The BEST Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup – made from scratch, in a fraction of the time! Delicious and healthy, loaded with chicken and veggies, this soup will warm you to your bones! Can also be made on the stovetop or slow cooker!
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup – made from scratch and in a fraction of the time. Delicious and hearty, loaded with chicken and veggies, this soup is comforting and soul-warming! Perfect for cool fall and winter days this version is highly adaptable. Make it with dry beans, canned beans or no beans at all, it’s totally up to you. Top it with cheese and sour cream, or keep it dairy-free and add avocado. Make it as spicy as you want.
Watch how to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup!
The best part is after you saute the onions, you can just dump everything else in the pot and let the pressure cooker work its magic. No pressure cooker? No problem….make it on the stove or in a slow cooker ( see recipe notes).
The nice part is you don’t even have to touch or cut the chicken, just drop it in whole. You can use fresh or frozen boneless, skinless thighs or use chicken breast, up to you! So easy! Very tasty and satisfying, and the left-over soup just gets better and better over the next few days- perfect for midweek lunches or dinners.
For the tastiest tortilla chips, spray strips of fresh tortillas with olive oil spray and a sprinkle of salt, and bake until crisp.
Feel free to use store-bought tortilla chips, or leave them off completely for a lower carb version.
When the soup is done, shred the chicken, right in the pot with two forks. Serve it up with avocado, optional cheese or sour cream, cilantro and fresh jalapeño or hot sauce for heat.
Feel free to add corn or beans in this recipe- or both!
Make sure to garnish the Instant Pot Tortilla soup with either avocado or sour cream, and a squeeze of lime and fresh cilantro! The garnishes make this!!!
So simple, so easy. So tasty!!! Make this Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup and save the left-overs for mid-week meals!
P.S. Here are a few more of my all-time favorite, Instant Pot Recipes from around the globe!
And if you like broth-based soups, take a look at these soul-warming brothy soups!
Have a delicious week!
xoxo
SHOP THE POST! Serve your delicious soup in beautiful, handmade Ceramic bowls – found at our Bowl and Pitcher Store!
PrintInstant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup – a fast and flavorful recipe that can be made using dry or canned beans, and using fresh or frozen thighs, or breast meat. Very adaptable! Very easy.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: instant pot
- Cuisine: mexican
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, rough chopped ( or sub 1 tablespoon granulated garlic)
- 1–2 cups carrots, diced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 x 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, and juices ( preferably fire roasted) or 1 ½ cups diced tomatoes
- 1 small 4 ounce can, mild green chilies (or sub 1 poblano chili, diced)
- 2 lbs chicken thighs ( boneless, skinless, fresh or frozen) left whole (or breasts -see cooking notes)
- 1 cup dry black beans or sub 1-2 cans black beans, or sub corn-see notes ( do not use dry beans with chicken breast as breasts will over cook)
- 4 cups chicken stock or broth ( or water with 4 chicken bouillon cubes)
- 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons salt, more to taste
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- juice from 1–2 limes
- optional: for a smoky heat, add a little chipotle (either the adobo sauce from canned chipotles, or a little ground chipotle powder to taste. )
Garnish with any or all of the following: tortilla strips, grated cheese, sour cream, avocado, hot sauce, cilantro, fresh jalapeño, scallions
Instructions
Set the Instant pot to the Saute function. Saute onions ( if using granulated garlic, add later with the spices) in the oil for 3-4 minutes while you prep the garlic, carrots and celery. Add them to the pot, and saute 3-4 minutes.
Add the diced tomato, green chilies, chicken thighs (whole), dry black beans ( or canned, drained), chicken stock, water, salt and all the spices. Give a good stir, and set the Instant pot to pressure cook on high. If using dry black beans, pressure cook 22 minutes. If using canned black beans, pressure cook for 14 minutes ( same for either fresh or frozen thighs). Manually let pressure out, covering steam with a kitchen towel. (Or feel free to let pressure release naturally.)
Shred chicken thighs with two forks. The soup will thicken. (At this point you could add corn, and return to saute setting for a few minutes.) Squeeze with a generous amount of lime juice and taste for salt, adding more if necessary- especially if you used dry beans, you will need to add more. You want a good balance between lime and salt. ( If soup tastes bland, it probably needs more of each.)
Top with tortilla strips, cheese, sour cream, scallions or avocado and cilantro. Add hot sauce for added heat.
Notes
For a more brothy soup, use only 1 can of beans vs. two. ( I prefer this brothy.)
If using whole breasts, cook 8-12 minutes, and do not use dry beans (you will overcook the breasts). 8 minutes for smaller breasts or 12 for thicker breasts.
The toppings really add to the soup.
For the tastiest tortilla chips, spray strips of fresh tortillas with olive oil spray and a sprinkle of salt, and bake in a 300 F oven until crisp.
To make this on the stove top, using a dutch oven– follow same directions, simmering covered until chicken is cooked through and easily shreddable, and beans are tender, about 40 minutes.
For a bean-free version you could swap out 3 cups corn for the beans ( Trader Joes, frozen fire-roasted corn is great) adding it to the soup after you release the pressure.
For slow cooker version, cook as stated above then cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, or on High for 3 to 4 hours.
If doubling the recipe, make sure to use an 8 quart Instant pot or bigger. It will not fit ( doubled) in a 6 quart Instant Pot.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 3/4 cups
Keywords: instant pot chicken tortilla soup, chicken tortilla soup, instant pot chicken soup recipes, instant pot tortilla soup, chicken tortilla soup instant pot,
Great meal! Topped with fresco and it was delish!
★★★★★
Perfect Seirra, sounds good!
Loved it!!! My daughters had a bunch of friends over and they all loved it.
★★★★★
Just bought my instant pot. OMG the soup was the second meal I made and it was the BEST. I use fire roasted tomatoes as well as chipotle spice. This soup was so delicious.
Oh good!
AH-MAZING!!! My family loved it. It was quick and simple to assemble. So glad there is leftovers. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Great to hear, thanks for the comment!
Awesome!! My family LOVED it
★★★★★
Great to hear, thanks for the comment!
Sooo good and so easy to make. I really am enjoying this recipes and all the flavors. Thank you!
★★★★★
So great to hear- so happy you liked it.
Since we are expecting snow this week and that basically shuts the city down, I doubled this recipe and it turned out great. Really recommend the fire roasted chilis and tomatoes for great flavor. I added a sliced jalapeno and some leftover spinach, but otherwise followed this recipe to a T. Very delicious!
★★★★★
Perfect Johanna- yes the fire-roasted tomatoes add a lot of flavor!
Turned out great. I made it with chicken breasts and used 2 10oz cans of fire roasted rotelle (diced tomatoes and green peppers) instead of the 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes. I also substituted 3 c. of Trader Joe’s fire roasted frozen corn for the beans. The flavors were excellent!
★★★★★
Perfect! Thanks
My husband and I absolutely LOVE this recipe. It is my go to recipe for cold and rainy days!
I love all the warm yummy flavors! Thank you for sharinng
★★★★★
Thanks so much Nancy!!!
Delicious! But really , really spicy. I couldn’t find green chilies so I used sliced canned jalapeños. Could it be the reason? Or is it more because or the chili powder?
Thanks!!!
★★★★★
Hi Linda, it’s the canned jalapenos- I’ve done that before too. Almost inedible if you use the whole can. Sorry that happened. ;(
I loved it! My husbands not a soup eater but he surprised me. We both that it had great flavor and it was awesome.
★★★★★
Awesome, so happy you both liked it!
My family loves this recipe. It’s great for a cold night and easy enough when even super mom is sick and still needs to put dinner on the table. I add 2 cans of beans and 2 after it’s done cooking. I also add mexican street corn at the end as well. The frozen kind. Thank you for this recipe!
★★★★★
First of all, I love your voice. 🙂 And B.) I cannot wait to eat this, it’s cooking right now.
★★★★★
Awwww, thanks!
Thanks for the video! I just got a instant pot as a gift for Christmas. I will try this with chicken breasts and canned black beans. Looks delicious.
I love this recipe! Your tip about adding enough salt + lime really makes this soup come together. My husband isn’t a soup guy, but he loves this. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Great to hear!