This Chicken Tortilla Soup is a flavorful and comforting Mexican-inspired soup made with shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, and a variety of spices. Customize each bowl with your favorite toppings. Serve with crispy tortilla strips or tortilla chips. Want to set it and forget it? Try my Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup version of this recipe! Yum!
Healthy + Delicious
This Chicken Tortilla Soup is my new go-to soup because it’s healthy, filling, easy to make and downright delicious. It’s ready to eat in a snap and it’s a crowd pleaser. Especially if there are tortilla chips crumbled into it and a little sour cream on top. It’s my new favorite soup and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
But Wait, What is Tortilla Soup?
Tortilla Soup is a classically Mexican dish that has a tomato and broth base. Typically it is filled with vegetables and chicken, though pork or turkey can also be used in place of the chicken. It’s totally customizable by which toppings you would like to add. Shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado and crushed tortilla chips are some usual toppings.
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
This recipe involves a ton of chopping and simmering. Nothing hard about it, but just takes a little time! Be sure to use fresh corn cut from the cob for an extra sweet crunch. The printable recipe card is down below. Here is what you can expect when making this recipe:
Saute Veggies
Place a large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, carrot, zucchini, and corn in olive oil to soften slightly for roughly 5 minutes.
Add in Beans, Tomato Sauce, Spices + Stock
Stir in beans, tomato sauce, spices and chicken stock and bring to boil.
Add in Chicken Breasts
Reduce to a simmer and place whole chicken breasts into soup. (See my note below about cooking whole chicken breasts for this soup). Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked completely. Remove from pot, shred and return to soup.
Cooking Chicken for Chicken Tortilla Soup
Instead of using separate cutting boards and knives for the chicken and cutting it before cooking, I like to use tongs and slide the whole chicken breasts right into the pot to poach. After 20 minutes or so, the chicken should be completely cooked and be easy to shred or cut.
After the chicken is shredded, return the completely cooked chicken back into the pot and finish with the tortillas. SO much easier than messing with raw chicken!
Add in Tortilla Strips
Cut corn tortillas into strips and add to soup. Cook another 5-10 minutes.
Add Desired Toppings + Serve
Serve with cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips, cheese and avocado.
How to Thicken Chicken Tortilla Soup
The broth in chicken tortilla soup is flavorful and delicious and a big reason it’s so good is because the corn tortillas you stir in end up dissolving and becoming part of the soup and slightly thickening the broth, while adding a delicious corn flavor.
If you’d like a thicker soup, try stirring in a little cornstarch or masa (the corn flour used for making corn tortillas).
Best Toppings for This Soup
I love loading my soup up with all.the.toppings. and I think all the goodies on top of this soup are what make this extra special. Plus, it’s a great way to please a crowd…handing out bowls of chicken tortilla soup and then being able to customize them how you’d like. Here are my favorites:
- grated cheese
- chopped cilantro
- sour cream
- cojita cheese
- crispy tortilla strips/tortilla chips
- avocado/guacamole
- lime wedges
- sliced black olives
- diced red onion
Storing Leftover Chicken Tortilla Soup
Leftover chicken tortilla soup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To Freeze: let it cool to room temperature and then transfer it to a freezer-safe container with a tight-fitting lid. Leave some headspace in the container to allow for expansion as the soup freezes. When you are ready to eat the soup, thaw it in the refrigerator or microwave and then reheat it on the stove or in the microwave until it is hot all the way through. If the soup seems too thick after thawing, you can add a little water or broth to thin it out.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes to Try:
- Mexican Pork— great for tacos or burritos
- Birria Tacos
- Mexican Street Corn Casserole
- Mexican Street Corn
- Amazing Pico de Gallo
- Fresh Tomato Salsa
- Guacamole
- Amazing Chicken Enchiladas
Try this recipe out soon and let me know what you think. If you do, I would love it if you would give it a star review as well! This is totally my kind of food and it’s been pushed to the top of my weekly dinner menu–that’s how much I love it.
The printable recipe card is below. Be sure to save, pin, print or bookmark this recipe because it’s a good one! Have a great day, friends! 
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups yellow onion diced
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 small zucchini diced
- 2 ears sweet corn cut off the cob, or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
- 15 oz. black beans 1 can drained and rinsed
- 15 oz. cannellini beans 1 can drained and rinsed
- 15 oz. tomato sauce 1 can
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 chicken breasts
- 5 corn tortillas cut into strips
toppings:
- fresh cilantro if desired
- chips if desired
- sour cream if desired
- avocado etc., if desired
Instructions
- Place a large pot over medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, carrot, zucchini, and corn in olive oil to soften slightly 5 minutes.
- Stir in beans, tomato sauce, spices, chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and place whole chicken breasts into soup. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked completely. Remove from pot, shred and return to soup.
- Stir in tortilla strips and cook another 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with any desired toppings.
Video
Nutrition
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