by Holly
Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of my favorite comfort foods! Chicken breasts, corn, beans, and other delicious ingredients are simmered in a tomato base. Top this delicious soup with crispy homemade tortilla strips, avocado, lime, and cilantro for the perfect Mexican-inspired soup!
We love having Tex Mex and Mexican nights around here. Corn dip, instant pot chicken tacos, beef enchilada casserole, you name it.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of my favorites and something I always order when I visit Mexico. The great thing about travel is creating versions of those recipes when I get home for my friends and family (and for you) to enjoy!
This chicken tortilla soup recipe is easy to make. As with a classic tortilla soup recipe, tortilla strips are fried crisp and add the perfect crunch. I top this soup with lime and cilantro, and the freshness to finish it off with a fresh flavor.
Add your own favorite toppings, a bit of cotija cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream are all great additions! I like to create a little topping bar when I serve this soup so everyone can add what they love.
What Is Tortilla Soup?
Tortilla soup is a Mexican-inspired soup made with a tomato (or chicken) base. It usually has ingredients like corn, beans, and often other additions like jalapenos and cilantro. It is simmered, then topped with crispy tortilla strips and whatever you’d like to add.
Tortilla soup is most commonly made with chicken but you can also find it made with lamb, beef, and fish. Cooking the protein in the soup adds a ton of flavor!
How To Make Tortilla Soup
It’s easy! Chicken tortilla soup takes just 30 minutes to cook. Prep your veggies first to save extra time. Make the tortilla strips while the soup is simmering (or you can purchase Tortilla Strips online or at the grocery).
You can also make the tortilla strips a few days in advance. They only need to pan fry for a minute or so on each side. Once they’re crisp, salt them and save them for later.
For the Chicken Tortilla Soup:
- Saute jalapeno and onion until fragrant (remove the jalapeno seeds to make it less spicy)
- Add everything else and simmer
- Remove the chicken and shred it with a couple of forks
- Add the chicken back in
- Serve it with tortilla strips and desired toppings
This recipe is crazy easy!
What To Serve With Tortilla Soup
Here’s where it gets fun! Tortilla soup is so versatile that nearly anything can be served with it!
A bright tangy cabbage slaw or a Fresh Corn Salad will complement the rich flavors of tortilla soup as well as a side of cheesy quesadillas.
For soup toppings, try some sliced black olives, green chiles, shredded cheddar or crumbled cotija cheese, or cubes of avocados. This is definitely a recipe that will find it’s way to your table year round!
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Taco Soup – So quick and flavorful!
- Easy Chicken Fajitas
- Easy Chicken Taco Soup
- Easy Fish Tacos – Favorite!
- Instant Pot Chicken Tacos (Pressure Cooker)
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup – Set it and forget it!
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 1 jalapeño diced and seeded
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 14 ½ ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 can diced tomatoes with chilis such as rotel
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 14 ½ ounces can black beans rinsed & drained
- 1 cup corn drained if canned
- 2 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 avocado sliced, for garnish
Crispy Tortilla Strips
- 6 6" corn tortillas cut into ¼" strips
- ¼ cup olive oil
- salt
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Instructions
- Heat ¼ cup olive oil over medium-high heat a small pan. Add tortilla strips in small batches and fry until crisp. Drain and salt.
- Heat olive oil In a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and jalapeño and cook until onion is softened.
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken and shred. Add back to the pot and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Spoon soup into bowls and and top with tortilla strips, lime wedges and sliced avocado.
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Just tried your chicken tortilla soup. Soooo good! I cooked in Instant Pot on soup setting for 15 minutes.
I added some roasted zucchini, some celery, carrots, green peppers. Finished by stirring a shot of tequila into the pot. Excellent!
Made it for a couple shower. The recipe allowed you to change the number of servings so it adjusted the ingredients.Turned out great. Everyone enjoyed it. Will make this again!!
Wonderful, easy and a successful every time.
Only suggestion is….do yourself a favor and make a double batch….freeze some and keep it on hand.
It’s a winner….and be sure to make the tortilla strips. Easy to make and super good…and just fun to have any time.
Lorraine
So happy to hear Lorraine!
Made this today for shared supper with friends – doubled the recipe, and used a can of green chiles w instead of jalapeños- and did fire roasted crushed tomatoes. Was so yummy with all the fixins and regular and green Chile cheese cornbread. No one left hungry. Will definitely make again.
So happy to hear that everyone loved it! Those substitutions sound delicious too.
This recipe is AMAZING! So quick and delicious! A much quicker alternative than my slow cook shredded chicken chili. I’ve made it a bunch of times and my family and I love it!