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 simple it is 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.
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,
Delicious. After first bite already planning to make more matches. Plan to keep ingredients on hand. Great with or without the garnishes, but who can resist adding avocado to anything?
★★★★★
Haha, I agree! Glad you liked it!
So good!
★★★★★
This was great!! The garnishes (avocado, cilantro, cheese, scallions, and sour cream) totally enhance the soup and are a must!
I have single-handedly polished off the first batch and am about to make a second pot of it tonight. I used fresh tomatoes and fresh poblano—I will repeat but will use more of them and extra chipotle powder as I wouldn’t mind a bit more heat. Thanks so much for this recipe!!
★★★★★
super easy, authentic flavor, cooks quickly (used Insta pot variation of recipe), simple ingredients and makes a lot. SO GOOD. This is going to be a staple in my repertoire!
★★★★★
This soup is fantastic! I made it a couple of weeks ago using my pressure cooker, following the recipe to the tee. We are having it again tonight for dinner, and I’m planning to make it for family that will be visiting soon. This is definitely a keeper, thank you so much!!
★★★★★
This is freaking delicious. I skipped the carrots and added red bell pepper and zucchini at the garlic stage, and spinach at the very end for some extra veg. Lime, sour cream, chips, cheese, Cholula to finish. Unreal tasty and so easy.
★★★★★
yay, glad you liked it!
Delicious and came together very quickly. Toppings are a must!
★★★★★
Excellent IP recipe. It made a lot for just two of us, but I very happily have two more meals tucked away in the freezer. The flavors are wonderful. I added a teaspoon of Chipotle powder – didn’t know that existed. Much easier to keep on hand than always opening a can and only using a small amount. I will definitely be making this again!
★★★★★
Awesome recipe….my soup came out very well.
★★★★★
Hi,
This recipe is delicious. It’s one of my favorite recipes. Do the nutritional facts account for the toppings on the soup, or are they for only the soup itself?
Thanks
Nutritional facts are only for the soup itself!
Recipe was great. I added some tomatillo cut into 8ths. Used yogurt instead of sour cream and blue corn chips instead of the toasted tortilla strips.
★★★★★
We loved it. I was wondering if the toppings you suggested are included in the nutritional information.
★★★★★
The only thing I did different was use frozen corn, frozen cooked chicken breast and 3/4 cup of rice (w/extra water to compensate for rice) & a whole corn tortilla before closing up the IP. Cooked for 10 minutes, NR for 10 while I toasted the other corn tortillas under the broiler. All the veggies, meat and rice were tender and the corn tortilla had dissolved making the broth a little thicker. This was a great recipe for this rainy chilly spring day, plus it was just the right protein rich soft texture meal for our one family member on a soft food diet after surgical complications. Delicious!
★★★★★
First time using my instant pot & this recipe was the perfect test! Easy to follow the instructions, the flavor is rich & savory(some tortilla soup recipes are too bland for my taste), & the chicken is cooked perfectly. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
Thanks Audrey, glad you liked it!
Simple to make and delicious! Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay, I just made it for dinner again last night too. A keeper. 🙂