This Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup is filled with juicy tomatoes, tender shredded chicken, and is perfect with golden crunchy tortilla strips on top!
Mexican tortilla soup is bursting with flavor, satisfying textures and is a warm hug in a bowl. It’s the perfect easy weeknight dinner or cozy weekend meal. It’s the delicious chicken version of my Quick and Easy Taco Soup Recipe, just no ground beef!
Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
This Mexican inspired soup has a tomato broth base, with a homemade blend of spices. Garnish it with crispy tortilla strips, creamy avocados, cilantro, or cheese. It’s THE BEST chicken tortilla soup recipe because:
- It freezes and reheats well.
- Beautiful golden crunchy tortilla strips on top create the PERFECT texture.
- It’s dairy free and gluten free friendly!
- Incredible macros- lots of protein from the beans and chicken and lower in carbs!
Ingredients Needed
Here’s the basic list of ingredients in Chicken Tortilla Soup. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the printable recipe card below.
- Olive Oil
- Corn Tortillas
- Onion – white or yellow work best.
- Garlic – fresh minced
- Crushed Tomatoes
- Chicken Broth
- Chili Powder
- Oregano
- Cumin
- Chicken – boneless skinless breasts
- Beans – black, drained and rinsed
- Corn – canned, drained
- Diced Green Chiles – canned
- Cilantro, Lime, Avocado – garnish
How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
This Mexican chicken soup is so quick and easy to make! It’s 1000% worth it to make homemade crunchy tortilla strips so don’t skip this step! Also, no need to pre-cook the chicken, it cooks with the soup to make it super easy.
Fry Tortilla Strips
In a heavy-bottomed cooking pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. The oil becomes nice and shimmery when it gets hot enough. If it starts smoking, turn the heat down a little. Carefully add the tortilla strips in small batches, and cook them for 1 minute on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Place them on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil.
PRO TIP: For less dirty dishes (yes please!), you can use the same pot to fry the tortilla strips, then make the soup in it.
Cook Onion and Garlic
To a large cooking pot, add the chopped onion and sauté until tender, about 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add in the minced garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds or so until fragrant.
Make Soup Base
To the cooked onions add the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, chili powder, dried oregano, and ground cumin. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the uncooked chicken breasts. Let the chicken cook for about 15-17 minutes, until it’s cooked through, then remove it from the pot.
Shred Chicken
After removing the chicken from the soup base, place it on a cutting board, shred it with two forks, or chop it into little bite sized pieces. Place the shredded chopped chicken back into the soup base.
Add Vegetables
To the pot, add in the black beans, corn, green chiles, and 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. Bring mixture to a simmer for 5 minutes to heat through.
Just before serving, squeeze in the lime juice and season the soup with extra salt if needed. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the crispy tortilla strips, extra cilantro, diced avocado, and an extra lime wedge if desired. Enjoy!
Variations and Substitutions
It’s so easy to customize this Mexican chicken soup to fit your tastes! Here are a few ways to make this soup even MORE amazing!
- Want it MORE spicy? Add a chopped fresh jalapeno (with seeds for more spice) to the pot right before serving.
- To spread out the soup a little more, you can add another can or two of beans (black, pinto, white, or kidney) without impacting the flavor. You can always add a bit more salt or pepper to taste.
- Add a fresh diced bell pepper (any color) to the soup as it’s cooking for even more veggies.
How To Store Chicken Tortilla Soup
I love this soup because it freezes and reheats REALLY well. It tastes as fresh as the day it was made!
To Refrigerate: After cooling, transfer to air tight container and refrigerate up to 3 days.
To Freeze: Let cool to room temperature, transfer to freezer safe container or gallon zip close bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
What To Serve Chicken Tortilla Soup With?
This soup makes a great quick summer dinner or a lovely fall soup on a rainy day, and is best served with crispy tortilla strips on top! Here are a few other ideas for serving.
- Queso Fresca Cheese
- Sour Cream, Greek Yogurt, or Cottage Cheese
- Fresh diced Jalapeno or Chili Peppers on top.
- Extra tortilla chips, you can never have too much!
More Mexican Soup Recipes
If you want different cooking methods to make a Mexican soup, I have a few different ways to make it even easier! Every one of these recipes is absolutely delicious and we love them all.
- Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup
- Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe
- Smoky White Chicken Chili
This Mexican Chicken Soup recipe is one of our families’ favorite flavor-packed, hearty dinners. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
For the Tortilla Strips
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 8 small corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
For the Soup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 tsp garlic, minced
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes, canned
- 3 cups chicken broth, low sodium
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, (2 medium size breasts)
- 15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
- 14 oz corn, drained
- 4 oz diced green chiles, canned
- ⅓ cup cilantro, chopped, divided
- 1 lime, juice of
- salt, to taste
- 1 large avocado, diced
Instructions
For The Tortilla Strips
- Add ¼ cup oil to a heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is nice and shimmery, carefully add the tortilla strips in small batches. Cook until the tortilla strips are browned and crispy.
- Place the cooked strips on a paper towel lined plate to drain and set aside.
For The Soup
- Meanwhile, add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat and sauté the chopped onion until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, chili powder, dried oregano and ground cumin. Bring this mixture to a boil, then add in the uncooked chicken breasts. Let the chicken cook for about 15 to 17 minutes, until it's cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the soup base and place on a cutting board, shred with two forks or chop into little pieces.
- Place the shredded or chopped chicken back into the soup base and add in the black beans, corn, green chiles and ¼ cup of the chopped cilantro. Bring mixture up to a simmer for 5 minutes to heat through.
- Just before serving, squeeze in the lime juice and season the soup with extra salt if needed. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the crispy tortilla strips, extra cilantro, diced avocado and an extra lime wedge if desired. Enjoy!
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ann lindsey
Can’t wait until cooler weather to try this soup. Thank you for sharing this.
Mary
This was amazing and perfect for a fall, football weekend! I kicked it up a notch with a can of diced green chilies and red pepper!
Gloria
Your recipes looked so good and fast that I had to order your cookbook. Thanks for easy meal planning.
Shawn
Oh my goodness, thank you so much Gloria! 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
felicia@ingredient1
This is a great way to repurpose leftover pulled chicken in a tasty and fun way. And with only a few weeks left of summer corn, we can’t wait to make this soon!
Shawn
Thanks Felicia! 🙂