With over 400 5-star reviews, this chicken tortilla soup is one of our most highly-rated soup recipes on the blog!

This Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of BEST recipes on the blog and hands-down one of our favorite dinners. Delicious and healthy, loaded with chicken and veggies, this soup will warm you to your bones! Make it in an Instant pot, on the stovetop, or in a slow cooker!

After spending years developing this recipe for our catering business, I thought I’d share a simplified version that can be made at home in your instant pot or on the stovetop- with very little hands-on time.

The secret is in the spices: our blend of spices creates the perfect balance of savory depth and mild heat that the whole family will love.

Why I love Instant Pot Tortilla Soup

  • I love how adaptable this recipe is. Make it with chicken thighs or chicken breast. Use dry black beans or canned beans; for a low-carb version, use no beans at all; it’s totally up to you.
  • The flavorful base of this soup is what makes this recipe shine. Once you nail that, the recipe is so versatile. We think it’s the best recipe for Chicken tortilla soup out there!
  • It’s EASY! The best part is after you saute the veggies for a few minutes, you can dump everything else in the pot, and just let it cook and be totally hands-off.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Video (Instant Pot)

Table of Contents

Chicken Tortilla Soup Ingredients

Chicken tortilla soup ingredients.
  • Tomatoes – use canned diced tomatoes, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, or use fresh diced tomatoes w/ their juices.
  • Chilies -For ease, we use canned mild green chilies , but feel free to use a fresh poblano chili
  • Chicken – boneless chicken thighs offer up great richness, while boneless chicken breast keeps this light and lean; both work great.
  • Chicken Stock– use store-bought or make your own homemade chicken stock.
  • Veggies: carrot, celery onion and garlic.
  • Beans: We love using dry black beans if using the instant pot or canned black beans in the stovetop version, but both work in either instance. You can also leave the beans out completely or sub corn.
  • Fresh Lime Juice and cilantro elevate.
  • Spices: in addition to the Mexican seasonings, adding a little chipotle here elevates. Use ground chipotle or the adobo sauce from the can for a delicious smoky heat!

How to make homemade Tortilla Chips:

For the healthiest, tastiest tortilla chips, spray strips of fresh corn tortillas with olive oil spray and a sprinkle of salt, and bake until crisp, or feel free to use store-bought tortilla chips or leave them off entirely for a low-carb version.

Homemade tortilla strips on a sheet pan.

Tortilla Soup variations

How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup on the Stovetop

*See the recipe card for instant pot instructions.

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot,  saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery, in olive oil, for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the chicken (whole), tomatoes, black beans, and chilies.

Sautéing the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.
Add chicken, black beans, tomatoes, and chillies.
Add chicken broth, salt, water and spices.
Stir and bring to a simmer, cover.

Add chicken stock, water, salt and all the spices.  Give a good stir, and bring to a simmer. Cover, and gently simmer until chicken pulls apart easily, about 30 minutes.

Shred the chicken apart with 2 forks.
Shredded chicken in a bowl.

Shred the chicken with two forks, either right in the pot or on a cutting board.

Season with lime juice and cilantro.

Squeeze with a generous amount of lime juice and taste for salt, adding more if necessary. Garnish with cilantro.

Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe Tips

  1. Use flavorful chicken stock and enough salt to ensure your soup has good flavor. You can always add a chicken bouillon cube if it tastes bland. Conversely, if your soup is too salty, add a little water.
  2. Add chipotle, whether ground or from the can, it really elevates the soup, adding a smoky heat. Add gradually to taste, remembering that the toppings will help moderate or mute the heat. If you are sensitive to heat but love the smoky flavor, add a little smoked paprika to taste.
  3. Fresh Lime enhances the soup. Start with a squeeze of half a lime, then add more to taste. If you added more tomato than the recipe called for, this will add acidity to the soup, so you’ll need less lime.
  4. Never cook jalapenos in the soup unless you like your soup extra spicy! I always add as a garnish at the end of cooking to moderate the heat better.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Toppings

These toppings elevate the tortilla soup- and ding flavor and texture. You don’t need all, but pick a few!

  • Shredded Mexican cheese, or cheddar (or crumbled cotija)
  • Sour cream- (or Mexican Crema) adds a nice creaminess and is especially lovely if your soup is tastes too spicy.
  • Avocado– if going dairy-free, avocado adds a nice richness!
  • Cilantro– it just belongs here. If you can’t tolerate it, scallions work too!
  • Tortilla chips- homemade or store-bought, add a great texture!
  • Fresh jalapeño- thinly sliced, or add hot sauce for heat.
  • Lime wedges
This Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of BEST recipes on the blog and hands-down one of our favorite dinners. Delicious and healthy, loaded with chicken and veggies, this soup will warm you to your bones! Make it in an Instant pot, on the stovetop, or in a slow cooker!

Serve the chicken tortilla soup in bowls with a few of the toppings.

How to store Chicken Tortilla Soup

The soup will keep up to 4 days in the fridge or freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating. Leave all the toppings off when storing, and add right before serving.

 Chicken Tortilla Soup in a bowl with all the toppings.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Faqs

How do you thicken Chicken Tortilla Soup?

Chicken Tortilla Soup can be thickened in two ways- add soft corn tortillas, torn into small pieces, into the simmering soup; they will dissolve and thicken it. You can also use corn meal; create a slurry, whisking a few tablespoons of corn meal with water, then whisk this paste into the soup, simmering it for 15 minutes, thickening the soup, and giving it a beautiful corn flavor.

Is Chicken Tortilla Soup Healthy?

Chicken tortilla soup is very soothing for a sore throat or cold and healing and nourishing to the body. It is low in carbs, high in protein and nutrients while being low in calories. Black beans add good healthy fiber to the soup.

How do you add flavor to soup?

Find the balance between salt, spicy heat, and acid, in this case, lime. If the soup tastes bland, try adding more salt and lime.

Can Chicken Tortilla Soup be made vegan?

Absolutely! Use veggie broth instead of chicken broth, and replace the chicken with pinto beans and corn. Feel free to add other veggies like bell pepper and zucchini.

What to serve with Chicken Tortilla soup?

We love this soup and hope you do too. ❤️

⭐️ Please rate it for us and share your adaptions or your thoughts in the comments below!

xoxo

Sylvia

More recipes you may like:

Need more dinner ideas? Check out our 40+Best Chicken Breast Recipes and our 50 Easy Dinner Ideas!

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Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe (Instant Pot)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 425 reviews
  • Author: Sylvia Fountaine | Feasting at Home
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 12 cups
  • Category: soup, dinner idea,
  • Method: stovetop, pressure cooker
  • Cuisine: mexican
Print Recipe

Description

Our Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe is highly rated- it’s a fast and flavorful soup that can be made on the stovetop or in an instant pot! ⭐️ Please rate it for us and share your adaptions or what you think of it in the comments below!

Ingredients

Units
  • 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 5 garlic cloves, rough chopped (or sub 1–2 tablespoons granulated garlic)
  • 1–2 cups carrots, diced
  • 1 cup celery, diced
  • 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes and juices (or fire-roasted) or 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes w/juices
  • 4–ounce can, mild green chilies (or sub a poblano chili, diced)
  • 2 lbs chicken (boneless, skinless, thighs or breasts) left whole –see cooking notes
  • 1 cup dry black beans,or sub 1 to 2 14-ounce cans black beans (or sub corn) see notes
  • 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
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • lime 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, and lime wedges.

Instructions

  1. In an Instant Pot set to “saute” (or Dutch oven over medium heat), saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil,  for 4 minutes or until fragrant, stirring (If using granulated garlic add with the spices, and if using fresh poblano chili, add it now).
  2. Add the diced tomatoes and their juices, green chilies, whole chicken, and black beans. Pour in the chicken stock, water, salt and all the spices and give a good stir.
  3. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on high for 25 minutes if using dry beans.  See notes for canned beans. Manually release. See notes for modifications. Alternatively, if cooking on the stovetop, bring it to a boil,  cover, and simmer on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, until chicken is tender and pulls apart easily.
  4. Shred the chicken with two forks, either right in the pot, or in a bowl. (At this point, you could add frozen corn to the soup, heating it up.) Return the shredded chicken to the pot and simmer on low for a few minutes.
  5. 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 the soup tastes bland, it probably needs more of each.)
  6. Divide among bowls and top with tortilla strips, grated cheese, sour cream, scallions or avocado and cilantro. Add hot sauce for added heat.

Notes

I use a 6-quart Dutch Oven, or a 6-quart Instant Pot. Doubling the recipe will not fit in a 6-quart.

Black beans: If your dry black beans are very old, I recommend soaking them first or extending the pressure cooking time to 30-35 minutes. You can also use dry beans in the stovetop version, but I recommend soaking them first. For a more brothy soup, use only one can of beans vs. two. ( I prefer this soup brothy.)

Chicken Breast: If using whole chicken breasts and canned beans in the instant pot, lower the pressure cook time to 9-12 minutes  (9 minutes for smaller breasts or 12 minutes for extra-large chicken breasts).  Set the pressure cooker time to 14 minutes for chicken thighs and canned beans. If cooking on the stovetop, cutting extra-large chicken breasts in half will shorten the cooking time.

Frozen Chicken: If using frozen chicken breasts or chicken thighs in the instant pot, add 3-4 minutes (make sure they are not all stuck together in one block). 

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.

For a bean-free version you could swap out 2 cups of corn for the beans ( Trader Joes, frozen fire-roasted corn is great) adding it to the soup after chicken is cooked.

For slow cooker version, do steps 1 & 2 as stated above, 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
  • Calories: 392
  • Sugar: 3.9 g
  • Sodium: 729.2 mg
  • Fat: 22.2 g
  • Saturated Fat: 5.6 g
  • Carbohydrates: 23.6 g
  • Fiber: 6.5 g
  • Protein: 25.3 g
  • Cholesterol: 111.3 mg

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Comments

  1. I made this last night for my first IP adventure and it was great. I added 1 tbsp chipotle in adobo, skipped the 2 cups of water and 2 tsp of salt (I used store bought stock so already very salty) I was worried about how full the pot was, especially with the dried beans in there but all was well. Flavours bright, especially with extra lime and toppings. Did add a wee bit of extra salt and some corn to finish. Easy and delicious!

    Reply

  2. Made this with frozen chicken breasts and substituted the beans for corn. Cut the chili powder in half. I used canned corn, so I just drained them and added them room temp straight from the can into the hot soup. Pressure cooked for 25min on high and it was perfect. Served with grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, scallions, and tortilla chips. Everyone loved it!

    Reply

  3. My significant other and I have made this soup so many times. It’s one of our favorite recipes. Even specially requests it when he doesn’t feel well. Thank you for this gem.

    Reply

  4. Great recipe! The perfect amount of spices. It worked great in my instant pot! I definitely recommend this recipe. Delicious!

    Reply

  5. This was delightful. I’ve had bad experiences cooking beans in acidic broth so I cooked the black beans ahead of time in the IP. I happened to also have leftover pollo asado so I added that in after the cooking. I would 100% make this again.

    Reply

  6. I’ve had my IP for years and I was *this close* to giving it away- the only thing I could make consistently well were hard-boiled eggs! Thank goodness I stumbled upon this recipe- it’s the best tortilla soup recipe I’ve ever served my family. I’m so excited to try your other recipes!

    Reply

  9. This was easy and yummy. Since our nest is now empty, there’s only 2 of us and there was enough for 3 meals. It just got better as time went on and the flavor developed! A definite keeper!

    Reply

  11. Hi Sylvia – I made your chicken tortilla soup last night (stove top) and it came out wonderful. Just want to say THANK YOU!

    Reply

  12. My husband and I both love this recipe! It is definitely a staple in our household now. The chicken comes out perfectly tender and needs very little effort to shred. I usually thicken the soup a little more by adding in tomato paste as the onions cook. Otherwise this is a great recipe!!!

    Reply

  14. Best soup ever! Easy and absolutely delicious. The lime is key!!! I’ve made it many times, and today I try with frozen thighs! I’m sure it’ll turn out great.

    Reply

  15. I’m currently making the recipe, so will be able to comment on it soon, however, wanted to let you know about a remark you made about putting a towel over the vent to capture the steam? I wondered about that as I recalled seeing something about not doing that, so checked several sites.

    It’s highly discouraged because of the damage it can do to the unit. The steam is supposed to go up to escape and using a towel can create issues. I’ll let you check for yourself, so you’ll know about it & make your own decision, but others might not know either.

    Can’t wait for the soup! Smells Lovely!!!

    The soup was very good! I did add a tablespoon of low sodium chicken Better Than Bullion to punch up the chicken flavor, but that’s for my tastebuds.
    thank you for a fun & delicious recipe.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the info Tina- I did not know that! I have been covering with a towel for several years now! Ooops! Glad you enjoyed the soup and htanks for the tip.

      Reply

  16. Made this tonight and it was so fulfilling! My picky eater husband gobbled it up and we’re going a make this a staple in our household 🙂 leftovers save well too. Thanks so much!

    Reply

  17. Made this last night and it was incredibly delicious! I followed the recipe as written using my Instant Pot (I’m late coming to the IP craze and on the search for recipes I can make in it) and it was probably one of the easiest recipes ever. Intended to add a tsp of chipotle but forget to add it before sealing the IP. No problem: added it at the end while I pulled the chicken apart. I also followed the suggestions for the toppings and used corn tortillas, shredded cheddar, scallions, avocado, and cilantro. I left the tortillas in the oven for a few minutes too long and they were a bit darker than intended but they held up incredibly well in the soup and didn’t get soggy at all. Hubby had seconds and requested this in a regular rotation. I only wish I found this recipe sooner as soup season is winding down here in the Northeast. Thank you Sylvia! All your recipes are winners and I know I can trust your ideas for truly restaurant quality meals

    Reply

  19. I didn’t realize my Instant Pot was half the size, so as I added in full measures, I ran out of room. I was only able to add 1 can chicken stock and no water, but I couldn’t un-add all the spices, etc.

    It was delicious! Best screw up ever. I highly recommend going double on all the spices and putting in less stock and no extra water, except the juice from the beans and tomatoes.

    Better than the tortilla soup in Mexico…Very tasty, and not at all too spicy.

    Reply

  20. Family loved this. Adapted the recipe to use up leftover chicken and to please my children’s palates. Divided the recipe in two separate pots to reduced the amount of spice in children’s portion. Great, easy recipe for a cold winter night. 🙂

    Reply

  23. When I watch the video it doesn’t look like teaspoonful of the spices…it looks like table spoons? Can you please confirm the measurements. Thank you.

    Reply

    1. Hi Draga- follow the recipe card- in the video I was kind of winging it. 🙂

      Reply

  24. Hi Sylvia, my daughter had surgery today and I wanted to make her something that would be comforting and the leftovers even better. Your Chicken Tortilla Soup did just that! I have to tell you I was very uneasy about putting the chicken in raw without any seasoning but I was determined to follow your recipe. I am so glad I made double it is absolutely delicious. I added both the canned black beans and some frozen corn when the shredded chicken went back into the broth so that the beans weren’t mushy. I also used fresh oregano that I had.
    The best part was after a very difficult week for our family my daughter said “thanks Mom the soup was really good!”.
    Thank you so much for sharing your creative gift of cooking and your sweet spirit!
    Linda

    Reply

    1. Awwww Linda, I’m so happy she enjoyed it. Wishing her a very speedy recovery. ❤️‍🩹

      Reply

  25. Excellent flavour, so easy to put together! I added red, yellow, and orange bell peppers and zucchini to the veggie mix to make it more hearty. Used frozen breasts so reduced the time to 9 minutes and it was perfect.
    I forgot the lime!! Will absolutely be adding it next time, as I can imagine how it would level-up the flavour even more.

    Reply

    1. Perfect Erin- love your addition of healthy veggies! Yes, don’t skip the lime- truly elevates!

      Reply

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