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
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- 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. 
So easy and good! I used leftover shredded chicken from soft tacos and added 2T masa to the veggies before adding liquids.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Katie!
Planning on making this tonight! Is it totally fine to put the raw chicken in with the other stuff to simmer? I’ve always had it cook separately
Hi Kiannie! Yes, this can be done because we cook the soup long enough to fully cook the chicken.
Quick, easy and flavorful. Awesome after a day cross country skiing
Yes, that sounds perfect! Glad you enjoy it.
Made this & had to adjust for what I had on hand. Simmered 4 chicken legs & 1 boneless skinless breast in 1 qt water, plus 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules to create the broth. We had leftover restaurant salsa & chips, so I subbed those for the crushed tomatoes & tortilla strips. Rather than sauteing the vegetables, I simply simmered them. My older son loves Tex-Mex food & chose this recipe for me to try. He said it’s better than the soup at a very popular chain restaurant. It’s simple, uses pantry ingredients, is very forgiving when one doesn’t have all the exact ingredients, & was perfect for a cold winter night. My hunt for a really good chicken tortilla soup recipe is now over. I’ve made several of your recipes & have never been disappointed. Thanks so much for all the work you do here!
You are so welcome, Trish! I;m glad that you love this recipe and that you enjoyed making it!
This was so simple to make and so very tasty! My husband loved it ❤️
So glad to hear that! Thank you for sharing.
Can you cook this in a crock pot? I’m thinking of doing this for a stay at home date dinner for my girl and I.
Hi Jeff, I haven’t tried making this one in a crock pot to advise on the outcome. I imagine with a few changes in the process it may work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Yes. If you do I would add just enough broth to cover the chicken and after the chicken is cooked and u shred it and add it back to the pot then add the rest of the broth
I made a half batch and it was a lot but the soup was really good…will definitely be making again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Z! 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!
Can you use chicken thighs? Would that change the simmer time?
Hi Lindsey, one ofour readers shared this “Thanks! I subbed chicken thighs, put the chili powder and cumin on those with a little seasoned salt and browned them in the pan with a little oil before the onions and pepper. My family and friends loved the soup. Some said it tasted like restaurant quality.” I hope that helps.
Recipe says 6 servings but what is a serving size? Saw 1 cup somewhere and 2 cups somewhere else.
Hi Liz, this recipe makes 6 servings at about 1 – 1.5 cups per serving.
Recipe didn’t specify raw or canned black beans so I followed the recipe using raw black beans and now read we can get food poisoning because they didn’t cook for hours. Please specify that they were to be canned or raw.
Hi KM, that is such a bummer and I’m sorry the post wasn’t more clear on that. You definitely should only be putting canned beans into most soups. Check out our post on how to cook black beans. Raw beans should be soaked for 10-12 hours overnight then cooked for at least an hour. They would not cook through in the amount of time it takes to cook this soup. We had 14 oz black beans, drained and rinsed in the instructions, but I went ahead and added the word can for clarity. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
I don’t have corn tortillas. Can you make the strips with flour tortillas?
Hi Becky! That should be fine. Here is what one of my readers said, ” I also did not have corn tortillas so cut up flour ones, added some olive oil and salt and baked until crisp.” I hope that helps!
My husband won’t eat beans but he will eat refried beans in recipes. Could I substitute that?
Hi Cindy! I think that would change the texture of the soup, but if you experiment, let us know how it turns out.
I would consider myself a fairly decent cook and your recipes are ALWAYS spot on and flavorful! Before choosing any recipe I always compare and contrast multiple recipes, and always seem to come back to yours 🙂 this soup was a hit! I usually add more seasonings (salt, pepper, chicken bouillon, vegeta (European seasoning)) just because my broth has no salt, but I feel like extra seasonings are unique to the individual’s taste buds and style! Thank you for this recipe and many others!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Anna! I’m happy you enjoyed it!
I seriously love this soup, it’s amazing. I made this recipe for my office chili cook off and won 1st place for most creative and It was a hit. I love It it’s so good!!!
Hi Elly! That’s amazing! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for the wonderful feedback.
Hi Natasha! I love your recipes but I am reading the one for chicken tortilla soup and it says in the ingredients 2 chicken breasts but in the instructions it says to add a whole chicken. I am confused! Which one do I need for the recipe? Thank you in advance for clarification!
Hi Cindy, that’s my mistake. That should say “whole chicken breasts” I updated the recipe card. Thank you so much for calling that out! I hope you love this recipe!
Made this for my wife, and 2 grandchildren, it was sure a big hit. My wife cannot take hot spicy food so substituted sweet green pepper for jalapeno. Soup was so good that the grandchildren requested that I be sure and make again, when they are here.
That’s wonderful, Ed! I’m so glad it was a hit with the family.
Oh yum! After committing to this recipe I found I was out of beans. No problem. Just added more corn and a diced zucchini. I did double the spices as recommended, but otherwise, perfect. Can’t wait to finish the leftovers tonight … I know it will be even better.
Hi Marilyn! That’s wonderful. I’m glad you were still able to complete the recipe. 🙂
I made this today😊 Way better than any store bought chicken tortilla soup👍👍👍 We had a free taste of this soup in a supermarket this afternoon… my husband wanted to buy but I said wait…I can do that at home and I’m so glad that I found your recipe 😀 My husband was so impressed😁
We’re glad that you like it!
Made this today w/ rotisserie chicken. So easy to throw together. I chose to use fire roasted tomatoes (1 – 14 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes + 1 – 14 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes w/ green chiles). The soup was thinner than what I had anticipated based on previous comments but then realized it would be thicker if I had used the crushed tomatoes. Threw in a jar of Trader Joe’s Double Roasted salsa which amp’d up the flavor. Will use the crushed tomatoes next time because there will certainly be a next time. Loved the mix of flavors.
Good to know that you liked it and yes, feel free to use that next time. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
I did something similar too. Used half the crushed tomatoes, added a can of rotel, and about a cup of salsa
I’m wondering if this soup is supposed to be thick? The taste is delicious, but am wondering whether it can be thinned out with more chicken broth?
Hi Kathy! Yes, you can thin it out if you prefer.
This was easy and restaurant quality! Full of flavor and works for a weeknight or for company! I skipped making the homemade tortilla strips and bought some from the store! Delicious!
Hi Nikki! That’s great. I’m glad you loved it.
I made the chicken tortilla soup almost as written. For the the crushed tomatoes I substituted a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilis and diced tomatoes. I had two cooked frozen boneless chicken breast, so I thawed diced them and added them to the pot with everything else. This recipe is delicious. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Julie! Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad you loved the recipe.