This healthy, flavorful, and easy slow cooker chicken tortilla soup recipe works on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot, too!
Table of Contents
If you’re looking for even more chicken soup recipes, be sure to try this popular chicken vegetable soup, a pot of flavorful Autumn Harvest chicken noodle soup, and this chicken potato soup, too!
Wow this soup has so many delicious flavors and textures…great recipe!
– Emily
Video: How to Make Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Best Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Nothing beats the convenience of stirring ingredients together in the Crock Pot and walking away for a few hours. With about 10 minutes of prep time, you will come home to a simmering pot of delicious soup at the end of the day! It’s hearty and satisfying, but also very nourishing. Use low-sodium broth if you’re watching your salt intake, and add fewer chips to your bowl to reduce calories if you like.
Adjust the seasoning, tweak the ingredients, or omit the chicken altogether (and add extra beans instead). You can adapt this recipe in a number of different ways to suit your budget, your family’s preferences, and the ingredients that you have on hand. It works with raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, as well as cooked, shredded rotisserie chicken.
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- Instead of black beans, try pinto beans or kidney beans.
- Use a packet of store-bought taco seasoning for a shortcut, or make your own homemade seasoning blend.
- This particular recipe is pretty mild and kid-friendly. If you want it spicier, add an extra tablespoon of taco seasoning, use spicy salsa, add diced jalapeño, or season with hot sauce at the end.
- Use the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken (about 3-4 cups shredded) if you prefer. Or, use leftover slow cooker shredded chicken.
- Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice at the very end for a bright, acidic touch.
- Don’t forget the toppings! Garnish each bowl with grated cheese, sliced green onion, minced raw onion, or quick pickled red onions, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, diced avocado, guacamole, pico de gallo, or extra salsa.
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in a Crock Pot
This recipe works well in the slow cooker, in a pressure cooker (like the Instant Pot), or on the stove top. All of the different directions are included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post, but here are the easy Crock Pot directions:
- Place chicken and other ingredients (except the tortilla chips) in a crockpot.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours.
- Use two forks to shred the meat. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
- Place a handful of coarsely crushed tortilla chips in the bottom of each bowl, then ladle the soup over top. Garnish with toppings and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
To round out the meal, pair the slow-cooker chicken tortilla soup with quesadillas, easy Spanish rice, jalapeño cheddar cornbread, Jiffy Mexican cornbread, cranberry walnut bread, or Texas caviar with tortilla chips.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Storage: Make the soup in advance, allow it to cool completely, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- How to Freeze: Allow the soup to cool completely, package in airtight containers or Ziploc freezer bags, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- How to Reheat: Thaw frozen soup in the refrigerator overnight. Place the soup in a saucepan or pot and reheat on low, just until warmed through.
Delicious! My husband and I love it. Definitely a fall and winter favorite from now on. I added cilantro and avocado. Yummmmm
– Julie
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (4.5 ounce) can diced green chilies
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- Bag of tortilla chips
- Optional garnish for serving: shredded cheddar cheese, sliced green onions, lime, cilantro, sliced avocado, sour cream
Instructions
SLOW COOKER INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine the chicken, chicken broth, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, green chilies, salsa, onion, garlic powder, cumin, and taco seasoning in a slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Crumble a handful of tortilla chips in the bottom of each individual serving bowl.
- Ladle the soup over the chips and garnish with desired toppings.
INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS
- Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Turn instant pot on sauté setting and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Once heated, add the chicken and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
- Turn off instant pot.
- Add the chicken broth, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, green chilies, salsa, onion, garlic powder, cumin, and taco seasoning to the pot with the chicken. Stir well.
- Seal the Instant Pot lid and turn the valve to sealing. Pressure cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
- Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for 2 minutes (by leaving it off after it finishes cooking). Then, carefully do a quick pressure release by using a towel or potholder to carefully turn the valve to venting to release the steam and pressure.
- Crumble a handful of tortilla chips in the bottom of each individual serving bowl. Ladle the soup over the chips and garnish with desired toppings.
STOVETOP INSTRUCTIONS
- Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring regularly, just until the chicken is browned (it doesn’t need to be cooked through).
- Add the chicken broth, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, green chilies, salsa, onion, garlic powder, cumin, and taco seasoning to the pot with the chicken. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot and reduce the heat to a low simmer.
- Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Crumble a handful of tortilla chips in the bottom of each individual serving bowl. Ladle the soup over the chips and garnish with desired toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Variations
- Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup with Rotisserie Chicken: If you prefer to use shredded, cooked rotisserie chicken in this recipe, you’ll need a total of about 3-4 cups of meat. You can reduce the total cooking time to 3-4 hours on LOW or 1½ – 2 hours on HIGH.
- Add diced sweet bell peppers to the soup for even more veggies.
- For a more zesty taste, use Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles instead of the plain diced tomatoes. You can also add fresh seeded and diced jalapeno peppers, too.
- Turn it into slow cooker chicken enchilada soup by replacing the salsa with an equal amount of enchilada sauce. For a creamy version, you’ll love our crockpot chicken enchilada soup recipe.
More Crock Pot Chicken Soup Recipes
Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken Soup
2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins
Chicken Enchilada Soup {Crock Pot or Stovetop}
3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins
This recipe was originally published in 2013. It was updated in January, 2025.
Taught my g-daughter this recipe to teach her how to read a recipe and cook it. Came out delicious.
Visit my post: Best Chef Knives 2020
Thank you!
This soup is delicious and it has become our favorite.
I prefer using homemade chicken bone broth.
Thank you for the great recipe.
We love it,
Regina
That’s amazing, Regina! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a note. I bet it’s delicious with the homemade broth!
I was looking for an easy beginner instant pot recipe to try out with my new pot. I made this soup and it was delicious!!! For my first experience with an instant pot, this was a win!
Hooray! That’s awesome, Amy. Thank you for letting me know!
This soup is easy and delicious. My hubby cannot eat spicy and this was great. I made it awhile back and now I’m sharing it on my new blog (via a link back to your site of course). Thanks! Jennifer@Kitchen Copycat
Thanks for sharing the recipe, Jennifer! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this several times on the stove top using rotisserie chicken and Rotel rather than diced tomatoes. It’s delicious, easy, and the whole family loves it!
Thank you, Jason!
Would love to follow your recipes. Trying to eat healthier this year.
Hi Patty,
We have lots of options to fit a variety of needs! We would be honored to have you try any of our recipes and hope you enjoy them if you do!
This recipe was so delicious!! My husband is really picky with chicken tortilla soup, and he said this was the best one he’d ever had!! So easy and flavorful without being to overpowering. Thank you!!
We’re so happy to hear this, Hayley! Thank you for trying it out.
This is my favorite soup! So easy!!! It does change however by the canned tomatoes brand and salsa brand. I saw someone said it was bitter and I think they may have had a certain brand of tomatoes that made it that way. I use Hunts petite and chi chi salsa and I add yellow and orange fresh peppers cut up and better than bouillon chicken bouillon plus I use rotisserie chicken. This is such an awesome recipe!
Thank you so much, Roxann!
Great recipe, super easy, and makes enough for 6 decent-sized bowls. I add an extra can of chicken broth to the crock pot and use raw chicken breasts. At serving time, I put about a cup of rice in the bottom of the bowl and ladle the soup over top (instead of using tortilla chips). I like to top with cilantro. I can portion out 6 bowls and immediately put the portioned left overs in the fridge for the next day.
Thank you, Janet! We’re so glad you enjoy it and are able to make it work for you.
I’ve made this recipe several times with minor tweets here and there. It’s a GREAT soup that’s, easy to make and that everyone will enjoy.
Awesome, thank you!