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Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

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.

A bowl of chicken tortilla soup

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Hi there! My name is Natalya and I run the blog Momsdish. If you already follow me, you know I can’t get enough of easy meals that require simple ingredients

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.

Easy chicken tortilla soup in pot garnished with tortilla strips, jalapeños and cilantro

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.
Ingredients for the chicken tortilla soup

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.
Tortilla chips in the making

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.
Step by step of making chicken tortilla soup

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
A bowl of tortilla soup with chicken

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.
Tortilla soup in pot ready to store in the fridge or freezer

More Soup Recipes You’ll Love:

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

4.99 from 1748 votes
Author: Natalya Drozhzhin
chicken Tortilla Soup garnished with avocado, cilantro and lime
Chicken Tortilla Soup is the perfect, cold weather weeknight dinner. What’s even better? It comes together in one pot.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

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
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
 
1368
mg
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
Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Natalya Drozhzhin

Natalya is a food blogger who founded Momsdish 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

4.99 from 1748 votes (1,487 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




Comments

  • Liz
    October 8, 2024

    Good basic recipe but not much spice. Tripled the spices to obtain any flavor

    Reply

  • Gloria Estrada
    October 7, 2024

    Have made this soup many times. It’s always so goo! I don’t like too much heat so I just omit jalapeño!
    So good! Thanks so much for posting it❤️

    Reply

  • Zhariah
    October 7, 2024

    This recipe is my go-to whenever I want to make tortilla soup. A few alterations I’ve made to the recipe:
    •Instead of 4 cups of chicken broth, I use 1 cup of beer (non-alcoholic) and 3 cups of chicken broth
    • add 1/2 tsp of paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder
    • for extra spice: use two jalapeños- do not remove seeds

    Reply

  • Destiny
    October 2, 2024

    Hi! I want to make a large batch of this for an event. What is the total yield of this recipe (in quarts)? Thank you!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      October 2, 2024

      Hi Destiny, I didn’t measure it by volume to advise, but it does make 6 servings per recipe, about 1 – 1.5 cups per serving. I recommend clicking “Jump to recipe” at the top of the post, it will take you to our printable recipe where you’ll have the option to change the number of servings. Hover over the number of servings highlighted in red and slide it to how many servings you would like to make. I hope that helps!

      Reply

  • Kelly
    October 2, 2024

    Made this for Family dinner last night. It was a Huge Hit! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      October 2, 2024

      You’re very welcome, Kelly! So happy your family enjoyed it.

      Reply

  • Terri Freedman
    October 1, 2024

    I can’t stand cilantro and this recipe calls for a lot of it… a half of cup! Any suggestions for substititing with another herb or spice?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      October 1, 2024

      Hi Terri, we love it with cilantro, but you can either omit or substitute with parsley. Here’s what one of our readers wrote, I hope it helps you: “I haven’t tested that but one of our readers shared this “I cook often and many kinds of dishes. I thought this was delicious with great flavor. I added pinto beans and I used fresh parsley bc I didn’t have cilantro on hand. I also added a touch of cayenne pepper.”

      Reply

  • Jennifer
    October 1, 2024

    Looking forward to trying this recipe! I don’t eat tomato chunks (it’s a texture thing) but don’t want to miss out on the added flavour and acidity. Would adding a few tablespoons of tomato paste to the broth while it cooks work as a substitute?

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      October 1, 2024

      Hi Jennifer. Yes, that can work too.

      Reply

  • Kristin
    September 30, 2024

    Delicious.
    Used 4 chicken breasts, need extra chicken seasoning since not as much flavor as a bone chicken.
    Will double black beans next time. Be sure to scrape bottom of pan when serving, they sink to the bottom.
    Used jar jalapeño so need extra for kick.
    Added black garlic
    Added extra salt and chili powder
    Used lime nachos instead of tortillas which was good and less work. Will definitely try homemade tortillas next time.
    Cooked the whole thing in a Dutch oven.

    Reply

  • Arge
    September 28, 2024

    Simple, economical and delicious.

    Reply

  • Rebecca
    September 27, 2024

    I’ve made this plenty of times, my go to recipe for chicken tortilla soup!! I was wondering if I can make this in the crockpot though? Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes! 🙂

    Reply

  • Emily
    September 25, 2024

    Loved this so much. Made some tweaks but it’s pretty perfect as is!

    Reply

  • Luci
    September 24, 2024

    Absolutely delicious! I’m picky with tortilla soup broth but this hit the spot. Using fresh ingredients was key. I cheated and used regular tortilla chips but still so good.

    Reply

  • Sherry
    September 24, 2024

    This is my favorite chicken tortilla soup. We have it in cold weather and hot! I cheat and use rotisserie chicken, but yum!!

    Reply

  • Margot
    September 13, 2024

    This is a great soup! I’d recommend adding the cumin and chili powder to the onion after the onions have been sautéing a few minutes. This way, the flavor gets sautéed into the onions bringing more dramatic flavor. Whenever you throw spice into liquid, it’s underwhelming.

    Reply

  • P Rivera
    September 12, 2024

    Thank you for sharing such an easy and delicious recipe! It’s super adaptable and it tastes even better the next day. This is one of my favorite soup recipes.

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      September 12, 2024

      You are so very welcome.

      Reply

  • Jane
    September 12, 2024

    I made this soup for my son and his wife who is GF. Everyone had seconds! It is very good. Planning to make more and freeze for those cold evenings coming up. I wouldn’t change a thing with the recipe.

    Reply

  • Dani
    September 11, 2024

    I have a rotisserie chicken I’m using for this, as one of the tips mentioned, but I’m not sure how to add it. Should I just skip adding the chicken in step 2, and just add it in step 3? Feels like that loses some of the chance for the chicken to really marinate in that flavor, but I don’t want to overcook my chicken by adding fully cooked chicken and then cooking it a bunch more.

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      September 11, 2024

      Hi Dani! Yes, add it in step 3. I hope you love the recipe.

      Reply

  • Marge Musick
    September 9, 2024

    Love Natasha’s Kitchen and most of her recipes.

    Reply

  • Tracy
    September 8, 2024

    Can this be done in a 6 quart instant pot? If so, how long would I have to cook it? Thank You

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      September 9, 2024

      Hi Tracy, it can work but you might need to make some minor adjustments and modifications. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!

      Reply

  • Jackie Pash
    September 7, 2024

    Hey Natasha, I am having trouble finding 20 oz crushed tomatoes. Could I use 28 oz instead?

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      September 9, 2024

      That should be fine, I hope you’ll love the recipe!

      Reply

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