Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup has always been a go-to in our household, especially in the colder months. It's easy to make, full of flavor, and completely different from most other soups. If you're looking for a creamier soup, take a look at this recipe for Roasted Red Pepper and Gouda Soup!
When I decided to share this recipe, I wanted to make it as easy as possible, so I used the slow cooker. This could also be made in the Instant Pot and even a Dutch Oven.
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Chicken Tortilla Soup is light, flavorful, and slightly spicy, but not too much. On top of the flavor profile and perfect texture, it's super easy to make right in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
Liquids: For the base of this soup, you'll need Chicken Stock or Broth, Heavy Cream, and Salted Butter.
Meat: Just some boneless skinless chicken breasts will take care of you.
Beans: I only use canned black beans in this recipe.
Vegetables: This is where a lot of the flavor comes from. You'll need red bell peppers, jalapeños, yellow onions, minced garlic, fire-roasted tomatoes, and white hominy.
Herbs and Spices: You'll need kosher salt, cumin, chili powder, ground white pepper, epazote, and Mexican oregano.
Seasonings: The only extra ingredient you'll need is a packet of taco seasoning.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Dice the onions, bell peppers, and jalapeño.
Step 2: In a large cast iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the diced veggies. Sauté the veggies until they've softened, then add the 1 teaspoon of salt and the minced garlic. Stir to combine and continue to sauté for another 2-3 minutes or until the garlic has become fragrant. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the veggies to the slow cooker.
Step 3: Now that you have the sautéd veggies in the slow cooker, stir in the cumin, taco seasoning, chili powder, white pepper, and remaining salt.
Step 4: Add the Rotel and fire-roasted tomatoes and fully stir the mixture to combine.
Next, pour in a drained can of white hominy and a can of rinsed black beans, stirring to combine again.
Step 5: Lightly press two boneless skinless chicken breasts into the mixture just enough to cover about half of the chicken. Pour the chicken stock in and top it off with dried Mexican Oregano and Epazote.
Step 6: Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours or low for eight.
About 15-20 minutes before serving, shred the chicken with two forks, pour in the heavy cream, stir to combine, replace the lid on the Crockpot, and allow the mixture to heat back up.
Expert Tips
- Try making your own Tortilla Strips. Traditionally, corn tortillas are cut into strips and then fried to crispy perfection. I highly recommend trying this, but it isn't how I prefer the tortillas. I like to cut the corn tortillas into strips and add them to my bowl as is. It adds a very different texture and flavor to the soup.
- If you must have the crunch, I love adding tortilla chips to the tortilla soup just as I would in a white chicken chili or crackers to a bowl of chicken noodle soup. The texture, saltiness, and crunch add a lot!
- I personally like a freshly grated cheddar for this soup, but many kinds of cheese would work beautifully, like Oaxaca, Cotija, or Chihuahua.
- Be sure to have fresh cilantro, sliced avocado, and freshly squeezed lime juice. This can also add more flavor and color to the plating.
Recipe FAQs
Chicken Tortilla Soup, not surprisingly, comes from Mexico City. Traditionally, it's made with chicken stock, roasted tomatoes, and tortilla strips.
Chicken tortilla soup is made of a chicken stock base, shredded chicken, various vegetables such as hominy, black beans, onion, tomatoes, and red bell pepper, with an assortment of herbs and spices for additional flavor and heat levels.
Chicken tortilla soup is best served with shredded cheese, tortillas, tortilla chips, sour cream or crema agria, fresh jalapeños, avocado, and cilantro.
Chicken tortilla soup can be thickened with a slurry of water and cornstarch, adding more heavy cream, sour cream, or flour.
Chicken tortilla soup gets its name from the dish being traditionally served with a generous amount of crispy tortilla strips as a topping.
More Recipes You'll Love
If you made this Easy Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe or any other of my recipes, please leave a Star Rating and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Don't forget to tag @chickenfriedkitchen on Instagram, Subscribe on YouTube, and Follow on Pinterest and Facebook! I'll see you there!
📖 Recipe
Easy Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon Salted Butter
- 2 Red Bell Peppers - Diced
- 1 Jalapeño - Diced
- 1 Onion - Diced
- 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 2 teaspoon Kosher Salt - Divided
- 2 ½ teaspoon Cumin
- 2 ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground White Pepper
- 1 Packet Taco Seasoning
- 14.5 Oz Fire Roasted Tomatoes - Canned
- 10 Oz Fire Roasted Rotel - Canned
- 15.5 Oz White Hominy - Canned
- 14.5 Oz Black Beans - Canned, Drained, and Rinsed
- 2 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - about 2 breasts
- 4 Cups Chicken Stock
- 1 teaspoon Epazote - Dried
- 1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano - Dried
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
Toppings
- Tortilla Strips
- Freshly Shredded Cheese
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Tortilla Chips
- Whatever your heart desires!
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add the diced veggies and sauté until they have began to soften and are becoming fragrant, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the minced garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt, sautéing for about another 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Transfer the veggie mixture to the slow cooker insert.
- Add the cumin, chili powder, white pepper, taco seasoning, and remaining salt. Stir to fully combine.
- Pour in the cans of Rotel and Fire Roasted Tomatoes and stir to combine.
- Drain and rinse the black beans then add them along with the can of hominy to the slow cooker. Stir once again to combine the mixture.
- Press the chicken breasts into the mixture until they are covered about halfway the pour the chicken stock over the entire mixture.
- Sprinkle the Epazote and Mexican Oregano over the top, place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for four hours on high or eight hours on low.
- Once the cooking is complete, shred the chicken in the slow cooker using two forks.
- About 15-20 minutes before serving pour in the heavy cream and allow the mixture to come back to temperature.
- Serve and Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Try making your own Tortilla Strips. Traditionally, corn tortillas are cut into strips and then fried to crispy perfection. I highly recommend trying this, but it isn't how I prefer the tortillas. I like to cut the corn tortillas into strips and add them to my bowl as is. It adds a very different texture and flavor to the soup.
- If you must have the crunch, I love adding tortilla chips to the tortilla soup just as I would in a white chicken chili or crackers to a bowl of chicken noodle soup. The texture, saltiness, and crunch add a lot!
- I personally like a freshly grated cheddar for this soup, but many kinds of cheese would work beautifully, like Oaxaca, Cotija, or Chihuahua.
- Be sure to have fresh cilantro, sliced avocado, and freshly squeezed lime juice. This can also add more flavor and color to the plating.
Justin says
I’ll give it a shot ! Saaaawwweeeeeet!