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.
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Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Servings 6 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
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
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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!
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!