Flavorful Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe: A Hearty Mexican Delight

Indulge your taste buds with a tantalizing bowl of homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup! Bursting with vibrant flavors and wholesome ingredients, this Mexican-inspired dish is a comfort food favorite. Whether you’re craving a cozy meal on a chilly evening or hosting a gathering with friends, this recipe is sure to impress. Let’s dive into the culinary adventure and learn how to create this sensational dish right in your kitchen!

In our house we eat Mexican food or some derivative several times a week. Our very favorite is Mexican Street Tacos, but we like pretty much anything that has the flavors of Mexico.

This soup is one of our winter favorites. We eat it a couple times a month from October – March. The wonderfully spicy broth loaded with the tender sweet carrots, the aromatic celery and onion…all combine with the shredded chicken, beans and corn, warms us up and comforts us when it’s cold and wet outside.

But that’s not what makes this soup the best. Obviously we need a base. But the base is just the vessel for the toppings! Shredded cheddar, sour cream, tortilla crunchies, fresh cilantro and lime all top this soup off and take it to new levels!

Ingredients

Fat

Olive Oil: While you can certainly use lard, I wouldn’t use butter. Butter has a low smoke point and this soup doesn’t benefit from the flavor of butter. I tend to use olive oil over lard in this soup, but in other soups, like a Green Chili Pork Stew…I’d definitely use lard.

Aromatics

Garlic: I don’t like pre-chopped garlic. There, I said it. I stand by it. It has a weird smell, it has a weird taste…I just don’t like it. Get a fresh bulb of garlic. It only takes a few seconds to chop it up. We’re putting this in the InstantPot so trust me, it will disintegrate and you won’t feel it.

Onion: A simple yellow onion will do. No need to get fancy. A purple onion would look good, but all the color will leech out in the cooking process so stick to the good old standby, yellow onion.

Celery: Celery adds a freshness and a “green” flavor. Saying that celery doesn’t have a flavor is like saying lettuce doesn’t have a flavor. Of course it does. It’s just subtle. The freshness and brightness of the celery will add a wonderful flavor.

Carrot: I add onion, celery and carrot to almost all of my soups. Mirepoix as the French call it. The carrot in this trio adds a touch of sweetness. When cooked in a soup, the carrot gets very tender and has a wonderful mouthfeel.

Bell Pepper: As a mother, I’m always looking for ways to add more vegetables, which in turn adds more vitamins and minerals into my dishes. My picky 10-year-old doesn’t “like” bell peppers. But when I added green, yellow and red bell peppers into this soup, it added some beautiful color, some wonderful freshness, a touch of sweetness and a bunch of vitamins and minerals. As a bonus, she didn’t notice.

Acid

Canned Tomatoes I actually used two kinds of canned tomatoes in this recipe. Neither of which are pictured above because I completely forgot them when shopped for my test batch! Isn’t that fun? The first kind, is a canned tomato with cilantro and lime. I actually used a jar of leftover salsa in place of this the first time around because I forgot. The second kind is plain crushed tomatoes. It’s not quite as thick as tomato sauce, but not as watery as diced tomatoes. Below are stock photos from the commissary website.

Enchilada Sauce: I’m not sure that enchilada sauce is an acid. But I put it here because I feel it should go in the same category as the canned tomatoes. The spices in the enchilada sauce just adds another depth to this soup that can’t be replaced. You can get any level of spice you prefer, my family prefers mild.

Spices

Garlic Powder: If you’ve ever done one of my recipes before, you know I like dimensional flavors. When I put a fresh ingredient in, I like to mirror it with a dried one if possible. The garlic powder mirrors the fresh garlic, but in a stronger, more complex way.

Onion Powder: As above with the garlic powder, we mirror the fresh onion with the dried onion powder. It’s a more intense flavor than the fresh onion, and adds another layer.

Chicken Base: While technically not a spice, I put a small amount of chicken base in this soup. In this soup, I use bone in chicken breast. This helps create some chicken broth in our soup. However, like the garlic powder and the onion powder, adding this small amount of concentrated chicken flavor helps add depth and flavor to the soup.

Oregano: Unfortunately I do not have any Mexican oregano at this time, but if you have it, or have access to it, use that instead! Mexican oregano has a stronger flavor with more citrusy notes, less peppery and bitter. But you can use Italian oregano if that’s all you can find.

Cumin: The first time I had to do a spice assignment in culinary school, we had to smell, taste and touch all the spices, make notes and later were tested on what they were. For cumin I put “taco seasoning” haha. It has the distinct smell of taco seasonings. The flavor is earthy and irreplaceable. Cumin will add an element of umami. I go through more cumin in my house than I am really willing to admit.

Chili Powder: I use a dark chili powder that adds a bit of smokiness and spice to the dish. I don’t use enough to cause any painful heat to the dish, just enough to add that chili flavor.

Pepper: I do add ground black pepper to almost everything I make. The bite of the pepper is missed in my opinion when it is not there.

Bay Leaf: As with a lot of my soups, this one also has a bay leaf. The herbaceous quality of the bay leaf just helps bring out the flavor of the oregano and helps balance out the spice.

Additional Ingredients

Chicken: If you followed our Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, we diced our chicken breast and added it raw into our very hot broth as soon as we were able to open the InstantPot. The residual heat almost instantly cooks the meat and it doesn’t get tough. In this recipe, we use bone-in chicken breasts and we add it in before we pressure cook. Because of the bone, the chicken breast takes longer to cook. With the skin and bone attached to the breast, it also makes its own chicken broth as it’s cooking. If you do not want to use bone-in chicken breast, you can absolutely use boneless skinless chicken breast. Simply dice it and add it with the beans and corn. You can also use chicken thighs if you prefer. For chicken thighs you can add them before pressure cooking as chicken thighs can endure long cooking times without drying out.

Black Beans: I use black beans for this soup because I prefer the color, taste and texture of a black beans rather than say a pinto bean. Black beans are smaller, firmer and have a stronger flavor than a pinto bean. I love almost all beans, so I am not discriminating against pinto beans! But for this particular, soup, black beans shine.

Corn: Little jewels of corn kernels add a wonderful color to this soup. But more important, it adds a delightful texture! The small sweet juicy bursts of the corn add an amazing texture and flavor that you won’t want to miss.

Optional Toppings

Cheese: I don’t think this is optional. But I do understand that some can’t eat cheese. I don’t understand that some don’t LIKE cheese…I just can’t comprehend that part… Anyway, if you leave the cheese and sour cream off, this is dairy free. I use extra sharp cheddar because I like the stringy meltiness of cheddar and I like the strong flavor.

Sour Cream: When I moved out of my parents house my mother told me, “I used to think that our family ate a lot of sour cream. Then you moved out and I realized that our family didn’t eat a lot of sour cream, YOU ate a lot of sour cream!” And this is still true to this day! The sour cream adds a cooling effect that calms the spice on your tongue, helps cool the temperature of the soup as well. Not to mention, adds a delightful creaminess. I use Daisy sour cream because it has the least amount of ingredients. No additives and has the cleanest flavor.

Tortilla Strips: You can make these or you can buy them. Honestly, unless you have a permanent deep fryer set up, just buy them. I used to have a permanent set up deep fryer when I had a ginormous kitchen. But now that my kitchen is tiny, I only pull it out for certain things. You can of course do a small frying pan of oil and fry them that way, but I don’t like having to wait for the oil to cool and the clean up. Besides, I like the tri-color ones because they are pretty!

Fresh Cilantro: Is there anything better than fresh cilantro? I know, I know…some people taste soap when they have cilantro. It turns out that is a genetic thing. So if you are not inflicted with this genetic tragedy, then don’t skip the cilantro! It’s amazing!

Avocado: Avocados are one of my very favorite foods! Fun fact: it is also the first food I ever ate! It was also the first food Mini-Me ate. She immediately spit it out and cried. She has hated it ever since. This just means that I don’t have to share! Diced avocado on top of this soup adds a velvety, buttery texture and a wonderful flavor! You can also use guacamole if you prefer but I think avocado chunks are better.

Lime: A squeeze of fresh lime adds a brightness to entire thing! And it’s just fun! Everyone squeezing lime onto their soup. Another fun fact! Mini-Me LOVES lemons and limes. We did the lemon-juice-to-get-the-funny-video thing with Mini-Me when she was little. She did NOT make a funny face, and instead grabbed the lemon and sucked the life out of it!

Tomato or Pico de Gallo: I don’t always add these, but they are another optional ingredient that is just amazing and adds another dimension. If using fresh tomato, I think halved or quartered cherry tomatoes are the perfect little touch of sweetness.

Process

Chop it all up! The first step is to get your mise en place done. Dice your garlic, onion, celery, carrot and bell peppers. You don’t have to get fancy, but try to do roughly the same size. If you do tiny pieces of carrot and huge pieces of celery, one can be mush while the other is crisp.

I tend to chop everything but the garlic first. I get a little impatient if my garlic is already chopped and I want to add it to my hot pot. But it will burn before everything else is chopped.

Heat the oil in the InstantPot on sauté function.

Add your minced garlic and stir.

The garlic only needs a few seconds in the hot pan. Dump the onion, carrot, celery and bell peppers into the pot and give a good stir.

To this sautéing mixture, add your spices. Adding your spices and salt at this stage allows it to toast a little and release the oils. This wakes up the spices so they aren’t dusty and flat, but instead vibrant and tantalizing. The salt helps draw the moisture out of the vegetables. Once the moisture comes out and evaporates, it concentrates the flavors. After a minute of two, add the chicken base and bay leaf.

Next we’re going to add our canned tomatoes, enchilada sauce, water and chicken.

Once the tomatoes, enchilada sauce and chicken are added, fill the water to the half fill mark for a chunkier soup or Max PC fill line for a more brothy soup.

Place the lid on the InstantPot and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes with a pulse release (if this is an option). I find with my InstantPot if I do a quick release with that much liquid, it will make a HUGE mess.

Once the pressure is fully released, remove the lid and fish out the chicken. If you are adding diced chicken breast, add it now. Shred the chicken and add it back into the soup with the black beans and corn.

TASTE YOUR SOUP! I know I’m not a normal person. But I can not serve something that I have made without tasting it. You never know what happened. Maybe the black beans were an off batch and they’re all hard. Or you used sugar instead of salt. But most common, I just need to adjust the seasonings slightly. When the dish tastes perfect, I get a little butt wiggle! Yes, you read that correctly. A little happy kitchen dance/butt wiggle!

Once it tastes exactly how you want it, ladle it into nice deep bowls.

Top with optional toppings.

Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Flavorful InstantPot Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Print Recipe

Indulge in the vibrant flavors of Mexico with our Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe! Packed with tender chicken, hearty vegetables, and zesty spices, this homemade soup is the perfect comfort food for any occasion. Easy to make and bursting with authentic taste, it's sure to become a favorite in your household. Top it with crispy tortilla strips, creamy avocado, and shredded cheese for a delightful culinary experience. Serve it with warm flour tortillas. Dive into a bowl of this flavorful soup and transport your taste buds south of the border!

Servings 12 Servings

Equipment

• 1 InstantPot
• 1 Cutting Board
• 1 Chefs Knife
• 1 Mixing Spoon
• 1 Ladle
• 1 Cheese grater Not needed if you buy grated cheese
• 1 Sieve To rinse the beans and corn
• 1 Can opener

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs Olive Oil Extra virgin
• 1 Clove Garlic Minced
• 1 Medium Onion, yellow Diced
• 1 Medium Carrot Diced
• 2-3 Stalks Celery Diced
• 3 Medium Bell peppers I used 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow
• 1 Tsp Black pepper Finely ground
• .5 Tbs Salt Kosher
• .5 Tbs Garlic powder
• .5 Tbs Onion powder
• .5 Tbs Dark chili powder
• .5 Tbs Oregano Dried, Mexican if you can
• 1 Tbs Cumin
• 1 Tbs Chicken Base Preferably Better Than Bullion
• 1 Can Diced Tomato With cilantro and lime, 10oz Can
• .5 Can Crushed tomato 28oz can
• 1 Can Enchilada Sauce 10oz can
• 1 Large Chicken breast Bone-in, skin left on
• 1 Can Black beans 10oz can, rinsed
• 1 Can Corn 10oz can, rinsed
• 4-6 Cups Water or what is needed to get to desired fill line.

Optional Toppings

• 3 Oz Cheddar cheese Sharp, shredded
• 12 Tbs Tortilla strips Divided
• 12 Tbs Sour Cream Divided
• 6 Tbs Fresh cilantro Minced
• 2 Medium Avocados Diced and peeled
• 1.5 Medium Limes Cut into wedges

Instructions

• Turn the InstantPot onto sauté function on high temp and allow it to heat.
• Dice the onion, carrot, celery and bell peppers. Set aside.
• Peel and mince the garlic.
• Drizzle the olive oil into the hot InstantPot.
• Add the minced garlic and stir for a few seconds.
• Add the diced onion, carrot, celery and bell peppers. Stir to coat in fat and allow it to sauté for 1-2 minutes.
• Sprinkle the salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, oregano, onion powder and garlic powder over the sautéing vegetables. Stir the spices into the mix.
• Add the chicken base and bay leaf.
• Add the diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and enchilada sauce. Stir to combine.
• Rinse the chicken breast and add it to the soup.
• Add water to the “half fill line” for a chunkier soup or the “max PC line” for a thinner soup with more broth.
• Place lid on the InstantPot and set it for manual pressure, high heat with a pulse or quick release.
• Once the time is up and the pressure has been released, open the lid. Remove the chicken breast.
• CAREFULLY! Remove the skin from the chicken breast and discard. CAREFULLY! Remove the meat from the bones, shred the meat. Discard the bones, return the meat back to the soup.
• Add the rinsed black beans and corn to the soup.
• TASTE! Take a taste of your soup and ensure it doesn’t need additional salt or spices.
• Ladle into deep bowls. Top each bowl with 1/4 oz cheese, 1 tbs sour cream, 1 tbs tortilla strips, 1/2 tbs cilantro, avocado chunks and serve with a lime wedge.