Spring is kind of a strange time of year to be making soup, but I know at least some of you are still experiencing freakish January-style winter blizzards. Plus, this Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup is a clear broth soup, which actually makes it light enough to enjoy in warmer weather. Squeeze some lime on top, serve it with an ice cold margarita, and you won’t care what the weather is doing. Promise.
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Like most slow cooker recipes, this Chicken Tortilla Soup is ridiculously easy and very forgiving, so it’s a great meal to prepare when you know you can’t give your full attention to the stove. If it goes a little longer than the prescribed cook time, it’s all good. Your meal won’t be ruined. This is a busy peoples’ soup.
Chicken to Soup Ratio
In true Budget Bytes style I used only ONE chicken breast for the entire batch of soup. I know it sounds crazy, but I promise there is so much else going on in this soup that you won’t feel like you’re missing out. Once that chicken gets shredded and mixed back in, it looks like a lot of meat, and I promise, it’s guaranteed to be more meat per serving than any soup you’d get out of a can. But hey, if your budget affords, you can always double the meat if that’s your style (no other adjustments needed).
It’s All About the Toppings!
The broth of this Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup is deliciously smoky, a little spicy (although that’s adjustable), and surprisingly light. But the toasted tortilla strips are what really make it, so don’t skip those! The toasty corn flavor really rounds out the soup and makes it special. A little squeeze of fresh lime juice on top also takes this soup to the next level!
Toppings are always fun, and I’ve included some of my fav’s in the pricing below, but the soup and tortilla strips on their own also stand strong! So, adjust to your liking and budget. :)
How to Store Chicken Tortilla Soup
After cooking your soup, make sure to divide it into single portions before refrigerating. This helps it cool down faster in the refrigerator, which will extend its lifespan. You can keep the chicken tortilla soup in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days, or you can freeze it for longer storage (about 3 months). Make sure to add your toppings fresh after reheating.
Love slow cooker recipes? Check out my full line up in the Slow Cooker Recipe Category.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 3/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast ($2.09)
- 1/2 Tbsp chili powder * ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) ($0.02)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.03)
- 1 15oz. can fire roasted tomatoes ($1.00)
- 1 10oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles ($0.49)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.59)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels ($0.38)
- 6 cups chicken broth** ($0.78)
Tortilla Crisps
- 8 6-inch corn tortillas ($0.75)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.02)
- pinch salt ($0.02)
Optional Toppings
- 1 avocado ($1.50)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro ($0.22)
- 6 Tbsp sour cream ($0.48)
- 1 lime ($0.69)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, chicken breast, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, some freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill), the fire roasted tomatoes (with juices), diced tomatoes with chiles (with juices), black beans (drained), corn, and chicken broth to the slow cooker.
- Give everything a brief stir, place the lid on the slow cooker, and cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.
- After cooking on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours, carefully remove the chicken breast, shred it with a fork, then return it to the soup.
- To make the tortilla crisps, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Stack the tortillas, then slice them into strips that are approximately 1/4-inch wide and 2 to 3-inches long. Place the strips in a bowl, drizzle with cooking oil, and a pinch of salt. Gently toss the strips until they’re completely coated in oil.
- Spread the oil coated tortilla strips over a baking sheet in a single layer, overlapping as little as possible. Bake them in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, stirring once every five minutes, or until they are deeply golden brown and crispy. The total cook time will depend on the size of your strips and how crowded they are on the baking sheet, so watch them closely and adjust the cook time as needed.
- To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, top with a handful of the tortilla crisps, some chopped cilantro, a few slices of avocado, and a dollop of sour cream. Squeeze a wedge of fresh lime over top just before eating.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Notes
Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in a Slow Cooker – Step by Step Photos
To begin, dice one yellow onion and mince two cloves garlic Place the diced onion, minced garlic, and one 3/4 lb. chicken breast in a slow cooker (6 qt size). You can use more or less chicken without adjusting anything else in the recipe. Sprinkle 1/2 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and some freshly cracked pepper over top. You can leave the cayenne out if you want your soup mild, or if you’re using a spicier chili powder (every brand is a little different).
Also add 1 cup frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw), one 15 oz. can black beans (drained), one 15 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juices), and one 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (with juices). The diced tomatoes with chiles are like Rotel tomatoes, but you can often find generic store brand versions as well. If you can’t find them at all, you can use two 15 oz. cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes, plus one 4 oz. can of diced green chiles.
Finally, add 6 cups chicken broth and give everything a brief stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours, or low for eight hours.
While the soup is cooking, make the tortilla crisps. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Stack the tortillas and cut them into strips, about 1/4-inch wide and 2 to 3-inches long.
Place the strips in a bowl, drizzle with 1 Tbsp cooking oil, and add a pinch of salt. Gently toss the tortilla strips until they’re completely coated in oil. Spread the oil coated tortilla strips out over a baking sheet in a single layer. Try to make them overlap as little as possible. The more they overlap the longer they’ll take to cook.
Bake the tortilla strips for 10-15 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so, or until they’re deeply golden brown and crispy. The cooking time can vary quite a bit depending on the size of the tortilla strips and how closely packed they are on the baking sheet, so watch them closely and adjust the cooking time as needed. Set the tortilla strips aside.
After 8 hours it will look like this. The chicken will be very tender and easy to shred at this point…
Carefully remove the chicken breast, shred it with two forks, then stir it back into the soup.
And the Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup is essentially finished at this point. It’s always a good idea to give it a taste and adjust the salt if needed. But the real magic happens when you plate it up…
After ladling the soup into your bowls, add a handful of the toasty tortilla crisps, and any additional toppings you like. Squeeze a wedge of fresh lime over top and enjoy!
My stove has been out of commission since last week, and I was desperate for meal that required zero stove/oven, and was full of veggie tastiness. This fit the bill! Substituted a yellow bell pepper for the onion for dietary and preference reasons, and used two cans of Aylmer Accents Chili tomatoes, since I can’t get fire roasted or green chile tomatoes in my grocery store (I’m in Canada, and our canned tomatoes are also a totally different size?!). Feels so comforting to eat on a chilly fall day, and looking forward to more soup days this week!
Can I actually put flour tortillas in the soup before it’s done cooking
We haven’t tried that, Tracey!
I’m obsessed with this soup. I would not recommend doubling the spices until you taste the final product. It’s sooo good with all the toppings!! I’m about to make this for a second time.
Double the seasonings! The recipe as written is blander than the chicken tortilla soups I’m used to. Once I doubled the spices it was great!
Excellent soup, tasted great and made lots of servings. Did reduce broth down to 4 cups and use 2 chicken breasts since that’s what came in the pack. This was my first try at tortilla soup and I don’t need to look anymore for a great recipe!
Could I make this recipe on the stove rather than in a slow cooker and if so, what do I need to do? Actually I also would like to adjust it to 4 servings rather than 6.
Sauté the onion and garlic, then add the spices and sautè for a minute or so more. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer over low for about 1 hour or until the chicken is tender enough to shred. :)
Gosh this soup is my favorite now. I sometimes add a diced potato to it just for extra filling. Very good soup.
Delicious! Due to the other reviews, I cut the broth down to 4 cups and added about a cup of shredded carrots. I cooked on high for 2 hours then added 2 organic chicken breasts since I’ve found organic meat cooks faster and cooked on low for 2 hours. It’s soooo good! TYSM! I’m so grateful I found your site!
I made this in my InstantPot, using the slow cooker function. I have the 3 qt model so I reduced the broth to 2.5 cups but the finished soup was kind of watery, as others have mentioned. Not sure where I went wrong! It was still very delicious and I will make it again, for sure. Next time I might add a flour tortilla while it’s cooking to see if that thickens up the broth a little.
Back again to say how much we love this one and to suggest crumbling in tortilla chips if you don’t have tortillas or extra time to make them. Worked well enough for me and saved a few steps.
That’s what we did, too! Easy-peasy.
This soup is a staple for my house. The leftovers make for great lunches, too! I generally sub the black beans for kidney beans (just personal preference) and sub the rotel for plain crushed tomatoes while adding some green chilies separately – this helps to create more of that tasty broth!
Super yummy and filling:) I did add an extra chicken breast and a bunch more chili pepper seasoning. It was a chipotle blend and it realllly gave the soup some great flavor!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was SO delicious. Thank you for a great recipe!
I had a nasty sinus infection an for me the only comfort soup has always been the old stand-by chicken noodle soup. This by far was an amazing change. My husband an I both loved it. We are fighting for the leftovers as we speak.
Ridiculously easy! Everyone loved this soup, myself included. Definitely liked adding the lime juice at the end and the sour cream. Next time I’ll try to have some avocado handy. Made the tortilla strips and they turned out well. Tasty even without salt added. I’ll definitely make this one again.
We made this for dinner tonight and it is unreal! We’ll be adding it to our weekly rotation!
So easy and delicious! I made a double batch and froze half of it. My husband took one bite and said “this is fantastic!” This is definitely a great meal for busy week nights and for “meal trains”
Two for Two this week with your recipes :) So easy to make and my whole family loved it! I think my 10 year old had 3 bowls. Added avocado and a little dairy free cheese on top.
Normally I love all the Budget Bytes recipes, but this one is a little lack lustre. I doubled the seasoning but still found it too bland. It was also very watery. Not my favourite recipe.
Amazing! I love it. My only recommendation if you like corn with a little crunch is to add it at the very end :)
This was my first time eating chicken tortilla soup. I followed the recipe exactly, including toppings. I thought the tortilla strips would get soggy once they were added but they stayed crispy. Obviously you’d want to keep them separate from leftovers though.
Can I used frozen chicken breast?
Only if they are thawed first. It’s not a good idea to put frozen meat in a slow cooker because it takes too long to come up to a safe temperature and may become a food safety hazard.
Just made this for the first time today and it is delicious! Toppings definitely help finish the meal as the sour cream helps mellow out some of the spiciness and the tortillas add just a bit of salt and provide a unique texture. Somehow we ran out of black beans before making this and had to substitute in pinto beans but that didn’t detract anything from what I can tell. Definitely going to be remaking this again soon when it gets colder outside.
Love your recipes! Trying this one tomorrow! If I use a precooked rotisserie chicken will I need to adjust the time?
Just made this today, and it was very delicious. I really enjoyed adding sour cream to it, as it gave it a little extra flavor. I think next time I may try blending half the tomatoes a bit to make it slightly more creamy. Not sure if that will work but it’s worth a try. I used I think a 6 quart vintage crock pot, and it was filled almost to the brim, thinking I need a new crock pot now haha.
This looks delicious. If I substitute chicken breast for tenderloins how long would they take to cook in the slow cooker? Many thanks
Hi Tracey, I’d still recommend the full cooking time.
I just discovered this site this weekend and made this soup today. No way I was waiting 4-8 hours, so I used my heavy dutch oven, and poached two chicken breasts and shredded them before starting the rest of the soup. I sauteed onions, garlic, and some diced green pepper in olive oil, then added the spices and other ingredients. Didn’t have chicken broth, but it was delicious with vegetable broth. I just used that and 1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chilies and one can of tomato sauce. Instead of cayenne, I tossed in some crushed red pepper flakes and a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce. Subbed Greek yogurt for the sour cream (don’t skip the dairy in your bowl, folks–it turns the broth into silky amazing goodness!) First time ever making the tortilla strips (used olive oil for them, too) and they are so easy, Had an avocado, but alas, no lime. Solid recipe. LOVE it! I’m excited to try others from your site.
I haven’t had tortilla soup since I left South Texas 20 years ago. Made this tonight and it was outstanding! Don’t skip the add ins – they really make the dish. So easy to make too.
Thank you!
This is delicious! I actually pureed half of it with my immersion blender because I’m not a big tomato chunk fan and I really liked the texture and flavours of this. Yum!
We made this yesterday and it was so delicious. It hit every note for me. We will be making it again this weekend so we can fine-tune it for us. Love this site!!!
Thank you Regina!
Made this recipe exactly as listed, toppings included, and couldn’t agree more with the other comments: this recipe is delicious! The leftovers are even better. I cooked this in the slow cooker for 3 1/2-4 hours on high and the toppings were entirely worth it and added a great depth of flavor combined with the other ingredients. We will definitely be making this again!
I’ve made this recipe a bunch of times now and everytime it has been amazing! So much flavor in every bite.
I’m curious, has anyone tried substituting the chicken for tofu/vegetarian type option? Obviously it would change the cooking times on the chicken etc. but if anyone has tried I’d love to know how it came out with a non-meat alternative.
We haven’t yet Michael, but like you I’d love to hear! We suggest adding some extra beans and you could saute them in the seasoning for it to be vegetarian.
I made it with Trader Joe’s Vegan Soy Chorizo — it was great! Obviously more of a ground beef texture than a shredded chicken texture, but the flavors worked well! I didn’t make it in a slow cooker, though, so I’m not sure what would happen to the soy chorizo in the slow cooker.
I made this tonight and it turned out rather well for my taste. The tortilla crips really tied everything together. It was also really simple to make. I used a pressure cooker to make it and cooked it for 25 minutes on high and then I let the pressure naturally release. This is a solid week night meal in my opinion.
That’s what we like to hear! Thanks for sharing!
So yummy! I will definitely be making again.
Happy to hear it Eve!
Hello! So I have a bean allergy and I feel like if I take out the beans it’s gonna make a huge difference because that’s 15oz just gone… any suggestions?
That’s a great question! I think I would add a can of hominy, which is similar in shape and texture to a bean, but is actually corn. It’s different enough in flavor and texture from the frozen corn kernels, too, that you could easily have both in the soup.
The recipe is great and results taste wonderful. However I don’t know where you live because your prices are crazy low. I could never get 3/4 of a bound of boneless skinless chicken breasts For $2 plus change. It is much closer to $3 plus change. Garlic @ 16 cents for two?? I have to page 50 cents lowest for 1. Do you have your own garden? Just curious where you live and shop.
Thanks Eileen! Beth does a lot of shopping at Aldi, a discount grocery store. It’s amazing what you can find when you shop around.
It just uses 2 cloves of garlic not bulbs, and there are 11-30 cloves in a head of garlic, so that would make sense. Also, chicken around me (Northeastern US) is about $1.99 per pound when you purchase in 3-4 pound quantities, cheaper if on sale).
I made this and it was great – but it definitely makes way more than 6 servings of 1.5 cups each (9 cups total). I was using a 4-quart crockpot and filled it completely while leaving out 2 cups of broth.
Good to know Louis! Thank you!
My favorite soup is Chicken Tortilla but I have never done it in a crock pot so I followed this recipe. Not a corn lover, so instead I used shredded carrots! And instead of putting the chicken in raw, I used shredded cooked chicken which worked fine except that it was a little less flavorful…worked well because I just didnt have 4 hours to slow cook and lime really made up for any loss of flavor! Sooo good!
Happy to hear it Emily!
I absolutely love this recipe. It has been in my rotation for awhile now. Recently, I tried blending together onion, garlic, tomato, jalapeno, cilantro, and chipotle as a substitute for the canned tomatoes and used hominy as a sub for corn. I also threw in a can of diced green chilies. If you like spice and earthiness, it’s a great modification to this recipe. I did find I had to add the juice of a whole lime to add acidity at the end. But the balance of flavors in this recipe is just so perfect for substitutions and additions. I used paprika, garlic powder, lime juice, and salt on my tortilla chips. My fiance wouldn’t stop talking about them! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Amazing! Thank you Christine!
SO good!
I think this is a lovely recipe. It features ingredients that I always have in my pantry and I thought the flavor was good (IDK why people say it’s tasteless: it’s not. Really.)
I liked my tortilla soup to be a bit thicker, though. Outside of using a cornstarch slurry, is there a way to thicken this up a tad?
Definitely this goes into my rotation: thank you very much for another fabulous low-fat, easily vegetarian recipe.
You could do a standard flour roux 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp flour.
I’m also a fan of cooking a couple tortillas down in the soup itself to thicken it a little.
Delicious!
Hi!
I’m a little confused with one of the prep pictures: what’s is that floating in the broth, looks like diced potatoes??
Help, thanks
Nope, those are the diced onions that went into the slow cooker first. They float once everything is stirred together. :)
Does this freeze well?
I think the best technique here would be to cool it in the refrigerator so it comes down to a safe temperature quickly, as you don’t want it at room temp very long. Once fully chilled, then transfer to your freezer bags and pop it in the freezer. :)
Did this tonight, but subbed can of pinto beans for chicken, added one small yellow potato. Also didnt do slow cooker, but around 40 min on med low after bringing to a slight simmer in pot. Skipped cayenne and did a tbsp of chili powder, kept rest of ingredients the same. Fantastic recipe!
Forgot this part: Did 4 cups vegetable broth as well
This recipe is DIVINE. We substituted fire roasted tomatoes for tomatoes with cilantro and lime + chiles and it was amazing. The more sour cream the better!!
Tried this out with my family and it was absolutely delicious. It’s perfect with the avocado and home-baked tortilla chips!
Hey Beth!!! Tried out this recipe last night and I must say it soothes the soul! I have so much left over to freeze for later too! I need to start using your recipes more often.
I just made this today and it was amazing! I seriously couldn’t stop eating it. I put all the ingredients in the slow cooker last night and kept it in the fridge overnight. All I had to do this morning was take it out and turn it on. So easy and so delicious!
This soup turned out a bit watery and flavorless for me. I ended up adding two packets of reduced chicken broth concentrate and about 3/4 of a 6oz can of tomato paste to salvage it. Ended up being decent chicken tortilla soup. I did sub 1 cup of chicken broth for water at the outset, but unconvinced that made a huge difference. Will probably try a different recipe next time.
I made this recipe last night, and like Kelly, it turned out a little bland. I think that increasing the seasoning may help the only ways in which I differed from the recipe was: 4c chicken broth (small crock pot), and just over a lb. of chicken breast.
Can this be done in an instant pot?
Probably, most slow cooker recipes convert very well to pressure cooking. I haven’t tried it though, so I don’t have any specific instructions on how to do so. I would perhaps try the suggested settings/cook times for chicken, to make sure that the chicken is at least cooked through and shreddable.
I made this yesterday in an electric pressure cooker (different brand). Since I used a frozen chicken breast, I cooked it for 22 minutes and used natural pressure release. It’s awesome! I’m eating leftovers for lunch today.
This recipe is DELICIOUS and SO easy. Thank you so much, Beth! I will be making this many times in the future.
My entire family loved it! Super easy and delicious.
This soup is so good! I doubled it and it just barely fit into my 6 qt slow cooker (I like to cook big batches and freeze a container for later). A couple substitutions I made: I put in 2 more cans of beans instead of chicken to make it vegetarian. My intention was 2 cans of pinto beans, but I realized after I opened them that it was 1 can of black and 1 can of pinto beans. No matter, still delicious! I halved the cayenne, which ended up being a good amount of spice for me. I also halved the smoked paprika. I have a bit of a history with this spice; I thought I didn’t like it for a really long time because I made a soup with it and hated it so much. I gave it another shot, at half the volume you suggested, and it was just a little smoky but not overpowering. I think I just used too much last time and it was overpoweringly smoky. I really loved how it turned out and will be putting it in my rotation! I eat soup all year, so I’m happy you posted it this spring!
I was immediately wondering what the best way would be to make this vegetarian, so glad I saw your comment! Did you change the cooking time at all since you substituted extra black beans for the chicken?
Great recipe. It was delicious!!!! I loved it. Thank you Beth!
So easy and so good! This is a keeper.
Made this tonight even though it may as well be summer in the south right now.
I made it on the stove, and the only accidental alteration I made was to forget to add the last two cups of water (I also used Better than Bouillon), which I only realized when I was cleaning up and found the measuring cup — whoops.
In waiting for the soup to come up to a boil so I could simmer it (based on your recommendation in the comments), the chicken became fully cooked so I shredded it and left the soup on low for a few minutes while I made (flour) tortilla strips, but then took it off the heat.
Added a little lime, avocado, and sour cream to top, along with the tortilla strips, and it was an amazing and relatively healthy, dinner.
Thanks as always, Beth!
This is DELICIOUS. Perfect for cinco de mayo. I made mine in my instantpot, using the slow cooker setting but I’m sure it would work fine in a pressure cooker, too. I added shredded cheese on top of the tortilla strips. Be careful with the strips bc they burn easily!! I used two chicken breasts, which was perfect.
Update: I just reheated some soup I had frozen. I didn’t have any more strips so I just pan-fried a corn tortilla and it was delicious! I didn’t burn it like I did the strips in the oven.
So I had everything to make this for dinner last night, but then it was too freakin’ hot for soup😑 So, I made a batch of Beth’s Taco Rice (except with quinoa instead of rice.) Then I combined it in a 9×13 pan with most of the soup ingredients (Rotel, diced tomatoes, a can of corn, a can of black beans, and frozen white beans in place of the chicken.) Mixed it all up, dumped it in the pan, topped with shredded cheese and sliced black olives, and popped it on the oven…it turned out super yummy! Thank you again for all of your creative and versatile recipes Beth!
Wow! That’s an awesome idea!
I sadly don’t have a crockpot big enough for this recipe. Any tips on how to cook this on the stovetop?
You can simmer it on low until the chicken is tender enough to shred. Usually that’s about 45 minutes or so. :)
Made this for dinner tonight and it was SO yummy and super easy to throw together! Two thumbs up!
This was one of the best tortilla soups I’ve made! It’s a great, easy recipe. I only had one frozen chicken breast and threw it in (in it’s frozen state) and it turned out perfectly. Thanks for the great recipe!
This soup is off the hook! I had picked up a little can of mild chilies thinking I needed them in addition to the two cans of diced so I threw them in too. I also used three medium sized chicken breast. I went with the Better than Bullion for the base on your suggestion. It’s a hearty soup and I served just the soup (with tortilla topping and shredded Mexican blend cheese) for dinner. I made no other adjustments. This soup just blew us away. Oh yum yum yum ! ! ! Thanks for a great recipe.
Do you have instructions for making in the Instant Pot?
No, I’m sorry, I haven’t tried this in the Instant Pot. You might try using the poultry setting. You basically just want to cook it long enough for the chicken to get tender and easily shreddable.
Does this freeze well?
Yes it does. :)
I am slap out of cumin AND smoked paprika, but I have an envelope of taco seasoning? Substitute?
Not sure if you have used it already but taco seasoning should work too! Only thing you should be careful sbout is the salt. Taco seasoning tends to be salty so you might want to use water instead of broth.
That could work, just use a low-sodium chicken broth or else you’ll have a very salty soup. :)
We eat soups four seasons so this is perfect timing ! Thank you !
This dish looks so yum! Would love to try it. Also your pictures are so pretty! <3
E || OH LA LATKES
Man do I love tortilla soup, this looks excellent!
Super easy and super tasty. I made it tonight but I goofed. I was pulling frozen chicken stock from the freezer and grabbed what I thought was uncooked chicken. Nope. 1/2 cooked turkey breast. Used it anyway. Couldn’t really taste the difference but it also makes me think that you could make this with pickings from a rotisserie chicken. This one’s a keeper!
If I were to make a vegetarian version of this would you just suggest doubling the beans to substitute the chicken? Love your site and app!
I’ve got a vegetarian recipe that I like that’s pretty similar to this, and I usually just use a single can of beans. I do add a zucchini to round it out (usually large, cut into half-inch chunks, added near the end of the cook time so it gets cooked through but remains firm – without the chicken, everything cooks pretty quickly, so I haven’t tried using a slow cooker before). I think the resulting soup is pretty well-balanced and tastes great, although it’s perhaps less filling than the chicken version. Eating it for a
meal usually requires either a side dish or a second bowl. I’d be worried that doubling the beans would alter the texture of the soup too much.
Hi Mary,
I made this by using veggie broth, leaving out the chicken, and doubling the beans, and it turned out great! So in answer to your question, yes.
Yes, you could do that or you could even add some cubed sweet potato. Sweet potato goes great with these flavors and will add more body to the soup.
Glad I came across this question, as I’m planning on making a vegetarian version did this tonight! I’m going to do the can of black beans, and then add some frozen great northern beans that I crock pots a while back. I’ll come back to leave feedback on how it turns out when doubling the beans☺️
OMG. I LOVE chicken tortilla soup. Can’t wait to make this recipe very soon!!! :-)