes!
Has anyone tried this in the instant pot?
It's not bad, but it really just tastes like shredded chicken soup with cumin and chili powder in it. But it's a good addition to your range of recipes for keto.
A bit of advice for people like me who don't care for cheese: I tried with no thickener, with cream cheese, and with yogurt and really both 'thickeners' just made the broth white. And wow did the cream cheese makes it taste and smell very cheesy. So if you're like me and don't like that, you can skip it with no harm.
I have 2 issues with this recipe, but first thing is, its delicious.
1. This recipe's nutrition isnt measured by volume. 6 servings eye balled just doesn't work, on a strict keto diet. You should actually work out what each serving is by gram.
2. I imported this recipe to "My fitness Pal". It doesnt at all come up with the same nutritional information the you have listed.
per serving (1 of 6)
CAL- 257
TOTAL FAT-11.7
CARBS-12.8 (8.9 IF YOU DO NET)
DIETARY FIBER-3.9
SUGAR- 6.2
PROTEIN-23.6
My Fitness Pal imports recipes per ingredient and weights entered by the website. I did not manually place these numbers in.
Starting Stats:
Ketones- 2.6
Glucose- 71
After 30 mins of eating the recipe:
Ketones- 2.4
Glucose- 82
Overall a decent meal as long as you can fit that much protein and carbs in your daily requirements this late in the day. I try and aim for as close to 20g carbs a day. But with this meal at 12.8 that's tough. I was still under 40 though.
The shredded chicken chili was incredible! The only thing is, I was looking for how much a serving is for the 6 net carbs.
I was wondering the same thing!
I was looking for something to do with some leftover cooked chicken breasts. this was perfect. I used a can of Rotel hot for the diced tomatoes and jalapenos. thanks for sharing
Has anyone done this with chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts?
It would definitely work with a different cut of meat! I've used whole chicken to prepare this, using a mix of breast meat, thigh, etc. So good!
I won a red chili competition today with this recipe! I add serrano peppers vs. jalapenos and have a very spicy red chili powder from New Mexico. Healthy and competition worthy!
Just curious if this can be easily frozen for future meals and if it should all be cooked beforehand??
Made this for the first time tonight and absolutely loved it!! I cannot wait to have it again - is tomorrow night too soon?! 😀
I want to do this in a crock pot but I don’t know if I’m suppose to cook the chicken first then add all the ingredients together in the pot and then slow cook it for 4-6 hours OR put the RAW chicken in the pot and let it cook with all the ingredients?! Help?
In a crockpot you could do it either way, but if you're starting with raw chicken in the crockpot, you will need to then shred it at the end to get the same texture. I hope that is helpful!
Absolutely delish!! I made it with rotisserie chicken. We LOVED it!
Yesss! Rotisserie chicken really is a time saver. So glad you loved the recipe!
My hubbs is normally not a big fan of chicken dishes, but LOVES chili. This is a big winner for us - we LOVE this recipe. Since I make a lot of bone broth, it's a great way to use that rotisserie chicken. THANK YOU for a great recipe for the upcoming winter!
My husband and I have been low carb for almost 3 years. We go through spurts of what is our favorite recipe but this one has been one of the favorites for a long time! We only eat 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner and this never has any leftovers, well, hardly ever. I have one generous portion and my husband eats the rest. This is a fantastic recipe! Thanks so much for sharing it!
This recipe looks so+ yummy!!! Do you think the carbs would be too high if I garnished with
avocado and cheese with a little squeeze of lime? I am new to keto so not sure when too much is too much😊 I am definitely making this recipe😁 thanks for sharing it!!
Hi Miranda, thanks for the question. My answer regarding the carbs being too high with the garnish is: probably not, but it depends. I say go for it. BUT... your best bet will be to tally all your ingredients used in a nutrition app like cronometer to get a good idea of how the carbs align with your daily goals. Carb count will vary depending on the quantities used and things like that. Tracking macros and calculating all the nutrition info isn't required when doing keto, but it can be super helpful to learn about the carb counts in your food when you're just getting started! I hope that helps.
Made this last night for supper after a long day at work. It was fantastic! No additional spices needed like salt and pepper! 3 of us devoured the whole pan full! Will definitely be a new go to in my house!
I just made this and I love it! Thank you.
Sensational is all I can say. I make it often and freeze some to take to work for lunches.
Super easy and tasty. Next time I will add fresh or canned mushrooms and peppers to increase the volume and make it even more meaty. You could easily substitute the chicken for ground beef, chicken or turkey. It's very similar to a "taco soup" that I make and love.
Best easy keto meal I have found. Rotisserie chicken is the way to go. Start to finish <$20 to feed the whole family. Took ~15 minutes total.