Super easy chicken tortilla soup is packed with tender chicken, beans, and vegetables, all in a spicy broth. Not only is it delicious, but it is also healthy—both low-fat and low-calories.
Introduction
This recipe takes advantage of your slow cooker to make an excellent soup with minimal work. Most of the work with this recipe is opening cans. The hardest part is chopping the onion—all with common pantry ingredients.
Topped with crispy tortilla strips, this is the perfect weeknight dinner recipe. It is a great "dump and go" type crock pot recipe. You can do this with only 10 minutes of active time with these easy step-by-step photo instructions.
My Rating
A nice solid higher 4.
♨️What is Chicken Tortilla Soup?
It is a spicy chicken broth with tender chicken, tomatoes, beans, and other veggies like corn, celery, and onion. Usually served with a variety of nacho toppings and some tortilla strips.
All this makes a healthy, low-fat soup loaded with vegetables and meat that will warm you on a cold day.
🐓The Chicken
We like our chicken soup with lots of meat. Some recipes use as little as ¾ pounds of chicken for this volume of soup. I suggest skinless boneless chicken breasts, which will generally be about 1 ½ pounds. But it could range from 1 to 2 pounds.
You can trim and cube the chicken before cooking or toss in the whole chicken breast and shred near the end of cooking — your choice.
You may also use skinless boneless chicken thighs if you want.
Can I use pre-cooked chicken?
Sure. And you can cut down the cooking time some. At 3 hours, add your pre-cooked chicken. Cook for an hour to add the great taste, and you are done.
✔️Tips
This is soup, so put in what you want or have, and it will be good.
Spicing
The RoTel provides a lot of spicing here. The heat level is about 3/10. RoTel comes in hotter versions if you want more heat, and there is an option for some cayenne pepper.
If you prefer, switch out the RoTel for a second can of diced tomatoes
We prefer white corn for this soup — a touch of sweetness and more tender.
The Toppings
It is generally topped with toasted tortilla strips along with other nacho toppings like cheese, avocados, jalapenos, and sour cream. Use what you love.
Storage
Good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Good sealed well in the freezer for 3-4 months.
📖Soup Recipes
Healthy Crockpot White Bean Chili Spiced Up
Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan Soup
Soup Nazi's Mexican Chicken Chili
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
I suggest skinless boneless chicken breast, but thighs would be fine.
Chop one medium onion and a couple of celery ribs.
Trim and cut two medium skinless boneless chicken breast into bite-size pieces.
Mix veggies in a crock pot with one 10 oz can RoTel (Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies), one 14 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 cup frozen corn or 1 can corn (drained), one 14.5 oz can black beans rinsed, 2 cloves crushed garlic, two 14 oz cans lower-sodium chicken broth, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder,1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional). Mix this all together in the crock pot. This will not fit in a smaller crock pot, so use a 4 quart or bigger.
Add the prepared chicken to the pot. OR you can just toss in whole chicken breasts. If you do the whole breast, then about 1 hour before the endpoint, remove, shred, then replace.
Cook for 6 hours on low.
Make your tortilla strips.
While the soup is cooking, make some tortilla strips for topping — Preheat oven to 375°. Thinly slice up a couple of tortillas.
Spread the tortilla strips in a baking pan, give a light spray of PAM and bake until golden brown. About 10-15 minutes. This will vary some by your tortillas and the oven, so watch it.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 1 onion - medium
- 2 ribs celery
- 10 oz RoTel - Diced tomatoes with Green Chilies
- 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1 cup frozen corn - or 1 can corn drained. White corn preferred.
- 14 oz black beans - rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic - crushed
- 28 oz lower sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt - to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper - to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional
Instructions
- Chop one medium onion and a couple of celery ribs.
- Trim and cut two medium skinless boneless chicken breast into bite-size pieces.
- Mix veggies in a 4 quart or larger crock pot with one 10 oz can RoTel (Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies), one 14 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 cup frozen corn or 1 can corn (drained), one 14.5 oz can black beans rinsed, 2 cloves crushed garlic, two 14 oz cans lower-sodium chicken broth, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder,1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional). Mix this all together in the crock pot.
- Add the chicken to the pot. OR you can just toss in whole chicken breasts. If you do the whole breast, then about 1 hour before the endpoint, remove, shred, then replace.
- Cook for 6 hours on low.
To Make Your Own Tortilla Strips
- While the soup is cooking, make some tortilla strips for topping — Preheat oven to 375°. Thinly slice up a couple of tortillas.
- Spread the tortilla strips in a baking pan, give a light spray of PAM and bake until golden brown. About 10-15 minutes. This will vary some by your tortillas and the oven, so watch it.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You can use whole chicken breasts if you wish. Remove them from the crock pot and shred them at about 5 hours. Then put the chicken back into the cooker for the final hour.
- You may use chicken thighs.
- This needs a 4-quart or larger crock pot. A half recipe will fit in a 3 quart or larger cooker.
- You can use pre-cooked chicken. Decrease the cooking time to 4 hours on low and add the pre-cooked chicken for the last hour.
- A chopped-up green or red bell pepper would be a nice addition.
- If you want a thicker soup, skip a can of broth at the start. You can add some back in near the end.
- We prefer frozen white corn for this recipe.
- If you don’t want the RoTel, use a can of drained diced tomatoes.
- If you want more heat, use hotter Rotel, a bit of cayenne pepper, or a finely minced jalapeno.
- A serving is about 1 ½ cups.
- It is generally topped with toasted tortilla strips along with other nacho toppings like cheese, avocados, jalapenos, and sour cream. Use what you love.
- Good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Good sealed well in the freezer for 3-4 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition
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Editor's Note: Originally Published January 11, 2014. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Sue Shortley
Dear Dr. Dan,
How long do you think if cooked on the stove top?
Love your recipes,
Sue
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Sue,
I have no exact answer for you but probably about one hour with a bit of modification.
You need to get the onion and celery cooked first. A Dutch oven with a bit of oil over medium-high heat. Maybe about 8-10 minutes until tender and clearing. Then add everything and bring it to a simmer and cover.
The huge variable will be the chicken. If precooked, you can just simmer for 15-20 minutes, and you are done. If raw, the cooking time will vary by size and thickness of the chicken you choose. It will be about 30-40 minutes (a total guess) if you use the chunks I used in this recipe. You can use whole breasts and cook them, pull them out when they reach 165 and shred, just lots of options, just be sure the chicken reaches 165 if you use raw chicken.
Remember soup tastes better if simmered longer.
So my somewhat educated guess (based on a similar recipe that never got published and I lost somewhere years ago) is the total time of about an hour.
If you do it, please comment back here for others.
Dan
Dave
Do you add water to this?
Mine looks more like a thick stew after adding all ingredients. Thanks.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Dave,
Welcome to the blog.
This is not a really brothy soup. Remember that as it cooks, the chicken and veggies will release some fluid. So if you are nearing the end of cooking and want thinner, add more broth.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Jan
Hi
I would to say I like your recipes.
I have a picky eater. Can I use tomato sauce instead of tomatoes? My daughter will eat anything tomatoy as long as there is no tomato chunks in it.i don't know there is about tomato chunks that she just will not eat.
Thank you
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jan,
I would say yes, it should be fine, but have never done it. You will also not want the RoTel due to the texture and the spicing.
I suggest doing your initial cooking as a half recipe using the sauce to replace the diced tomatoes and rotel.
Dan