Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup with black beans and corn is topped with tortilla strips and cheese for a bowl of soup that is great for lunch or dinner. It’s an easy soup recipe that’s full of flavor.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a bowl of chicken soup for lunch or as a light dinner, and one of my favorite recipes to make is this chicken tortilla soup. It’s filling but light and really easy to make.
Table of Contents
What is chicken tortilla soup?
This soup is made with a chicken-based broth and bite-sized or shredded chicken. There are many variations, but it usually has beans, corn and is topped with crushed tortilla chips or crispy tortilla strips.
My version is very easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes, making it great for weeknights. Or, you can make it ahead for easy lunches during the week.
What’s in chicken tortilla soup?
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
- Tortilla strips
- Low-sodium chicken broth
- Canned black beans
- Cumin, chili powder, and dried oregano
- Frozen corn
- Salsa
- Hot sauce
- Shredded Monterey jack cheese
- Chopped cilantro
How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
This is an easy one-pot soup recipe.
First, cook the chicken in a large pot over medium heat. Once it’s cooked through, after about five minutes, take it out of the pot and set it aside.
In the same pot, combine the broth, oregano, chili powder, and cumin. Adjust the heat to medium-high and bring the broth to a boil.
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Once it’s boiling, add the corn, beans, and salsa and bring it back to a boil and lower the heat to maintain a simmer.
Add the cooked chicken to the soup and simmer it for five minutes or until the chicken is warmed through.
Serve the soup in bowls and top each serving with the tortilla strips, cheese, and chopped cilantro.
Recipe FAQs
Can you use rotisserie chicken? Yes, if you have cooked chicken on hand, you can use it in the soup. It makes things easier because you can skip the step for cooking the chicken. Just add it at the end after you’ve added all of the other ingredients.
Can you use leftover turkey? Yes, this is a great way to use up the leftover roast turkey from a holiday meal. Just shred or cut the turkey into bite-sized pieces.
What are tortilla strips? You can buy bags of crispy tortilla strips at the grocery store. Look for them near the salad ingredients. Or, you can use crushed tortilla chips instead.
Can you make this soup spicy? You can control how spicy the soup is by the kind of salsa and hot sauce you use. For the salsa, pick one that has your desired heat level, or you can increase the amount of hot sauce you add.
How long does chicken tortilla soup last? It will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days. Or, you can freeze it to have on hand for later. This is a great recipe and tastes great – I like to keep the ingredients on hand because it’s great for a quick meal when life gets busy. I hope you give this chicken tortilla soup recipe a try!
Other Soup Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces and cooked
- 1 package store bought tortilla strips
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 15 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup frozen corn
- ½ cup salsa
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce we used Tapatio
- 1 cup Monterey jack cheese shredded
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot cook chicken over medium heat until it is no longer pink. (5-7 minutes). Set to the side
- Add broth, oregano, chili powder and cumin into the pot. Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Add corn, beans and salsa, stir and bring back to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken and let simmer, covered for 5 minutes. Stir in hot sauce.
- Serve in soup bowls and add tortilla strips, cheese and cilantro to garnish.
Recipe Nutrition
This soup is made with a chicken-based broth and shredded chicken – the nice thing is that it’s so customizable! This Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup should definitely make your dinner lineup.