This chicken tortilla soup recipe simmers in one pot and is on the table in under 30 minutes for a delicious weeknight meal. Packed with chicken, veggies, and beans, it’s a meal the whole family will love.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- One-Pot Meal: The chicken breasts simmer in the broth, making this soup both easy and flavorful.
- Skill Level: This beginner-friendly soup is a weeknight time and labor saver.
- Budget Tip: Add a cup or two of cooked rice to stretch the recipe further.
- Serving Suggestions: Chicken tortilla soup is great served with a toppings bar.
Ingredients for Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Chicken: No need to pre-cook the chicken; add it raw. If using leftover rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken, they can be added in the last 5 minutes to heat through.
- Vegetables: Canned tomatoes with chiles (Rotel) add extra flavor to this recipe; you can choose mild or spicy. The corn can be canned, fresh, or frozen.
- Black Beans: Canned black beans keep this recipe quick. Replace them with navy beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans.
- Tortilla Strips: Homemade tortilla strips are easy to make, but any crunchies like Fritos or tortilla chips will also work.
Toppings for Tortilla Soup
- Mix in dollops of sour cream, guacamole, or salsa for quick, flavorful upgrades.
- Top with shredded cheese, black olives, green onions, lime wedges, or cilantro.
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
This soup comes together in one pot and just three easy steps!
- Cook Veggies:
Heat oil in a large pot and sauté chopped onion, garlic, and jalapeño until soft. Add chicken broth, diced tomatoes, black beans, corn, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, and chili powder. - Add Chicken:
Place chicken breasts in the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken, shred it, and stir it back into the soup. - Serve & Enjoy:
Ladle the soup into bowls and top with avocado, extra cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.
More Flavorful Comforting Soups
Did you enjoy this Chicken Tortilla Soup? Leave a comment and rating below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 jalapeño seeded and diced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 14.5 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 (15 ounce) can canned black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (10 ounce) can canned diced tomatoes with chilies with juices, such as Rotel
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 6 ounces each
- 1 cup corn kernels drained if canned
- 1 lime juiced
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 avocado sliced, for garnish
For the Tortilla Strips
- 6 small corn tortillas cut into ¼-inch strips
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- salt
Instructions
For the Tortilla Strips
- Cut the tortillas into ¼-inch strips. In a small pan, heat ¼ cup of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the tortillas, in small batches to the oil and fry them until they are crisp, about 1 minute per side. Remove from the oil and drain on a paper towel. While warm, sprinkle with salt to taste.
For the Soup
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño to the pot, and cook until the onion is softened about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add in the chicken broth, black beans, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes with juices, corn, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, and chili powder. Stir to combine.
- Add the chicken breasts and bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and shred it with two forks. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot and simmer for an additional 3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon soup into bowls and top with tortilla strips, lime wedges, and sliced avocado.
Video
Notes
Chicken: This recipe uses chicken breasts that are 6oz each. If your chicken is larger or smaller, adjust the cooking time as needed. The chicken is added to the soup raw and simmers in the soup.
Cooked chicken: To replace the chicken breasts with rotisserie chicken or cooked chicken, simmer the soup for a total of 25 minutes, adding 3 cups of shredded chicken during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Tortilla Strips: Tortilla strips can be replaced with tortilla chips or they can be cooked in the air fryer or oven. Toss the strips with 1 ½ tablespoons of oil and salt. Cook in the air fryer at 350°F for 2-4 minutes or until crisp or bake at 350°F for 11-14 minutes. Check the strips early to ensure they don’t burn.
Spice: Reduce the spice by replacing jalapeno with green chiles.
Serving suggestion: Create a fun meal by serving it with a variety of toppings.
Leftovers: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days and in the freezer for 4 months.
Leftovers & Freezing: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave. To freeze, cool completely, transfer it to a freezer-safe container or resealable plastic bag for up to 4 months.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1.25cup | Calories: 278 | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 671mg | Potassium: 714mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 19.9mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 2.7mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Chicken, Main Course, Soup
Cuisine American, Mexican© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Originally Published: January 2019
Updated & Republished: October 2025
This has become something that I make about every other weekend and have for my hard working wife and college student step daughter to have available when they need it. There are a couple of other soups in the arsenal, but this one is now in the rotation. Thanks!!!
Just need to make clear the the last 3 ingredients are for garnish. Instructions say to put in remaining ingredients after oil, onion, garlic and jalapeño.
Thank you for the feedback! Cilantro and lime do go in the soup although the avocado is garnish. I’ve updated the recipe.
Fantastic! I’ve made this twice and we’ve cleared our pot both times! No left overs!
What part of Mexico have you had this soup? As a Mexican American who has lived many years in Mexico, I’ve never had this in my travels over there… just curious that maybe it’s known under another name.
I have eaten this in Los Cabos as well as learned to make it in a cooking class I took in Cancun at a different location. The preparation in the cooking class was slightly different with charred peppers and tortillas blended directly into the soup itself. Both were delicious! Enjoy the recipe.
I lived in Mexico City for 12 years and it’s found in many informal kitchens. It’s called sopa de tortilla or sopa Azteca.
Love the soup! Super easy to make too. I diced my chicken to avoid it getting dried out. Literally cooked in minutes! Thanks for sharing.
Just yummy!! Wouldn’t change a thing (except I used a Costco roasted chicken!). ❤️❤️❤️
My favorite recipe for tortilla soup. It’s excellent every single time.
I am going to try this recipe tonight for dinner. Tortilla soup
Made this recipe today, but substituded tge chicken with smoked chorizo. Everyone found it delicious!
We purchased a smoked chicken and used that. OMG it was so good. Thank you for sharing your recipe! It was a hit!
Great idea Melissa! Thank you for sharing!
What size can if rotel?
It’s a 10oz can of Rotel.
Love this blog!
I’ve made this soup a few times and it’s always a hit! So good during the cold months! I’m going to make tonight with some chicken thighs I need to use… would you make any adjustments for that or just follow the recipe as is?
I think it should be just fine as long as they’re boneless. They may need a tiny bit less time to cook through if they’re thinner. Enjoy!
Soup is currently cooking!! What is the serving size for the nutrition information you provided! Thank you for that as well!
The nutrition information is for ⅛th of the recipe and can vary slightly based on the size of your chicken breast. One serving is approximately 1-1 ¼ cup.
Why was the chicken so tough? Did I cook it too long. The instructions were very vague and I was a bit confused.
Hmm, I can’t say for sure why Jen. What part of the instructions can we clarify for yuo?
The first time I made this I order Rotel and crushed tomatoes online for grocery pick up. It turned out awesome. Now I’m making it a second time and stepped up the game. I’ve add 3 chicken breasts, 3 Jalapenos, more than a cup of corn and 2 small cans of Rotel, and 1 can of crushed tomatoes. It’s really hard to mess up crock pots if it’s a good recipe. This one is dope but during 2020 it’s actually kind of pricey. I guess not for feed a big family though.
I am making this as we speak and it smells (and tastes, because I’ve been “testing” it) divine, and can’t wait to dig in! I’m sure it will end up in my regular winter soup/stew rotation! Thanks!
I can’t rate this yet because it’s cooking in the crockpot. Question though. Why does the crockpot version say 2 teaspoons of cumin and chili powder and the stove top version says 1 teaspoon? Also one says 3 cups chicken broth and the other says 4?
They’re different recipes. We found that with the extra broth & cook time, the slow cooker version needed more seasonings. Enjoy the recipe.
I made this chicken tortilla soup for dinner last night and it was spectacular! Hubby and I loved it! The fried tortilla strips were a great addition and yummy to snack on too. I highly recommend this recipe!
Thanks for the great recipes.