Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (2024)

Chicken Tortilla Soup is the perfect easy weeknight dinner. Full of shredded chicken, corn, beans, and homemade tortilla strips, this soup is a meal in itself. It’s comforting, hearty, and filling.

What’s even better? Just like our Taco Soup and Beef Chili, this Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe comes together in one pot.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (1)

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Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup:

Chicken tortilla soup is like a taco in soup form. Its rich tomato and chicken broth pairs perfectly with chunky veggies, shredded chicken, beans and sweet corn.

You can sprinkle some tortilla strips right on top with a healthy handful of cheese, or pair the dish with soft Dinner Rolls.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (2)

Tips For Tortilla Soup:

  • Use Leftover Chicken. Have a rotisserie chicken hanging out in your fridge? What about some leftover chicken breasts you don’t know what to do with? You can always use leftover chicken to make a fresh batch of Chicken Tortilla Soup.
  • Bone Broth Makes All The Difference. Use low-sodium bone broth or easily make your own chicken broth.
  • Adjust The Spice. Do you like it spicy? Add some extra jalapeños into the mix.
  • Save Time With Canned Corn And Beans. Speed up the cooking time by using canned corn and beans.
  • Cut Avocado Right Before Serving. To keep your avocado from browning, cut it right before you serve the soup
  • Season To Taste. Depending on the tomatoes and broth you use, you may need to adjust the salt to taste at the end.
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (3)

To Make Crispy Tortilla Strips:

  • Pan Frying: Preheat a pan with 1/4 cup oil over medium-high heat. Cut 8 (6″) corn tortillas into thin strips and fry them in a couple of batches, adding more oil as needed. Remove from the pot and let drain on a paper-towel-lined plate.
  • To Bake: Toss tortilla strips in a bowl with 2 Tbsp oil until well coated. Bake on a cookie sheet in a single layer at 350˚F for 15 minutes.
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (4)

How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup:

  1. Place a soup pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil and sautee chopped onion, garlic, and jalapeno until tender.
  2. Add chicken breasts and remaining soup ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 25 minutes.
  3. Remove the chicken to a bowl and shred it with 2 forks. Return chicken to the pot and simmer 5 minutes then add lime juice.
  4. Serve the soup with homemade tortilla strips, chopped avocado, fresh cilantro, and lime wedges.
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (5)

Make-Ahead Tip: the broth gets more and more flavorful the longer it marinates in itself. Can you say delicious leftovers? Make a big batch of tortilla soup and eat it for lunch throughout the week.

Serving Chicken Tortilla Soup:

The only thing that makes Chicken Tortilla Soup taste even better are the toppings. These are our favorites:

  • Sour cream
  • Homemade tortilla strips
  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • Cilantro
  • Avocado
  • Lime wedges
  • Jalapeno, sliced or diced
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (6)

Storing Leftover Soup:

  • Refrigerator: Store your leftover soup without toppings in an airtight container in the fridge. It should stay fresh for 3-4 days.
  • Freezer: You can also freeze your soup in an airtight container for up to two months. When you are ready to eat it, allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight. Reheat soup by bringing it to a boil in a saucepan.
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (7)

More Soup Recipes You’ll Love:

  • Beef Stew – with tender morsels of beef
  • Pasta e fa*gioli – easy Olive Garden copycat recipe.
  • Loaded Potato Soup – creamy and you’ll love the toppings
  • Chicken Noodle Soup – a family favorite
  • Cabbage Soup – a soup to warm your soul in winter
  • Minestrone Soup – a hearty, tomato-based soup that never gets old.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

4.99 from 1694 votes

Author: Natalya Drozhzhin

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (9)

Chicken Tortilla Soup is the perfect, cold weather weeknight dinner. What’s even better? It comes together in one pot.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

Ingredients

Servings: 6 servings

Chicken Tortilla Soup

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper , seeded and diced
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 lb chicken breasts, (2 medium)
  • 20 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 32 oz chicken broth
  • 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 14 oz can corn, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped, divided (reserve 1/4 of it for garnish)
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 tsp salt, or to taste

Homemade Tortilla Strips

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 8 corn tortillas , (6" tortillas)

Toppings

  • 1 large avocado, diced
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve

Instructions

Tortilla Strips:

  • Preheat a pan with 1/4 cup oil over medium-high heat. Cut tortillas into thin strips and fry them in batches in the hot oil until crisp. Remove from the pan and allow them to drain on a paper towel. Repeat with remaining tortilla strips, adding more oil as needed then set aside.

Chicken Tortilla Soup:

  • Preheat a pot with oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, garlic and chopped jalapeño and sauté until veggies soften.

  • Add whole chicken breasts, corn, beans, chilli powder, cumin, crushed tomatoes, salt, ¼ cup of cilantro and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 25 minutes.

  • Remove chicken from the pot and shred it using 2 forks. Add shredded chicken back to the soup and simmer another 5 minutes then add lime juice.

  • Serve the soup with some tortilla strips, pieces of avocado, fresh cilantro and lime wedges.

Nutrition Per Serving

540kcal Calories62g Carbs32g Protein22g Fat3g Saturated Fat48mg Cholesterol673mg Sodium1368mg Potassium15g Fiber9g Sugar663IU Vitamin A28mg Vitamin C111mg Calcium5mg Iron

  • Full Nutrition Label
  • Nutrition Disclosure

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

540

% Daily Value*

Fat

22

g

34

%

Saturated Fat

3

g

19

%

Cholesterol

48

mg

16

%

Sodium

673

mg

29

%

Potassium

39

%

Carbohydrates

62

g

21

%

Fiber

15

g

63

%

Sugar

9

g

10

%

Protein

32

g

64

%

Vitamin A

663

IU

13

%

Vitamin C

28

mg

34

%

Calcium

111

mg

11

%

Iron

5

mg

28

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Chicken Tortilla Soup, tortilla soup

Skill Level: Easy

Cost to Make: $

Calories: 540

Natalya Drozhzhin

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (10)

Natalya is a food blogger who founded Momsdish.com to make cooking easier. Growing up on a farm in Ukraine, Natalya was inspired by the amazing dishes that were prepared using simple ingredients. Natalya is most notably known for making cooking approachable for any person.

Read more posts by Natalya

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What does chicken tortilla soup contain? ›

Chicken tortilla soup is a Mexican-inspired soup that has a tomato and chicken broth base. It is spiced with chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, and has a little kick from the jalapeño. It also has hearty ingredients like beans, corn, and of course the shredded chicken.

What is the origin of chicken tortilla soup? ›

Tortilla soup (Spanish: sopa de tortilla) is a traditional Mexican soup containing fried corn tortilla. Although the exact origin of tortilla soup is unknown, it is known that it comes from the Mexico City area in Mexico.

What is the most important ingredient in soup? ›

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

What makes soup more tasty? ›

Add acidic ingredients.

Foods that have a great deal of acidity, like lemon juice, vinegar, white wine, and tomato puree, can help liven up the flavor of bland-tasting bone and other broths. "The acidity of these ingredients works to complement and enhance the broth's flavors, not mask it.

What are the 4 components of soup? ›

This dish is an excellent place to take the leap from following a recipe to improvising a meal. At its most basic, soup is four components: a base, a thickener, a liquid, and a main ingredient. The liquid and main ingredient can be thought of as the essence: add 3 parts liquid to 2 parts main ingredient, and it's soup.

Why is my tortilla soup watery? ›

Keep Simmering. Sometimes all your soup needs is a little more time on the stove. Allow your chicken tortilla soup to simmer uncovered for an extended period. The heat will help evaporate some of the liquid, naturally thickening the soup.

How do you tone down chicken tortilla soup? ›

Add Some Starches

The easiest way to tone down a spicy dish is to serve a smaller portion with plenty of rice, bread, potatoes, pasta, or plain starch to counter the heat. For soups and stews, raw and starchy vegetables like potatoes or carrots work well.

Why is it called tortilla soup? ›

Known in Spanish as Sopa De Tortilla, Tortilla Soup is a humble Mexican soup that is consumed by the nation's populace every day. It is in no way a celebratory dish, but a simple comfort food that derived its name from the generous topping of crispy tortillas on top of the soup.

What spices are good in soup? ›

To season it, we recommend starting with our Vegetable Soup Mix. It contains celery salt, parsley flakes, garlic powder, sea salt, summer savory, marjoram, thyme, black pepper, turmeric and sage, which are all excellent with root vegetables, so you can incorporate things like carrots or potatoes into the soup.

How to add more flavour to chicken soup? ›

Add Umami: Add a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, mushroom powder, or a few dashes of fish sauce for an ultra-satisfying, umami-packed soup. Add More Veggies: Swirl in fresh spinach or kale at the end of cooking for more of a vegetable-heavy soup.

What do tortillas contain? ›

While traditional tortillas are made from 100% corn, mass-produced versions may be made from dehydrated corn flour, or masa harina, with some wheat flour blended into it (1, 3). Nixtamalization is an important step that helps enhance the nutritional profile of corn tortillas.

Does chicken tortilla soup contain gluten? ›

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

It's loaded with veggies and protein, plus it's naturally gluten free and dairy free!

Does chicken tortilla soup have protein? ›

Chicken tortilla soup is a protein-rich dish, thanks to the inclusion of chicken as the main ingredient. A serving typically provides around 15-20 grams of protein, which is essential for muscle growth and repair.

Is chicken tortilla soup good to eat when sick? ›

Chicken tortilla soup is low in calories but high in flavor. The amino acid cysteine, contained in the chicken in this powerful soup, loosens secretions, thinning out mucus and promoting coughing, which is needed to clear your nose and throat.

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