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Two bowls filled to chicken tortilla soup served with avocado and fix-ins next to a cutting board with fix-ins - cilantro, tortilla strips, limes, and jalapenos.
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5 from 2 votes

Quick and Flavorful Chicken Tortilla Soup

Easy and versitile chicken tortilla soup
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Servings: 4
Course dinner, entree, Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword easy, flavorful, quick, slow cooker, soup, spicy, tortilla soup

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker
  • Dutch Oven (heavy-bottomed pot)
  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1½-2 lbs chicken thigh boneless skinless
  • 4 cups chicken bone broth
  • 12 oz salsa mild
  • 2 limes juiced (about 2 tbsp)
  • 14 ½ oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1½ tbsp chili powder
  • 1½ tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1-2 tsp kosher salt to taste
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper to taste
  • 1 can sweet corn drained and rinsed
  • 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 avocado sliced for garnish
  • cilantro for garnish
  • jalapeno for garnish
  • tortilla chips for garnish, or tortillas of your choice with 2-3 tbsp butter
  • shredded cheese for garnish

Instructions

Get the soup going, below you will find 3 different and easy methods for cooking the soup:

  • Slow Cooker: Combine all ingredients (except corn and black beans) in the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker to high for 4 hours.
    Dutch Oven: Combine all ingredients (except corn and black beans) in your Dutch Oven (aka heavy-bottomed pot), cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and can be easily shredded.
    Instant Pot: Combine all ingredients (except corn and black beans) in your Instant Pot, pressure cook on high for 15 minutes.
  • About 10 minutes before cook time is complete, drain and rinse your corn and black beans, and prep all garnishes you wish to use. Slice your avocado, rinse cilantro, slice the jalapeno, shred your cheese.
  • Once the chicken is cooked through (165°F), remove the chicken from the soup and shred.  Add the shredded chicken back to the soup base along with the corn and black beans and stir well.
  • Taste soup for any additional desired seasonings or salt you wish to add.
  • Spoon the soup into bowls and top with desired garnishes and tortilla chips/strips.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  1. Most of what this recipe calls for is typically already in my fridge or pantry.  Don't have salsa? Saute 1 onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, and 1 diced and seeded jalapeno.  After sauteing and onions are translucent, add the spices and stir until fragrant (about 1-2 min), add 1 can of diced tomatoes (nice if they are roasted or with chilis), then add all the remaining ingredients to make soup base (same as above).
  2. If you wish to make your own tortilla strips, cut your tortillas of choice (corn is great here) into about ¼ inch strips. Cut those strips into 2 inch peices.  Heat 2-3 tbsp butter (or avocado oil) in a small pan over medium-high heat. When butter starts to foam, add the tortilla strips, continue to stir and flip the strips until desired level of golden brown crispiness, I like about 3-4 minutes.  Set aside on paper towel to garnish soup.