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I always put chocolate or cocoa powder in my chili. Now I want to try making white chicken chili. Should I add white chocolate?

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    Welcome to the site @Nathalie. Are you trying to make a chili that's actually white colored? What are you trying to accomplish by using white chocolate?
    – GdD
    Jul 16, 2018 at 12:34
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    @GdD- White chicken chili is the name of the dish. It is not very similar to normal chili except that it is served out of a pot. It is a convenience dish and the sauce, instead of being mostly pureed chilis as in regular chili, is mostly cream. It does have some token green chilis.
    – Sobachatina
    Jul 16, 2018 at 15:56
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    Hi! The recipe is a shredded chicken and white bean chili, with a creamy sauce. I was wondering about the chocolate becausr I find that adding dark chocolate to my regular mest or vegetarian chili gives it a really rich taste. So I was wondering if I could accomplish the same thing with this nee recipe with white chocolate, so I keep the light color of the dish.
    – Nathalie
    Jul 16, 2018 at 17:42

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Cocoa powder is sometimes added to regular chili because the bitter earthiness compliments the dark chilies.

White chicken chili only contains green chilies and has no complex flavor to compliment.

White chocolate might make your chili creamier but there are cheaper ingredients that do that better.

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White chocolate does not contain cocoa powder.

You will just add cocoa butter (fat) and sugar.

I believe it will be useless in your chicken chili.

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  • Fat and sugar sound useful in a chili :)
    – rackandboneman
    Jul 16, 2018 at 14:50
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    @rackandboneman Maybe in a regular chili, but not in one like the OP wants to improve.
    – Max
    Jul 16, 2018 at 19:54
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I wouldn't. The purpose of the chocolate in a regular chili is the bitterness and flavor that come from the cocoa solids. (I use cocoa powder in my own chili - never so much that the chocolate flavor is discernable, and never a sweetened chocolate. I'll use 100% unsweetened chocolate if I have it on hand.) White chocolate - even the real stuff with cocoa butter - will be overwhelmingly sweet. The loss of acidity for a white chili compared to a regular one will make this even more noticeable, and if you already have cream you don't need the richness from the fat. If you do want richness, go for avocado; if you want more complex flavor, roast your green chilis; if you want some brightness to offset the cream, try lime juice or cilantro. Cumin will work well with the flavor profile, too. Taste the recipe as-is, then decide what to add.

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For richness, I wouldn't go to cocoa, but probably nutmeg. Allspice or cardamon might also work, depending on the flavors.

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It would be interesting to experiment with using cocoa butter (unsweetened) as the fat in the recipe, in the hopes of adding richness (perhaps making a roux as the base of the sauce). I've seen various figures for the smoke point but 197°C (370°F) is often quoted and would mean you could use it for gently softening onions/garlic/chillies (I doubt you want to brown them anyway). But white chocolate wouldn't be suitable as it's too sweet.

It probably wouldn't add the depth of flavour that cocoa powder does in a (brown) chilli. Cocoa butter is available online, but some is intended for cosmetic rather than culinary use.

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