Crockpot Jalapeño Popper Chili
This Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili is the perfect cozy meal for the fall and winter or a tailgate party. Throw everything in the slow cooker and when dinner rolls around, dinner is served!
Bart and I have started inviting several families over most Sunday nights for a little potluck.
This is a great set-up.
In the morning, before church, I throw soup in the crockpot.
After church, we have lunch, both girls go down for naps/quiet time, and I read in bed until about four-thirty (last week, it was Relish, a YA graphic novel about growing up with foodie parents. Made me want to eat out many times a week, grow a huge garden, and become a cheesemonger).
Then, when the girls get up, we set out some bowls and spoons, add the last things to the crockpot, and put the children’s table in the kitchen.
Everyone shows up with their offerings (we usually have someone bring rolls, someone bring a salad, and someone bring dessert), we eat, the children play, and the adults talk. Everyone leaves, we put the dishes in the dishwasher, the girls in bed, and voila. Easiest party-type thing ever.
The last two weeks, I’ve made this Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili. And it was delicious.
I didn’t even know I liked Jalapeño Popper ANYTHING until I was converted by this ridiculously great Jalapeño Popper dip. Now I know.
If you like this jalapeno chili recipe, you might like these too:
- Jalapeño Popper Slow-Cooker Sliders
- The BEST Crockpot White Chicken Chili
- Creamy Green Enchilada Chili
Crockpot Jalapeño Popper Chili Recipe
Crockpot Jalapeño Popper Chili
This Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili is the perfect cozy meal for the fall and winter or a tailgate party. Throw everything in the slow cooker and when dinner rolls around, dinner is served!
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 - 2 jalapeno peppers seeds removed, and diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper diced
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs (breasts work too - I just find thighs less dry and more flavorful)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- pinch of crushed red pepper
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 3-4 cups chicken broth use 4 if you're doing a full pound of beans
- 1/2 or 1 lb dry white beans rinsed and sorted (I used navy beans)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 pound bacon cooked and crumbled
Instructions
-
Add all ingredients except the cream cheese and bacon to the crockpot. Cook on low for 7-9 hours. Shred chicken with two forks.
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(optional) Using an immersion blender, briefly pulse a few times to break up some of the beans and thicken the soup - you don't want it smooth, just a few of the beans pureed. Or take about 2 cups of the chili out and blend it in a countertop blender (leave the lid cracked so the steam doesn't make your blender explode)
-
Add the cream cheese and let melt for about 10 minutes, stir to combine, and mix in crumbled bacon. Salt to taste and serve.
Recipe Notes
Note: The first week, I only used half a pound of dried beans, so it was a bit thinner and more soup-like. The second week, I used the whole pound which made it much thicker and chili-like. Personally, I preferred the first variation. Bart said he had no preference. So. . . . whichever one you'd like.
(adapted from Sweet Treats and More)
Yay you posted it! I've been waiting since you mentioned it in the last soup recipe post!
One day, one day my children will eat soup. One day.
Can you put the chicken in raw? And did you soak the beans the overnight or just rinse/sort like the recipe says? This looks so good, I really want to make it.
I actually put my chicken in still FROZEN, so raw is absolutely fine. And I don't soak the beans overnight (although you certainly can).
Oh man, I wish I would've read this before I started. I had to wait to thaw mine lol I hope it still turns out as good. I'm excited!
Oh man. This is so going on my list of meals to make in a couple weeks when we no longer have help with the new baby. It looks SO delicious.
What does it mean to "sort" the beans. 🙂
?
Beans sometimes have little rocks or chunks of dirt in with them. It's just a good idea to sort through them when you rinse them to make sure it's only beans in there! (I used to never do this, but after Bart chipped a tooth on a rock, I now sort my beans :)).
Oh this sounds so good! I've been looking forward to this recipe ever since you mentioned it. We'll definitely be trying this soon!
Do you think it's possible to make this without the chicken?
I think it'd probably be fine. Maybe slightly less flavor, but I think it'd still be good.
I made this without the chicken OR bacon and it was delicious!
So good. Ben will be thrilled we have this. 🙂
Sounds delicious, I'm totally making this.
I have this in my crock pot right now. So excited!
This looks delicious!! I love both chili and jalapeno poppers, so can't imagine not falling in love with this soup! Thanks for sharing the recipe! I pinned it and shared it! 🙂
Made this today and loved it so much! James was skeptical because he has this crazy idea he doesn't like cream cheese … But he loved it too 🙂 thanks!!
I made this tonight for my family and it was a hit! I will definitely use this recipe again!!
Could u do beef instead of chicken??
I made this for a Pumpkin Carving party last night and everyone loved it!! I'm Veg, so I did cauliflower instead of chicken, worked great! 🙂
How did you do it with cauliflower? Sounds delicious!
I'm making this for a chili cook off at work Friday. I'll let you know what place I get 🙂
How would you adjust the broth if you don't do the beans?
Probably just one cup of broth should be enough.
I so wanted to love this recipe but I have made it TWICE and it was absolutely terrible both times. I certainly don't want to discredit or upset the author or other reviewers, but I was so excited to make it because I love jalapeno poppers. The first time I made it, I think my crockpot was overfilled and the beans didn't cook (my fault, yes). So I put it on top of the stove and finished cooking it and it still turned out badly. Not spicy, bland, no flavor at all. There was also WAY too much cream cheese and it didn't look anything like the picture. The second time I made it, I halved the recipe thinking that would help the beans cook. My crockpot was only about 1/3 of the way full and the navy beans (that I soaked overnight) were still undercooked after 8 hours on low. I followed the recipe to a T both times and each time it turned out badly. Maybe my hopes were too high for this but it didn't turn out at all like I expected and certainly wasn't tasty. After trying twice, I won't attempt it again.
I haven't tried making this yet, but all the other readers seem to have cooked beans, do you live in a higher elevation? Canned beans should work out nicely if your cooker won't do dried. Also it looks like in her picture for the dish,she did the optional partly pureed.
I think the problem may be the diced tomatoes. I normally don’t put anything with acid in at the beginning because the beans won’t soften. If you accidentally do you can add some baking soda to counteract the acid. I think she may use diced tomatoes without liquid and this could have an effect. Either way I waited until halfway through cooking time to add the tomatoes and now I’m just crossing my fingers.
I used this recipe for a chili cookoff my church was hosting. And it won Hottest, Most Unique and I had the most votes! It was such a hit! I added a total of 3 jalapeños and it did just the trick! I will definitely be making this again!
This is a favorite in my house and amongst my friends. They often request it when coming over for game night, and hubby's coworkers always ask for leftovers (not that there ever are many!). I touched up the spices and put my own spin on a few to up the flavour, and it's won first place in 3 chili cook-offs so far. Love love love this recipe!
We’re very calorie conscious at our house. Any idea of the calorie count?
Sorry, no!
I can’t wait to try
Many thanks,
Linda B
Is the quantity of chicken thighs correct in the recipe? Only two are called for, which doesn’t sound like much for the quantity of soup.
That’s how many I always use, but if you want more meat, you’re certainly welcome to add more!
Looks good, I want to try this. Glad to have a new slow cooker recipe. May try to play with doing it in my instant pot too. I bet it would work.
Had this for dinner tonight. I used about 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs because I didn’t have anything else to do with the rest of the pack, and it was marvelous! I’m definitely going to make this again.
Yay! I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know.
I made this in my instant pot! I used 1 lb of beans and 4 cups of broth. I did 2 frozen chicken breasts and cooked on high pressure for 30 minutes. It turned out perfect!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear it!
So I knew my beans wouldn’t cook if I added the tomatoes so I waited until halfway to add them. Even then they wouldn’t get as soft as I wanted until I added some baking soda. Next time I will add the tomatoes about an hour before the cream cheese. I also perfectly seasoned it before I added the bacon which made it a little too salty, darn it! But we just added some sour cream to our own bowls and all was well. Also did half thighs and half chicken breasts and the thighs were definitely better. A note: If you like the flavor of jalapeno but not the spice remove the white membrane and do at least 2 of them.
Could you make this with canned beans instead? I know 4 cans would be about a pound. No broth then?
I’d probably do a cup of broth still just to keep it from burning.