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    Home » Recipes » Soup and Stew Recipes

    Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

    Published: Mar 18, 2023 by Sally Cameron · This post may contain affiliate links · 6 Comments

    621 shares
    ↓ Jump to Recipe

    This isn’t just any leftover chicken soup recipe—this is a flavor-packed bowl of Mexican chicken tortilla soup that’ll have everyone going back for seconds. In just 30 minutes, you’ve got tender shredded chicken simmered in a zesty, savory broth, ready to be loaded up with all the toppings: crispy tortilla strips, creamy avocado, melty cheese, fresh herbs, and a squeeze of lime that ties it all together. It’s bold, it’s fun, and it’s exactly what soup night needs.

    Mexican tortilla soup, ready to serve with garnishes in side bowls.

    If you love a good soup with chicken recipe, here's another one to fall in love with; a Mexican chicken soup. Plus, it's an easy tortilla soup recipe because of using leftover chicken and basic pantry ingredients. It's the most loved of many famous Mexican soup recipes for good reason.

    Jump to:
    • Why You'll Love This Recipe
    • Recipe Ingredients
    • Substitutions and Variations
    • Recipe Instructions
    • Homemade Tortilla Strips (optional)
    • Serving Suggestions
    • Recipe FAQs
    • More Mexican-Inspired Recipes
    • ⭐️Did You Make This Recipe?
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    Why You'll Love This Recipe

    • Uses leftover baked chicken or rotisserie chicken.
    • Big flavor, easy prep.
    • Customizable toppings.
    • Hearty with pinto beans.
    • Based on classic Mexican flavors everyone loves.

    For another chicken soup recipe, try this chicken vegetable soup. It's warming and comforting.

    Recipe Ingredients

    Ingredients for chicken tortilla soup on a counter, labeled.
    • Oil: Choose olive oil, avocado oil, or try this new healthy oil.
    • Onion: The aromatic backbone, yellow, brown, or white.
    • Carrot: My add for more color and flavor.
    • Celery: Part of flavor trio of onion, carrot and celery (mirepoix) for soup bases.
    • Chili pepper: If you like heat, go Jalapeño pepper. For little heat but good flavor, buy an Anaheim pepper. (See what one looks like in this post).
    • Garlic: Use fresh garlic cloves and finely chop or use a microplane zester. In a pinch, use granulated garlic powder.
    • Spices: Ground cumin, ground coriander, ground chipotle, and ancho chili powder that gives tortilla soup it gorgeous red color.
    • Herbs: Dried oregano and either fresh cilantro or fresh Italian parsley.
    • Diced tomatoes: Canned, fire roasted tomatoes, use the juices too.
    • Pinto beans: A traditional Mexican bean, use canned for speed.
    • Broth: Low sodium chicken broth or try turkey broth. Homemade chicken broth is easy and freezes. Rich broth equals rich flavor.
    • Chicken: Use leftover shredded baked chicken or rotisserie chicken.
    • Tortilla chips garnish: Two options, tortilla chips that are crushed a bit, or buy fresh tortillas and make homemade baked tortilla strips. Easy and so good. Recipe below.

    Pleas see recipe card for measurements.

    Substitutions and Variations

    • Substitute Anaheim pepper (very mild) for Jalapeno pepper.
    • No fresh jalapeños? Use part or all of a small can of green chiles.
    • Substitute canned black beans for canned pinto beans, or small white beans.
    • Add corn kernels if you'd like for more color and texture.
    • Don't like cilantro? Use fresh chopped parsley as an alternative garnish.
    • If you can't find pure ancho chili powder use chili powder (which is a blend). Smoked paprika is another option for flavor and color.
    • Bell pepper is a terrific addition to chicken tortilla soup. Choose red, yellow or orange.

    Chef's Tip: Be careful when handling and chopping hot peppers. It protects your hands to wear disposable food handling gloves. Do not touch your eyes or face after handling fresh chilies and wash them well. The heat of peppers is in the inner membrane, the veins (or ribs) of the pepper, not the seeds.

    Recipe Instructions

    Vegetables for chicken soup sautéing in a Dutch oven.
    Step 1: Saute the onion, carrots, celery and jalapeno pepper in oil until soft. Add garlic.
    Vegetables and herbs cooking in a soup pot.
    Step 2: Add the herbs and spices to the pot and cook 2 minutes to release the flavors.
    Beans and vegetables cooking in a large heavy pot for tortilla soup.
    Step 3: Stir in the beans and tomatoes.
    Adding shredded chicken and broth to the pot to complete the soup.
    Step 4: Add the chicken and the broth.
    Richly colored  finished tortilla soup in a gray pot to serve.

    Homemade Tortilla Strips (optional)

    Crispy homemade baked tortilla strips on a baking sheet, for soup garnish.

    While you can use lightly crushed, fresh corn tortilla chips from a bag, these baked tortilla chips (or strips) are crisp and delicious. Make the homemade baked tortillas strips while you're working on the soup.

    Recipe Instructions (tortilla strips)

    Cut corn tortillas in half, then cut the halves crosswise into thin strips. Toss with a tiny bit of olive oil and bake at 350°F degrees on a sheet tray until golden and starting to crisp, about 15 minutes. Season with salt when you remove them from the oven.

    Close up of Mexican chicken soup in a white bowl, ready to eat with a spoon.

    Serving Suggestions

    The best part of chicken tortilla soup is the garnishes, allowing everyone to customize their soup. Goof garnish options include:

    • Lime wedges for fresh squeezed lime juice.
    • Chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley).
    • Sliced or diced avocado.
    • Grated cheese.
    • Fresh jalapeno slices.
    • A dollop of sour cream adds a nice cool tang.
    • Chopped green onions.
    • Thinly sliced or grated fresh radishes.
    • Wedges of refreshing limes.
    • And to top it all off, those crispy tortilla strips.

    Chicken tortilla soup is a meal in a bowl. You don’t really need anything else to complete dinner. If you want to, add a tossed green salad with a citrusy vinaigrette. Make one with a lime olive oil like this.

    Leftovers and Freezing

    Leftovers keep 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container, labeled and dated. Can you freeze this soup? Yes, freeze it without any garnishes for 2-3 months.

    Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and finish thawing and heating in a pot on the stovetop over low heat, covered, for best results. Then add fresh garnishes to serve.

    Recipe FAQs

    Is tortilla soup Mexican or American?

    Tortilla soup is definitely Mexican, in fact it's the most popular soup in Mexico. You'll find it on the menus of most Mexican restaurants. It's a traditional brothy soup with terrific flavors from spices common in Mexican cuisine. It's called Sopa de Tortilla in Spanish. It's also called Sopa Azteca (Aztec Soup).

    What is the difference between taco soup and tortilla soup?

    Tortilla soup is usually lighter and more brothy than taco soup. Taco soup often uses ground beef and is sort of between a tortilla soup and chili in texture. Both recipes utilize traditional Mexican ingredients and spices.

    More Mexican-Inspired Recipes

    Need more fiesta flavors? Another Mexican inspired recipe that's quick and easy if this super easy taco meat filling recipe. And be sure to make a jar of my homemade taco seasoning blend. It works for more than tacos.

    • chicken tomatillo soup
      Mexican Chicken Tomatillo Soup
    • Mexican grilled flank steak
      Flank Steak Marinade Recipe
    • tomatillo salsa verde
      Tomatillo Sauce (green enchilada sauce)
    • A gray platter of sals verde chicken breasts with tomatillo sauce, grated cheese and chopped cilantro.
      Easy Salsa Verde Chicken (green salsa chicken)

    ⭐️Did You Make This Recipe?

    If you make Chicken Tortilla Soup, please add your comment. I appreciate your feedback and enjoy hearing from you. If you loved it, please give it a 5-star rating! They really help other readers. If you had an issue with it, let me help you figure it out.

    📖 Recipe

    Close up of Mexican chicken soup in a white bowl.

    Chicken Tortilla Soup

    Sally Cameron
    Leftover roast chicken makes this soup fast to put together. It’s a meal in a bowl. Have fun customizing your soup with the garnishes. Use leftovers from a whole chicken or chicken breasts. A market roasted chicken will work as well. Don’t let the list of ingredients concern you. A lot of it is spices, garnishes and options. 
    4.75 from 4 votes
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    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 15 minutes mins
    Total Time 30 minutes mins
    Course Soup
    Cuisine Mexican
    Servings 4
    Calories 243 kcal

    Equipment

    • 5 quart heavy pan or Dutch Oven
    • Rimmed baking sheet

    Ingredients
      

    Tortilla Soup

    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • ½ medium onion 1 cup chopped
    • 1 large carrot ½ cup chopped
    • 1 large celery rib ½ cup chopped
    • 1 small jalapeño pepper or Anaheim for mild heat
    • 3 large garlic cloves chopped fine or zested
    • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
    • 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander optional but good
    • 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
    • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
    • ½ teaspoon sea salt
    • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle powder optional for spicy soup
    • 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes not drained
    • 1 15-ounce can pinto beans rinsed and drained
    • 5 cups chicken or turkey broth
    • 9 ounces cooked shredded chicken about 2 ¾ cups

    Tortilla Strips (optional)

    • 8 small corn tortillas for strips, make ahead, directions below
    • ½ teaspoon olive oil to make tortilla strips
    • salt

    More Garnishes (optional)

    • 4 ounces grated Jack or Mexican cheese blend
    • 1-2 limes quartered
    • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro or parsley
    • 1 large avocado sliced, diced or mashed
    • 2 radishes thinly sliced
    • 1 jalapeno sliced

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    Instructions
     

    Crispy Tortilla Strips

    • Pre-heat the oven to 350°F degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Cut tortillas in half, then crosswise into thin strips. Toss with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Bake strips 12-15 minutes or until crisp and golden. Watch so they don’t burn.
      Timing depends on whether your oven is convection or not; convection is a little faster. Directly after removing from the oven, sprinkle with sea salt. They will crisp a bit more as they cool.

    Chicken Tortilla Soup

    • If not already done, chop the onion, carrot and celery into small pieces. Slice off the top of the jalapeno, then lengthwise into quarters. Scrap out the seeds and the inner membrane if you want to reduce the heat. Chop the pepper small.
    • In a 5 quart pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and jalapeño and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. If they start to brown, turn your heat down. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
    • Add the spices, oregano, salt and pepper and cook 2 minutes to release the flavors. Add the tomatoes, beans, broth and chicken and heat through, about 10 minutes. Serve with garnishes on the side or on top.

    Notes

    Nutrition label is calculated without the optional garnishes.
    Be careful when handling and chopping hot peppers. It protects your hands to wear disposable food handling gloves. Do not touch your eyes or face after handling chilies.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 243kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 20gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 431mgPotassium: 477mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 2813IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 3mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was with a comment and leave a star rating!

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    « Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe
    Easy Cream of Asparagus Soup »
    621 shares

    Comments

    1. The Porsche guy says

      March 18, 2023 at 2:07 pm

      5 stars
      I love the soup at Mexican restaurants and I love it even better at home because I know it’s healthier and I love all the garnishes. Thanks for a great recipe. Easy too.

      Reply
      • Sally Cameron says

        March 18, 2023 at 3:28 pm

        Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!

        Reply
    2. Linda says

      March 22, 2013 at 9:23 am

      Made this last night and used the same pressure cooker method that you use for the Chicken Rice soup and it turned out great. I had requests to make it again!

      Reply
      • Sally says

        March 22, 2013 at 9:26 am

        What a great idea Linda! Will have to note that in the recipe! Thanks for reporting back!

        Reply
    3. Steph says

      February 05, 2013 at 12:06 pm

      Hello! I made this today for dinner and I really liked how easily this healthy dish all came together -- the flavors are great too!

      Oh and fyi, you mentioned chipotle and jalapeno in the directions but not in the ingredient list, so I just used 1 tsp chipotle powder and 1 minced jalapeno. Thanks for the recipe 🙂

      Reply
    4. Mary@SiftingFocus says

      January 27, 2013 at 8:14 am

      Sally, what a wholesome and satisfying soup. My husband loves chicken tortilla soup and shamefully I admit I have never made it for him. One night this week I'm going to surprise him and make your recipe. By the way, I love tortilla soup too!

      Reply
    4.75 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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    Chef Sally Cameron of aFoodcentricLife.com in her kitchen.

    Welcome! I'm Sally, a professionally trained chef, former personal chef and caterer, lover of fresh healthy food, and sharing it with others.

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