Chicken Tortilla Soup is the perfect easy weeknight dinner. Full of tender shredded chicken, corn, beans, and homemade tortilla strips, this soup is a meal in itself. It’s comforting, hearty, and filling.
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Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Chicken tortilla soup is like a taco in soup form. Its rich tomato and chicken broth pairs perfectly with nutritious veggies, shredded chicken, beans, and sweet corn. What’s even better? Just like our Taco Soup and Turkey Chili, this Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe comes together in one pot on the stove.
You can sprinkle some homemade crispy tortilla strips right on top with a healthy handful of cheese, or pair the dish with soft Dinner Rolls.
Tips For the Best Tortilla Soup
- Use Leftover Chicken. I cook the chicken breasts right in the soup, but you can use a Roast Chicken, or leftover Baked Chicken Breasts to make a fresh batch of Chicken Tortilla Soup, just shred and add the cooked chicken in step 3.
- Bone Broth Makes All The Difference. Use low-sodium bone broth or easily make your own chicken stock.
- 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.
How 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.
How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup:
- Sauté Vegetables – Place a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp oil and saute chopped onion, garlic, and jalapeno until tender.
- Add chicken breasts and remaining soup ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 25 minutes.
- 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.
- Serve the soup with homemade tortilla strips, chopped avocado, fresh cilantro, and lime wedges.
Natasha’s 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.
Toppings for Chicken Tortilla Soup
The only thing that makes Chicken Tortilla Soup taste even better is the toppings. These are our favorites:
- Sour cream
- Homemade tortilla strips
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Lime wedges
- Jalapeno, sliced or diced
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.
- To Reheat: You can warm the soup up in a saucepan on the stove or microwave until heated through.
This homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup is so cozy, comforting, and hearty for the cooler Fall and Winter months, and you’ll love that leftovers taste even better as the flavors meld.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup with tender chicken and homemade crispy tortilla strips is the perfect, cold-weather weeknight dinner. What’s even better? It comes together in one pot.
Ingredients
Servings: 6 servings
Chicken Tortilla Soup
- 2 Tbsp light olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers , seeded and diced
- 32 oz chicken broth
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 lb chicken breasts, (2 medium), or leftover rotisserie chicken*
- 15 oz can corn, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped, plus more to garnish
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice, from 1 lime, 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 or dutch oven with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, garlic, and chopped jalapeño and sauté until veggies soften.
- Add chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, chicken breasts, corn, beans, chili powder, cumin, salt. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is just cooked through and easy to shred.
- Remove chicken from the pot and shred it using 2 forks. Add shredded chicken back to the soup and simmer another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and lime juice.
- Serve the soup garnished with some tortilla strips, diced avocado, fresh cilantro and lime wedges, or use your favorite toppings.
Notes
*If using leftover rotisserie chicken, shred the chicken and add it to the soup in step 3.
Nutrition Per Serving
539kcal Calories55g Carbs30g Protein24g Fat
Nutrition Facts
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Amount per Serving
Calories
539
% Daily Value*
Fat
24
g
37
%
Saturated Fat
4
g
25
%
Trans Fat
0.01
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
4
g
Monounsaturated Fat
15
g
Cholesterol
48
mg
16
%
Sodium
1112
mg
48
%
Potassium
1406
mg
40
%
Carbohydrates
55
g
18
%
Fiber
13
g
54
%
Sugar
8
g
9
%
Protein
30
g
60
%
Vitamin A
604
IU
12
%
Vitamin C
30
mg
36
%
Calcium
133
mg
13
%
Iron
5
mg
28
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Filed Under
More Soup Recipes You’ll Love
- Beef Stew
- Pasta e Fagioli
- Loaded Potato Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Cabbage Soup
- Roasted Tomato Soup
- Hamburger Soup
- Easy Vegetable Soup
- Zuppa Toscana
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
Best Chicken Tortilla Soup I’ve ever had! I’ve already shared it with friends. It’s going in my permanent file! Easy and amazing!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Trisha!
Cosco stopped selling my favorite Chicken Tortilla soup. Pannera’s is infinitely inferior and I found myself missing an essential taste from my life until tonight. This recipe is excellent. Thank you, Natasha
You’re very welcome, Dorothy! So glad you enjoy it! 🙂
I’ve tried many chicken tortilla soup recipes, most more complicated than this, but this one beats them all hands down! It is simple and delicious and everyone loved it 😍
Love it, thank you for sharing that with us, Denise!
Cooking with Natasha,
Greetings from Springfield Illinois the home of Abraham Lincoln.
I retired a few weeks ago and have been bored until one day I was looking for a recipe and discovered Natasha’s Kitchen. The last few weeks I have been doing a new recipe from your site every night. Tonight Chicken Tortilla soup tomorrow Classic beef Stew. Every one at my local store now ask me every day what Natasha and I am cooking. Thanks from bringing me from boredom to discovering the world of garlic.
Sincerely,
Gregg Donalson
Hi Gregg, great to hear that you’re been enjoying my recipes and have been loving them! I hope you will love all the recipes that you will try.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I added some dehydrated bell peppers and green onion. My husband and 2 young boys approved.
That’s great! So glad it was enjoyed.
Ok—I may have missed it. When you add the chicken is it suppose to already be cooked (like using a rotisserie chicken) or raw and the boiling will cook it?
Hi Charity, we used raw chicken in Step two. In step three we take it out and shred it. I hope that helps!
So glad you asked! I was specifically looking for this answer in all of the comments. Can’t wait to try this soup tonight!
Is there a way to do this without tomatoes? Or could I possibly purée them. I love the flavor but don’t like the texture.
Hi Amanda, one of our readers shared this comment “Love it. I just substitute the 20 oz crushed tomatoes for Old El Paso medium Restaurant style salsa. Much better not so thick. Tastes amazing!” I hope that helps.
I forgot to add stars to my review, but this absolutely deserves 5 stars! Yum.
Thank you so much!
This soup is phenomenal! I was out of cumin so I used a cumin-heavy taco seasoning, and omitted jalapenos for my son’s sake. It turned out amazing, and I’ll be making this again for sure.
Thanks for the great feedback, Taylor! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Love it. I just substitute the 20 oz crushed tomatoes for Old El Paso medium Restaurant style salsa. Much better not so thick. Tastes amazing!
Sounds good and great to hear that the result was a success!
Hi there,
What size Staub did you cook this full recipe in? It looks like mine is the same as yours from the photo, but hard to say. I am worried mine might be too small.
Thank you!
Julia
Hi Julia, this works with the 5 1/2 quart which is what I used.
Excellent and delicious recipe. Often double the corn and black beans, mmm!
Yum! So glad you enjoy this recipe, Miriam.
Hello! How many cups of broth? I don’t see it listed in the ingredients, but it says to add broth in the directions. Thanks!
Hi Eve, we have it listed right under the crushed tomatoes on the ingredients list: “32 oz chicken broth” I hope that helps!
Made this for the first time tonight. Absolutely delicious, and so easy to make.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Caroline!
We have has this twice, so yummy! Are the 540 kcals per serving or the whole pot?
This recipe makes 6 servings, so that is the amount per serving.
This is the best Tortilla Soup recipe. It was easy and family loved it. I made them with chicken thighs instead of breasts and no cumin. Added sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese to the toppings. Have this page on my favorites. 🙂
That is great, Jennie! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the excellent review!
This turned out amazing! I actually added some mushrooms to add a little more veggies and made some cornbread (which complimented it amazingly). Definitely will be making this again!!!
I bet this was so good with mushrooms! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Alexa!
By far, the best chicken tortilla soup I’ve had. My family LOVED it! And so easy to make. The crispy tortilla strips are must. Thanks for another great recipe!
You’re welcome, Liz! Happy to know that you loved this soup!
Hi! If I were to add rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken…how would I go about adding it to the mix, since it’s already cooked?
Hi Alexia, you can add it at the end and keep everything else the same.
This soup is soooo delicious! My mom and I absolutely loved it, all of the flavors melded together so well, it was impossible to have just one bowl! Will definitely be making this again, and next time I think I’ll double the recipe. Thank you for sharing this, it is now one of our favorite soups!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Rachel!