An easy homemade chicken tortilla soup, a Mexican themed soup where tortillas are used as a thickener, that’s just packed with healthy and tasty ingredients!
Chicken tortilla soup is one of my favourites soups for cold winter days, or hot summer days, or any days in between for that matter! It’s basically a Mexican style chicken soup that uses tortillas in two ways, fresh tortillas in the sauce as a thickener and crispy fried tortillas served on top as garnish! (The fresh tortillas are simmered in the broth and melt or dissolve into it, thickening it!) In addition to the chicken and tortillas, this soup contains tomatoes, beans, and corn and I often like to throw in even more veggies like zucchini, bell peppers, etc. so it’s nice and healthy, not mention hearty! The chicken can be done in a number of ways and if you have some already cooked chicken, say leftover rotisserie chicken, you can use that and it’s super easy! Otherwise, you can poach some chicken breast or thighs in the soup as it simmers, remove it, shred it and return it to the soup. My favourite part of this soup might just have to be the garnishes and in addition to the crispy fried tortillas I like to add some of my favourite taco toppings like cheese, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, onion, radish, etc.
Updated: 2021/01/07
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Prep Time:15 minutes Cook Time:45 minutes Total Time:1 hour Servings: 4
An easy homemade chicken tortilla soup, a Mexican themed soup where tortillas are used as a thickener, that’s just packed with healthy and tasty ingredients!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 medium onion, diced (~1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
- 4 small corn tortilla, sliced
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
- 1 zucchini, diced (optional)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped (optional)
directions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and cook until tender, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and taco seasoning and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the broth, chicken, tortillas, tomatoes and beans, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and shreddable, about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and shred before returning it to the soup along with the corn and zucchini and cook until the zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes.
- Mix in the cilantro and enjoy!
Note: The tortillas should dissolve/melt into the soup and thicken it while the chicken simmers in step 3!
Option: Use pre-cooked chicken (sliced or shredded) and cut down on the simmer time!
Option: Add extra vegetables like diced bell peppers!
Option: Serve topped with tortilla chips or home made crispy fried tortillas!
Option: Serve topped with your favourite taco topping such as cheese (crumbled or shredded), sour cream, avocado, radish, lime wedges, etc!
