Taco Soup Recipe With Chicken
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This Easy Chicken Taco Soup recipe is so delicious! Make it in your instant pot, crock pot or on the stove for a quick, healthy dinner!
We love making healthy soup recipes that taste amazing and because everyone loved our beef taco soup, we knew we needed to make it with chicken too!
This chicken taco soup is incredibly quick and easy to make and loaded with veggies and protein (33g)! It’s made in less than an hour start to finish, and is made with only 8 ingredients and some spices. You probably already have most, if not all, of them in your pantry!
liz’s tips for chicken taco soup
- To save time, use a rotisserie chicken! Just cut the cook time in half. Don’t forget to save the skin and bones to make your own chicken broth.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. You can also make this recipe with ground beef. Looking for quality meat at the best price? Read this post: Is Butcher Box a Good Deal!
Cooked Chicken: You can substitute cooked shredded chicken in place of raw chicken. Use 2-3 cups cooked shredded chicken. You can also use a rotisserie chicken. Pull all of the meat off of a rotisserie chicken and add it to the pot in place of raw chicken. If you use cooked chicken, cut the cook time in half.
Veggies: Feel free to add in more veggies. Chopped bell peppers would be a great addition to this soup.
Tomato: You can substitute any brand of canned tomato sauce in this recipe. Crushed tomatoes or petite diced tomatoes will also work. You can also add in a can of green chilies
Chicken Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low sodium chicken broth or no salt chicken broth.
Black Beans: Any beans will work in this recipe. Just make sure they are fully cooked, rinsed & drained. We like to use low/no salt added black beans drained. In place of black beans you can use navy beans or pinto beans.
Corn: You can omit the corn in this recipe and it will still taste delicious!
Spices: You can use 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning in place of the seasonings.
Pasta: If you like pasta, try this Chicken Taco Pasta.
How to make Chicken Taco Soup
- Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil for 4-5 minutes.
- Add in raw chicken breasts, tomato sauce, chicken broth, taco seasoning, black beans, and corn.
- Stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Remove chicken, shred, then add back to the pot and stir.
How do you know when the soup is done? If you cook the soup for the recommended time (stovetop: at least 30 minutes, slow cooker: low for 6-8hrs or high for 3-4hrs, instant pot: 10 minutes), the chicken will be fully cooked, but if you would like to ensure it’s fully cooked, the internal cooking temperature should be 165°.
How to thicken Taco Chicken Soup
To thicken quick and easy chicken taco soup, you can add a corn starch slurry. Mix together 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2-3 tablespoons of broth/water.
Stream into your pot while the soup is over low heat. The soup should thicken as you cook.
We don’t recommend trying to thicken this soup. It’s great as is!
Topping Ideas
This soup is delicious on its own, but it is so versatile with the number of toppings you can use, so go crazy! These are some of our favorite toppings:
- Shredded Cheese
- Lime wedges
- Sour cream or plain Greek Yogurt
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Green or red onions
- Tomatoes
- Green chiles for some spice
- Crushed Tortilla chips
- Add a little extra taco seasoning
Serving Suggestions:
There are lots of different ways you can serve this quick and easy chicken taco soup. Here are some of our favorites.
With a salad: We love to serve our soup with a spinach strawberry salad to get extra greens in! If you want to load up with taco flavors, pair it with our Taco Salad!
Toppings: Go crazy with the toppings here! See above for our favorite topping ideas. Sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, and limes are our favorites!
Storage
Refrigerating- These soup leftovers will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezer- This soup freezes very well! You can freeze in airtight containers and store for up to 3 months.
We like these containers for freezing! Check out this post on How to Freeze Soup.
Reheating- You can reheat this soup in the microwave or on the stovetop. It should heat through in about 2-3 minutes.
Other healthy chicken soup recipes:
We love healthy soup recipes (like this Pasta Fagioli Recipe!). You can get our free Healthy Soup Ebook here or check out these 35+ Healthy Soups for Dinner. Here are some other healthy chicken soup recipes you may like:
Easy Chicken Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup minced onion
- ½ tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 14 oz can tomato sauce low or no salt
- 1 quart chicken broth low or no salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 15 oz can black beans drained & rinsed – low or no salt
- 1 cup frozen corn thawed
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic for 4 minutes.
- Add in chicken breasts, tomato sauce, chicken broth, dried spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together and cover the pot. Turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes.
- Once the soup has cooked, remove cooked chicken from the pot. Shred chicken with two forks (tip: shred chicken using paddle attachment in stand mixer!) Add shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Stir to combine & enjoy!
Crockpot Instructions:
- Optional but recommended: In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic for 4 minutes.
- Add onion/garlic mixture to the crockpot base with chicken breasts, tomato sauce, chicken broth, dried spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
- Remove cooked chicken from the pot. Shred chicken with two forks (tip: shred chicken using paddle attachment in stand mixer!) Add shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Stir to combine & enjoy!
Instant Pot Instructions.
- Set the instant pot to Sauté for 4 minutes. Sauté onions and garlic for 4 minutes. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits to avoid a burn notice.
- Add in chicken breasts, tomato sauce, chicken broth, dried spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Cover and set the instant pot to Sealing, Manual Pressure for 10 minutes.
- It will take about 10 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure.
- Once cooked, quick release the pressure.
- Remove cooked chicken from the pot. Shred chicken with two forks (tip: shred chicken using paddle attachment in stand mixer!) Add shredded chicken back to the pot along with cooked beans and defrosted corn.
- Stir to combine & enjoy!
I followed this recipe exactly as written and it is delicious! My whole family loves it and I especially love when we have leftovers for lunch. I will definitely keep this on the regular rotation in my house!
Soooo good and easy to make!
I love making delicious homemade soup, and this recipe is a perfect dinner. We love this at our house. Great recipe!
Absolutely delicious! I used chicken thighs and white beans instead of corn. So easy and so good!
Yum! I love using chicken thighs!!
Another amazing recipe. Loved it
So simple and flavorful, my family loved this!
This soup is fantastic. It’s in my regular meal prep rotation and my family loves it. I always have some frozen for lunches too!
Very good,the flavor reminds me of Pazole. I add a tsp of coriander. I also put 6 cups of broth &serve it over rice. Then top with a little cilantro & squeeze of lime. It’s delicious!
I added diced sweet potatoes. It was fantastic and EASY!!
great soup !
Can you put frozen chicken in the instapot or does it have to be defrosted?
That would change the cook time and I haven’t tested that to be sure. You could use my instant pot shredded chicken recipe, then cook the soup and add the shredded chicken to the soup at the end. 🙂
Delicious!! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I added a little sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese. Served with a slice of lime!! We had fresh, hot tortillas too!! If I had avocado and fresh jalapeños I would have added that too!! a slice Granted it added a few calories, but that is how we make it in Texas!!
This Taco Soup was so good. My whole family loved it. I made it again but this time I doubled the recipe!
Do you know if you could home can this soup?
I’m sorry but I don’t know anything about canning soup so I can’t offer advice on that!
I’m not much of a cook… this recipe was easy to follow and DELICIOUS. It will definitely be a stamped in my household, moving forward!!!
This was very good. I’m doing Weight Watchers and 1 serving was only 1 point by my calculation.
Made this for our house and also my mother’s house. It was amazing! I used the Hot Rotel tomatoes that really kicked it up a notch. Mom had the mild.
Game changer that will definitely be in my rotation!
🤌🤌
Delicious!! Another keeper!! Wouldn’t change a thing!!
We used chicken and topped with simple mills gluten free pita crackers.
Warmed us right up on this cold winter night.
Amazing! and this website was so helpful and had lots of great information!
Oh my goodness this is so good 😊
This looks like a great recipe and I can’t wait to try it this weekend….do you know if leftovers can be canned? I am short in freezer space
I have no idea! Sorry! I don’t know anything about canning, especially things with meat in them.
I made this tonight for dinner. It was super easy to make and so yum!! Can’t wait to have it again tomorrow for my work lunch. ❣️❣️❣️
This recipe is fantastic. It’s a staple in my house now and takes part of my weekend meek prep. The flavor is great and my family asks for it if it’s been too long since I’ve made it. It freezes great in my souper cubes too.
Very good soup. It was a little thick and the consistency reminded me a bit of chili rather than soup, but still tasty and I’m enjoying the leftovers.
I didn’t read my spices before putting them in and I used chipotle chili powder instead of regular chili powder. Of course I didn’t notice until after I dumped it in. So I’m looking forward to making this again but with regular chili powder 🥵
Hello!!The Chicken Taco Soup was delicious!!
I have two comments:
(1). There wasn’t enough broth , can I double the ingredients for the broth without harming the recipe?
(2). The actual ingredients list is almost hidden. It takes way too long to access. The list of amounts of the ingredients need to be relocated closer. It takes way too long to find it.
Other than those two issues, the recipe is very tasty and the right amount of spicy.
Thank you for the delicious chicken taco soup recipe!!
Hi Carol- Feel free to add more broth. It will dilute the flavor, so you may need to add more seasoning to taste. The ingredients list is not hidden. Click the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post and it will take you directly to the recipe with the ingredients.
I really enjoyed this! I mostly made as written. After it finished cooking I squeezed in some lime juice and added fresh chopped cilantro. I did not have a can of plain tomato sauce so I used my immersion blender and blended a can of chopped tomatoes to add in instead.