Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup
When I see chicken tortilla soup on a restaurant menu, I get excited.
There’s something about the slightly spicy broth with tender chicken, the corn and black beans, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, and those addictively good tortilla strips on top that I can’t resist.
Rather than making a trip out for it, you can make it at home in 30 minutes and it’s easy. So many ingredients get tossed into the pot all at once and before you know it this hearty, comforting soup is ready. And it tastes better than my favorite restaurant version.
To save time, use storebought rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken that you have on hand. Of course you can roast or pan sauté chicken if you’re so inclined.
Make sure to salt your soup to taste. I use low-sodium chicken broth and no-salt-added tomatoes and add a bit of salt to my soup so I can control the overall salt level.
The saltiness of low-sodium broth, rotisserie chickens, canned tomatoes, black beans, and personal preferences for salt all vary so salt to taste.
My family loved the soup and I love that it’s ready so quickly and with very minimal effort. And it’s better than from a restaurant.
It makes enough that I stashed half in the freezer for those nights when I just want to pull something out of the freezer for dinner. And with winter cold and flu season around the corner, soup is perfect.
Easy 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup
The soup has slightly spicy broth with tender chicken, corn, black beans, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, and addictively good tortilla strips. It’s ready in 30 minutes, easy, hearty, comforting, and better than restaurant versions. To save time, use storebought rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken that you have on hand. Make sure to salt your soup to taste. It makes enough to stash half in the freezer for those nights when you just want to pull something out of the freezer for dinner. And with winter cold and flu season around the corner, soup is perfect.
Ingredients:
Tortilla Strips
- 10 small corn tortillas, cut into 1/4-inch wide strips
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, peeled and diced small (about 1 medium onion)
- 1 large jalapeno pepper (about 4 to 5 inches long), diced very small (the seeds are where the heat is concentrated; included or discard them based on preference)
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
- 32 ounces (4 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
- two 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes and juice (I used petite diced, no-salt-added)
- one 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (use storebought rotisserie chicken to save time; or roast or cook your own chicken in a skillet)
- 1 1/2 cups corn (I used frozen straight from the freezer, fresh may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (regular paprika may be substituted)
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely minced
- diced avocado for serving, optional for serving
- shredded cheese, optional for serving
- sour cream, optional for serving
Directions:
- Tortilla Strips – Preheat oven to 375F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or foil to save cleanup time, loosely scatter the tortilla strips, evenly drizzle with olive oil, evenly sprinkle with kosher salt, toss with hands to coat evenly, and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until crisp and lightly golden brown; set aside. While strips bake, begin making the soup.
- Soup – To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat over medium-high heat to warm.
- Add the onion, jalapeno, and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir intermittently.
- Add the garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir intermittently.
- Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and juice, black beans, chicken, corn, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, 2 teaspoons salt, pepper, smoked paprika, optional cayenne pepper, and bring to a boil. Allow mixture to boil gently for about 5 to 7 minutes. If at any point the overall liquid level looks low or you prefer your soup to have more broth, add 1 to 2 cups of water; you’ll adjust the salt and seasoning levels at the end.
- Add the cilantro and boil 1 minute.
- Taste soup and add salt to taste. This will vary based on how salty the chicken broth, tomatoes, black beans, and rotisserie chicken are, and personal preference. Make any necessary seasoning adjustments (i.e. more salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, etc.).
- Ladle soup into bowls, top with tortilla strips to taste, optionally garnish with avocado, cheese and/or sour cream; serve immediately. Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for 5 to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Extra tortilla strips will keep in airtight at room temp for up to 5 days.
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Made this with a friend last night. It was delicious! Will definitely make again!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you’ll definitely make it again!
Turned out great. The cooking instructions were a big help for those of us who don’t cook at this level often.Most of the ingredients were items most of us already have in the kitchen. I substituted turkey broth and turkey leftovers for this soup and it turned out just fine.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that my instructions were helpful and that you had most of the ingredients on hand, too. If you have extra turkey/broth this is also a good one https://www.averiecooks.com/easy-30-minute-turkey-noodle-soup/
This soup is fabulous! I didn’t put lime juice in, simply because I didn’t have any. The tortilla strips on top of the soup gave it such a nice crunchy texture, and then with sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese…well, ooolala! My husband was raving about it! He had two big bowls. Oh, I also ended up putting more corn in, too, because I like a soup with lots of girth. Lol It’s really super good!
I’m glad you loved it so much!
Wow! This soup is incredibly delicious! Will definitely become something I will make weekly.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it’s something you will make weekly!
I’ve made this twice and this recipe will be a staple in my house from now on. This soup is incredible. The lime, cumin, and cilantro make this soup. I could eat it every day. Thanks for posting.
I’m glad it will be a staple for you and that you’ve already made it twice now!
Made this tonight! So good. We didnt have Jalapenos and it still turned out great! Going to make a big batch and freeze some.
Glad it turned out great and that you’re going to make some to freeze!
This is the perfect Chicken tortilla recipe! I have been making it about 10 years and this one is the best I every tried!
Thanks for letting me know this is the best recipe for chicken tortilla soup that you’ve ever tried!
I really enjoyed this chicken tortilla soup recipe and will definitely make it again!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you will make it again!
Very yummy! My family loved it. Will definitely be in the rotation. :)
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad your family loved it and that it will be in your rotation!
Best Tortilla Soup I’ve every had
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad it’s the best tortilla soup you’ve ever had!
It was pretty easy to make this and my husband loved it so much, that he had three helpings of it the night that I made it! Going to make it again tonight! A quick and tasty weeknight meal!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you are making it again tonight!
Could I Substitute something for the
Cilantro??
I would just omit it if you don’t like it or don’t have it.
Flat leaf parsley actually works well if you dislike cilantro (I despise it) but you still want that fresh herby top note to your soup. Plus it’s exactly the same amount of pretty for a garnish. :)
I made the soup for a late lunch here at our cabin in Northern Michigan. It was delicious! I wasn’t careful when I added fresh squeezed lime juice (added more than what recipe calls for) and it was still amazing. I have never made tortilla strips home made before this and probably will never need to purchase them in the store again -mine were so much better. Next time I’ll use corn oil instead of EVO to see how flavor changes. Lastly, I used a fresh chicken breast chopped into pieces and sautéed it with the onions & garlic – that made it a one-pot meal! This recipe will be a regular here at our cottage.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad the recipe will be a regular for you!
I made this and it was a huge hit! I added Goya seasoning for a little kick! So much yum!!!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that it was a huge hit!
This was a great base for an authentic tasting tortilla soup. I had to add a couple of Serrano chilies sans seeds, and cook in the crockpot and it was FABULOUS!
We like our soup SPICY!
Thanks for sharing!
Glad it delivered for you and I too love spicy… I write my recipes for people who don’t but personally love the heat and spice and I’m sure some serranos were great!
This was ABSOLUTELY delicious! We had some extra rotisserie chicken in the fridge and wanted to make something other than chicken noodle or rice soup. My family went nuts over the flavors of this soup and it was a home run. In fact, my husband just bought more ingredients so I can match another batch for freezing.
Thank you, Averie!!
Ooops, I meant to leave you 5 stars but missed doing so. Now you know how much we loved this soup!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you absolutely love the soup!
So… could I use “taco seasoning” … garlic powder.. onion powder, & paprika? I do have some limes, and avacodo tho?
I have only made it with the spices I listed. Taco seasoning in packets can also contain other things that thicken up a meat sauce so I wouldn’t recommend it.
This soup was super yummy! I’m not a fan of jalapeños so I substituted drained, canned green chiles. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad the canned green chiles worked out well!
This recipe is a keeper! I made a double batch, with no changes to the recipe–RAVE reviews from all!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it is a keeper and got rave reviews without any changes to the recipe!
This soup was amazing. Perfect amount of heat and spice without over powering. Really easy to make and incredibly tasty! This will definitely be added to the rotation. Hubby asked me to make it again next week already!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was the perfect amount of heat and spice for you and that you will be making it already next week!
Does the nutritional information include the tortilla strips and garnishes?
yes
I made this yesterday because I had a big leftover chicken breast. OMG! It really is the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had. It must be the combination of spices because the ingredients aren’t anything different. The soup base is SO GOOD! YUM! Husband says YUM! This is definitely going in the go-to rotation file!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad you loved it and that it’s going into your rotation!
Omigosh!! This was the best soup ever and even my picky husband loved it!
Glad it turned out great and Mr. Picky loved it as well!
Fabulous! SO easy to make. We had been craving Chicken Tortilla Soup and thought we had some big-box-store-brand stashed in the freezer. We didn’t. I looked up a recipe and this was the first one I found. Thankfully we had all the ingredients in the cupboard and 30 minutes later we had this VERY tasty soup! The recipe made enough for two meals and it was even better the next day. We will never use the ready-made again. Highly recommended!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you’ll never need to use store-bought tortilla soup again!