OMG this chili pie! ❤️ with a cornbread crust. This recipe is another favorite coming out of Ambitious Kitchen. Easy to make, packed with protein thanks to chicken and white beans, and especially good during the cooler seasons when all you want is a little comfort food.
I basically made a thicker version of my beloved white chicken chili, except this time I used white beans, ground chicken and green chiles for a little kick of heat. Plus let’s not forget the sweet corn and of course, the honey pumpkin cornbread that’s baked on top. Top it with a little yogurt, guac and salsa and you’ve got yourself one of the best dinners you’ve had in a while. TRUST YO GIRL.
Ingredients in white chicken chili pie
This delicious white chicken chili pie is packed with protein thanks to white beans and lean ground turkey, has tons of flavorful spices, and is topped with an incredible pumpkin cornbread crust. You’ll love the sweet & savory elements. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- For the chili mixture: white beans, chicken broth or water, olive oil, white onion, garlic, a can of mild green chiles, lean ground chicken or turkey & sweet corn.
- Spices: ground cumin, chili powder, coriander, dried oregano, salt & pepper.
- For the pumpkin cornbread: one egg, honey, olive oil or melted butter, unsweetened almond milk, pumpkin puree (you can make your own with this tutorial!), whole wheat pastry flour (you can also use all purpose flour, white whole wheat flour or gluten free oat flour), medium-grind yellow cornmeal, baking powder & salt.
- For garnish: jalapeño slices, avocado or guacamole, cilantro, greek yogurt/sour cream, salsa/hot sauce.
How to make white chicken chili pie
- First, add ½ cup of the drained white beans to a blender along with 1 cup broth or water. Blend on high until well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Heat olive oil in a large deep 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add onions, garlic and green chiles and sauté for 3-5 minutes until onions are tender. Next, add in the ground chicken/turkey, break up the meat and cook until no longer pink.
- Stir in the cumin, chili powder, coriander and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste then reduce heat to low. Next, stir in the corn, cilantro, pureed beans and remaining whole white beans and gently simmer together for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside while you make the cornbread topping.
- To make the cornbread topping: In a large bowl, whisk the egg, honey, oil, almond milk and pumpkin puree together until well combined. Next stir in the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Pour cornmeal topping over the chili mixture and spread evenly towards the edges of the skillet.
- Top the batter with a few slices of jalapeños. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cornbread is slightly golden brown on the edges and filling is bubbling. Serve with guacamole, cilantro, sour cream/greek yogurt and hot sauce. Serves 6.
Customize this white chicken chili pie
- Make it vegetarian: feel free to swap the ground chicken with another can of white beans or chickpeas. Be sure to also use water or vegetarian broth in the chili mixture.
- Make it gluten free: simply use gluten free oat flour in the pumpkin cornbread crust. Easy!
- Make it in a pan: If you do not have a cast iron skillet or an ovenproof skillet, feel free to transfer the chili mixture to a 9×9 inch pan or something similar and pour the cornbread batter over it and bake as directed. It will still be perfect!
How to freeze white chicken chili pie
Before baking: cook the chili mixture and add the cornbread topping. Wrap the entire pie in tinfoil and place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to cook, re-wrap the pie with new tinfoil and bake it covered in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Remove the foil and bake the pie for an additional 35-40 minutes uncovered.
After baking: you can either bake the entire recipe, cool it to room temperature, scoop it into servings, place in freezer safe containers and then freeze. Or you can bake it, bring to room temp, and then freeze the entire pan. Just be sure to wrap with tinfoil. Once ready to reheat, thaw it out. Then bake, covered at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes or until heated through.
More pumpkin recipes to try
Spinach Bacon Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
Spicy Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sour Cream Sauce
Slow Cooker Black Bean Quinoa Pumpkin Chicken Chili
Vegetarian Spinach Pumpkin Lasagna
See how to make the white chicken chili pie
I hope you love this white chicken chili pie! Be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe below if you make it. Thanks for being here — I appreciate you! xo.
White Chicken Chili Pie with Pumpkin Cornbread Crust
Delicious white chicken chili pie with a wonderful pumpkin cornbread crust. This hearty and warming white chicken chili pie is easily gluten free and the perfect mix of sweet and savory. An amazing dinner for the whole family!
Ingredients
- For the chili mixture:
- 1 (15 ounce) white beans, divided
- 1 cup chicken broth or water
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (5 ounce) can mild green chiles
- 1 pound lean ground chicken or turkey (at least 93% lean)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup fresh or frozen sweet corn
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- For the pumpkin cornbread:
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour or gluten free oat flour
- 1/2 cup medium-grind yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For garnish:
- jalapeño slices
- avocado or guacamole
- cilantro
- greek yogurt/sour cream
- salsa/hot sauce
Instructions
-
First, add ½ cup of the drained white beans to a blender along with 1 cup broth or water. Blend on high until well combined. Set aside.
-
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
-
Heat olive oil in a large deep 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add onions, garlic and green chiles and sauté for 3-5 minutes until onions are tender. Next, add in the ground chicken/turkey, break up the meat and cook until no longer pink.
-
Stir in the cumin, chili powder, coriander and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste then reduce heat to low. Next, stir in the corn, cilantro, pureed beans and remaining whole white beans and gently simmer together for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside while you make the cornbread topping.
-
To make the cornbread topping: In a large bowl, whisk the egg, honey, oil, almond milk and pumpkin puree together until well combined. Next stir in the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Pour cornbread topping over the chili mixture and spread evenly towards the edges of the skillet.
-
Top the batter with a few slices of jalapeños. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cornbread is slightly golden brown on the edges and filling is bubbling. Serve with guacamole, cilantro, sour cream/greek yogurt and hot sauce. Serves 6.
Recipe Notes
If you do not have a cast iron skillet or an ovenproof skillet, feel free to transfer the chili mixture to a 9x9 inch pan or something similar and pour the cornbread batter over it and bake as directed. It will still be perfect!
If you want to make this vegetarian, you can use another can (or two) of white beans in place of the ground chicken, and I suggest adding a little more corn!
To freeze: cook the chili mixture and add the cornbread topping. Wrap the entire pie in tin foil and place in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to cook, re-wrap the pie with new tinfoil and bake it covered in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Remove the foil and bake the pie for an additional 35-40 minutes uncovered.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
26 comments
How can I make the cornbread vegan? Flax egg?
Hi! If you share a home with a person who hates beans – what are your suggestions for alternatives?
This was delicious and so easy to make! I am lazy and don’t like chopping/dicing (lol) so this recipe was perfect for me. I didn’t have a cast iron skillet or a 9×9 pan, so I used a 13×9 pan and cooked for 25 minutes, and it came out amazing!
So happy to hear that! Easy and delicious 🙂
I used turkey ( breast) and it was too dry, didn’t look juicy like the picture. For me the cornbread layer dominated the much smaller layer of corn, turkey and spiced. Suggestions to get or right? Like Monique’s?
Hi! I’d suggest using a ground turkey or chicken to get the right texture for the filling (turkey breast likely dried out the rest of the mixture when cooked). Let me know if you give it a try!
Really a fan of this delicious and hearty dish! I went heavy handed on the spices and subbed diced jalapeños for mild peppers (using about half the amount), and the flavor was wonderful. Baked it in a deeper dutch oven, rather than a shallow skillet, which ended up taking more like 35 minutes. One question: I thought I distributed the topping fairly evenly but, after baking, it was more like cornbread in the center surrounded by chili. Still fantastic but wondered if something is likely to cause that—other than old fashioned user error in pouring😆?
If you spread the topping evenly all over the chili, it should look like the photo and video and be delicious 🙂 I suggest trying again!
Made this for dinner tonight! Fantastic! Will make again.
So happy you liked it!
Saw this and knew I had to make it. The recipe was fairly easy, and the taste did not disappoint! I will certainly make this again and have already recommended it to many friends! This would even fit in the camp of “creative Thanksgiving dishes” since I’m unlikely to make a turkey this year.
Absolutely! So glad you found this one!
Delicious! This one is a keeper! I used ground turkey in place of ground chicken, since that’s what we usually have and it was fabulous. I also used a 9 x 13 pan as well. Thanks for a yummy recipe!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!
Loved this chili!! I used oat flour for the cornbread topping and it was perfect!
The best dinner! Glad you enjoyed!
Nothing beats cornbread right on top of chili! This was delicious! I thought about next time adding a layer of cheese right before I put the cornbread batter on, but adding the cheese, guac and sour cream on top at the end made it perfect and impossible to not grab seconds! The men that ate it also gave their compliments so thanks for creating this recipe!!
Love that idea! So glad everyone enjoyed 🙂
Yummy! Looking for a change up for dinner and this is what I needed. I forgot to buy corn meal so for subsitution used 1 cup of bobs red mill corn bread mix instead and it worked well.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed.
I loved this so much! I left out the cilantro because I didn’t have any and it still tasted so delicious. I had a cast iron and it was definitely full When it went in the oven because I don’t think I drained my beans Or green chiles well enough so definitely drain them well! Such a good comforting recipe.
Glad it still worked out well! Perfect dinner 🙂
Delicious. Last night was the first time I’ve made one of your dinner recipes! This meal was amazing. My family loved it. It was easy to make and my only disappointment was that I didn’t double the recipe.
Love it! So happy to hear that 🙂
Made this tonight! It was delicious and my family of 4 devoured the entire meal. I did not substitute any ingredients other than using gluten-free all purpose flour for the cornmeal and dried cilantro (only b/c I didn’t have fresh on hand). Definitely a comfort food perfect for a cool Fall night!
This recipe was quite tasty!!! My husband and I were pleasantly surprised by the flavor profile. The chili with the cornbread topping makes for a very comforting one skillet meal for a nice brisk fall day! I doubled the recipe because my iron skillet was quite large but tripled the seasoning in the chili and added about a teaspoon of berbere seasoning, chipotle seasoning, and a tablespoon of garlic powder seasoning to it. For the cornbread topping, def use butter, butter is better, flavor wise and add just a little more honey to taste! Delish!!