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):
- 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.
Tortilla Soup FAQ
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 recommend 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!
- Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- Asian Chicken Soup
- Healthy Butternut Squash Soup
- Lemon Chicken Soup
- Healthy Potato Soup
- Leftover Turkey Soup
- Healthy Italian Wedding Soup
- Easy Minestrone Soup
We also have a dedicated blog post to Healthy Chicken Breast Recipes!
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup celery chopped finely
- 1 cup onion chopped finely
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon jalapeño deseeded & minced omit for less spicy
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes no salt added
- 48 oz low/no salt chicken broth
- 15 oz can black beans no salt added, rinsed & drained
- 1.5 cups corn frozen or fresh
Instructions
Stovetop instructions
- 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. Bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling reduce to a simmer for 30-40 minutes.
- 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
Instant Pot Instructions:
- 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.
- Stir in spices, chicken breasts, tomatoes, and broth. Stir to combine.
- 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!)
- When instant pot is finished cooking, 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.
CrockPot Instructions:
- 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
Chrissi
This looks delicious! I’m adding it to my list this week 😁 Thank you for all of the extra details!
The Clean Eating Couple
Hope you love it! Thanks, Chrissi!
Eva Geier
So.. Liz is a friend of mine and I’ll be honest, it’s rare I cook. Lol. But this recipe seemed doable and Eva friendly. I followed it to a T and it was AWESOME! We have plenty of left overs first off, but it was so filling and flavorful. But the best part was really how easy this was for me; someone who hates to cook. Thank you, Liz!!
The Clean Eating Couple
LOL!! I’m so happy you like this!! You should try the Lemon Chicken Soup next!!
Shelly
I used leftover turkey. Easy and delicious meal.
The Clean Eating Couple
So happy you liked it, Shelly! Thank you!
Berni S
Made this in the crockpot today since we were expected to get SNOW in North Texas for the first time in a few years. Well we saw some flurries which was just disappointing but one thing that was not disappointing was this soup! Hubs is working on his 2nd big helping as I type this. Thanks for another great recipe.
The Clean Eating Couple
Thanks, Berni!! Hope you are staying warm on your snow day 🙂
Rebecca
This was SO GOOD! I put everything in the crockpot on Sunday morning and ready to go by Sunday night for the week!
The Clean Eating Couple
So happy you liked it, Rebecca! thank you!!
Martha
Both myself and my fiancé made this independently and hands down a hit! It is a keeper!
The Clean Eating Couple
Thanks, Martha! Glad you both enjoyed it!
Crystal
I made this last night and it was a hit in my house! My husband got seconds (he never does this) and my picky kids liked it. This might be a silly question, should you drain the can of tomatoes or add in the juices as well? I added in the juice yesterday, but want to know for next time.
The Clean Eating Couple
So happy you liked it! I don’t drain the liquid, it adds flavor!
Sara
I loved all of the fresh ingredients that went into this recipe! I made in the crockpot, and the only thing I did differently was I shredded the chicken, then let the soup cook for another hour. I also put 1.5 fresh diced tomatoes in instead of the can! So, so, so delicious!
The Clean Eating Couple
Great idea!!! Glad you liked it!
Patty
I missed the part about draining the can of tomatoes. It tasted ok though! Will make this again for sure.
The Clean Eating Couple
Glad you liked it, Patty!