An Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe you can make in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove! Authentic, healthy, delicious & quick!
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Our Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe is authentic and a healthier version of your traditional recipe! Once you try it, you will want to make this soup year round!
This Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup is so flavorful, packed with protein, and can easily be made in less than an hour. It is also so easy to customize with all of the toppings you can add (see below for our suggestions).
Ingredients for Chicken Tortilla Soup
This authentic Chicken Tortilla Soup is made with simple ingredients. Chicken breasts, celery, onion, jalapeño, corn, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of black beans, chicken broth, olive oil, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. For the full recipe and ingredient substitutions, see below.
How do you make chicken tortilla soup from scratch?
You can make this easy chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot, the instant pot, or on the stovetop. Here’s how to make chicken tortilla soup in the Instant Pot (for the other directions, see below):
First, sauté your celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno in olive oil in the Instant Pot for about 5 minutes. Be sure to scrape off any browned bits at the bottom of the pan to avoid a burn notice.
Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir well before covering and setting the Instant Pot to sealing. Set your Instant Pot to Manual Pressure for 14 minutes (it will take about 10 minutes for it to fully come to pressure and then the countdown will begin).
Once finished, remove the chicken breasts and shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer. Place shredded chicken back in the pot and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn. Garnish just before serving.
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
This Chicken Tortilla Soup is pretty versatile! Here are some ways you can customize it:
- Spicy: If you want a little more kick in your soup, simply add more jalapeno or red pepper flakes.
- Chicken: You can make this using chicken tenders or chicken thighs if you prefer. You can use this shredded chicken or chicken from a rotisserie chicken. Cut the cook time in half if you’re not using raw chicken.
- Broth: Any broth will work in this recipe. We recommend chicken broth, turkey or vegetable broth.
- Veggies: This recipe would also work with extra celery, onions, corn, tomatoes, or black beans according to your preferences.
What goes well with chicken tortilla soup?
This Chicken Tortilla Soup is delicious on its own, but it also can be enjoyed with a side of bread, tortilla chips, or if you want something even more filling, you can eat it with a side of tacos.
Here are some of our favorite toppings for this chicken tortilla soup: avocado, chips, cheese, sour cream or greek yogurt, jalapeños, cilantro, green onions, or lime.
How to Thicken Chicken Tortilla Soup
We don’t recommend thickening this chicken tortilla soup. It’s meant to be a broth-ier soup, but if you’d like to thicken it you can try this method:
I added 1/4 cup of flour to a bowl and scooped out about 1-2 cups of broth from the soup pot (it’s ok if you get some veggie/chicken pieces, but try to get mostly broth).
Whisk the flour and broth mixture together until it’s a thick paste like consistency. Stir it back into the soup and bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. This should result in a thicker soup.
You could also try creating a cornstarch slurry, but we don’t recommend this.
Have questions? We have answers!
This chicken tortilla soup keeps for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
This soup freezes very well! Freeze in airtight containers and store for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat, defrost the night before in the refrigerator. You can also heat in the microwave or on the stove directly from frozen.
You can, but we don’t prefer it. If you want to turn this into creamy chicken tortilla soup, add in 1 cup of milk of 1/2 cup heavy cream after the soup has cooked!
Yes! This is a great recipe for leftover chicken. Follow all of the same steps and cut your cooking time in half for all cooking methods (crockpot, stovetop and instant pot!)
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in Crockpot?
It’s easy to make this soup in In a soup pot, heat olive oil. Sauté celery, onion, garlic and jalapeño for about 5 minutes.
Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
After soup has simmered, remove cooked chicken breasts from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
Place cooked chicken back in the pot, and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn.
When ready to serve, garnish with chips, avocado, cheese or whatever toppings you like
How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in Instant Pot?
First, sauté your celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno in olive oil in the Instant Pot for about 5 minutes. Be sure to scrape off any browned bits at the bottom of the pan to avoid a burn notice.
Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir well before covering and setting the Instant Pot to sealing. Set your Instant Pot to Manual Pressure for 14 minutes (it will take about 10 minutes for it to fully come to pressure and then the countdown will begin).
Once finished, remove the chicken breasts and shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer. Place shredded chicken back in the pot and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn. Garnish just before serving.
How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in StoveTop?
First, sauté your celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno in olive oil in a soup pot for about 5 minutes.
Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth and stir well to combine. Bring soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30-40 minutes.
After soup has simmered, remove the chicken breasts and shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer. Place shredded chicken back in the soup pot and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn. Garnish just before serving.
Other healthy soup recipes
We love soup SO much that we actually have a free healthy soup ebook! We also have a post filled with 25 Healthy Soup Recipes!
Chicken Tortilla Soup
An Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe you can make in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove! Authentic, healthy, delicious & quick!
Instructions
Stovetop instructions
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In a soup pot, heat olive oil. Sauté celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno for about 5 minutes.
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Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine. Bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling reduce to a simmer for 30-40 minutes.
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After soup has simmered, remove cooked chicken breasts from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
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Place cooked chicken back in the pot, and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn.
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When ready to serve, garnish with chips, avocado, cheese or whatever toppings you like
Instant Pot Instructions:
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Set instant pot to Sauté for 5 minutes. Heat olive oil. Saute celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno for about 5 minutes. Make sure to scrape off any browned bits at the bottom of the pan to avoid a burn notice.
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Stir in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine.
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Cover instant pot and set to sealing, Manual Pressure for 14 minutes. It will take the instant pot about 10 minutes to come to pressure (heat your broth in the microwave to speed up the time it takes to come to pressure!)
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When instant pot is finished cooking, remove cooked chicken breasts from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
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Place cooked chicken back in the pot, and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn.
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When ready to serve, garnish with chips, avocado, cheese or whatever toppings you like.
CrockPot Instructions:
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In a soup pot, heat olive oil. Sauté celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno for about 5 minutes.
-
Add in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
-
After soup has cooked, remove cooked chicken breasts from the pot + shred on a cutting board with forks or in a mixer.
-
Place cooked chicken back in the pot, and stir to combine. Stir in black beans and corn.
-
When ready to serve, garnish with chips, avocado, cheese or whatever toppings you like
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Amount Per Serving (2 cups)
Calories 369
Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value*
Fat 10g15%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Cholesterol 73mg24%
Sodium 254mg11%
Potassium 1194mg34%
Carbohydrates 34g11%
Fiber 9g38%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 37g74%
Vitamin A 425IU9%
Vitamin C 16mg19%
Calcium 76mg8%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
