White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Tortilla chips or strips, monterrey jack cheese, sliced avocado for serving (optional)
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 1/2 cups shredded cooked rotisserie or left-over chicken*
• 2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans
• 1 1/4 cup frozen or fresh corn
• 1 (8 oz) pkg Neufchatel cheese (aka light cream cheese), cut into small cubes
• salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
• 1 small yellow onion , diced
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 (7 oz) can diced green chilies
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cloves garlic , finely minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute 4 minutes minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.
2. Add chicken broth, green chilies, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Drain and rinse beans in a fine mesh strainer or colander then measure out 1 cup. Set whole beans aside, transfer 1 cup beans to a food processor along with 1/4 cup broth from soup, puree until nearly smooth**.
4. Add Neufchatel cheese to soup along with corn, whole beans and pureed beans and stir well. Simmer 5 - 10 minutes longer.
5. Stir in chicken, fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve with Monterrey Jack cheese, more cilantro, avocado slices and tortilla chips if desired.
6. ===NOTES===
7. *Recipe updated to use pre-cooked shredded chicken (previously used 1 lb raw chicken in this recipe and cooked at the beginning). I like the flavor of rotisserie chicken better plus this way you don't end with over-cooked chicken breasts.
8. **If you don't own a food processor you can skip the pureeing step, soup just won't be quite as creamy.