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.
This looks so delicious, and I love that it is done in a slow cooker…makes it so much better. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi, Jodee! It’s definitely a favorite in this house (especially with me, since it’s so easy!). I hope that you get to try it!
Love tortilla soup. Will definitely give this a shot. Thanks.
Awesome! Thanks, Jason!
The WORST tortilla soup IMAGINABLE!!! BITTER & AWFUL. STOP! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS.
Wow this soup has so many delicious flavours and textures…great recipe!
Thank you!!!
. This is absolutely fantastic. I subbed refried beans for the whole beans. We have kids who “don’t like beans”, but would happily exist of refried bean burritos. Go figure!
Isn’t it great? I’m so glad that you enjoyed it as much as we do! The refried beans are a nice idea!
This is the easiet way to cook chicken tortilla soup, I guess. Next time, I will experiment this way to compare how different between my style and yours xo – Natalie
Sounds great! 🙂
Delicious! My husband and I love it. Definitely a fall and winter favorite from now on. I added cilantro and avocado. Yummmmm
Wonderful! So glad that you enjoyed it!
It was very tasty and easy. I used shredded rotisserie chicken to make it even easier. We could have used more broth, maybe a cup more. I’ll up the amount next time.
Perfect! Thanks, Francine!
Made this yesterday. The family raved about how good it is. Some of the comments were “you can make this twice a month” and there wasn’t enough leftovers. Thank you “Seasoned Mom” – you have a new follower.
That’s awesome, Bobbi! Thanks so much for letting me know!
My boyfriend and I loved this recipe! So easy and so delicious!! I used uncooked chicken and cooked on high for 3 hours in the slow cooker. Came out perfect! Will definitely be making again 🙂
Awesome!Thanks for letting me know, Melissa! 🙂
Trying this today. Added some peppers for the flavor and the color. Smells delicious! Easy to make I was able to get the pot going while two kids under four tried to tear down the house around me. Now that is a recipe I can use.
Perfect! Those are the best kind of recipes! Enjoy the soup. 🙂
This is the second soup recipe I’ve tried from you in the last week. The first one was leftover turkey and wild rice soup which was very tasty. This recipe is even easier. I originally started with a healthy chicken tortilla soup recipe but it didn’t include corn or many things I look for in this type of soup. Yours looked better and it’s currektjy in the slow cooker. I did sub fifer roasted corn and fire roasted chopped tomatoes with green chilles. I hope it turns out good.
Thanks for the recipe
Thanks so much, Alex! You can’t beat soup at this time of year. I hope that you enjoyed it!
My boyfriend loves chicken tortilla soup and has had it from just about everywhere. This recipe is now his #1 favorite! Everybody else loved the recipe as well even those who aren’t crazy about chicken tortilla soup. Thanks 🙂
Also, I tried to give this recipe a 5 star review but the site wasn’t allowing me to submit it for some reason
Thank you, Danielle!!!
I have been wanting to try a chicken tortilla soup recipe for quite some time now. I stumbled across this one and thought it sounded delicious. So, I tried it and I don’t need any other recipe! I loved it! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Yay! That’s the best! So glad that it was a hit!
This was awesome!! My entire family loved it and they are very picky. I would love more recipes.
That’s wonderful, Mary! Thanks for letting me know! I hope that you get to try some of the other recipes on my blog, too!
Sooo yummy… easy to make even in pot on stove… used Costco rotisserie chicken , a bit more vegetable broth, and fire roasted diced tomatos w/green chilis and some salsa tomatoes and for me the spice levels weee perfect. Great recipe… I two would give it 5 stars if the site would let me! Looking forward to leftovers of it tomorrow night too!
Great! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it on the stovetop, Diana! Thanks for your suggestions!
I was thinking about ways to use the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and my daughter suggested I make a tortilla soup instead of the usual turkey noodle. This recipe was so easy to throw together in the crockpot and since members of the family were late getting home from work, the crockpot kept it warm until we were all ready to sit down together. It’s great because most all the ingredients were things I typically keep on hand. Everyone raved about it!
Perfect! Thanks for letting me know, Kay! The slow cooker is so convenient, isn’t it?! 🙂
I’m going to make this tonight. Had a couple f questions: I don’t have a can of green chilis – how many fresh ones should I sub in? Will it make it to spicy? Also, don’t have taco seasoning – any suggestions for sub? Thank you!
I’d sub in maybe 1 or 2. It’s a small can, so it shouldn’t take much. I don’t know if it will make it too spicy. Definitely remove the seeds from the chilis, which will help to keep it mild.
If you don’t have taco seasoning, I would suggest making your own homemade taco seasoning. You may also need to add some more salt, since the packaged taco seasoning is pretty salty. Here’s a recipe for homemade taco seasoning, but you can look around on Google and see if you find something that you prefer. There are so many different versions of taco seasoning! Here you go: https://www.foodrenegade.com/homemade-taco-seasoning/
Boom chacka a lacka….. i had cooked chicken yesterday to make a batch of chicken broth….. So when i found your recipe i knew it would be what’s for supper… i can’t wait!
Wonderful! Thanks, Cathy! I bet it was delicious with that homemade broth!
I made and it was DELICIOUS!! Even my picky eater enjoyed it. I live in the UK and can not get taco sauce or green chilies. I made using mild salsa in place of both. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks!
Wonderful! Thanks, Gena!
can I use enchilada sauce? My husband forgot to get the taco sauce
Yes! That will work fine — it will just be spicier than the taco sauce. 🙂