Chicken Tortilla Soup

If there is one recipe that earns a permanent spot on my fall and winter rotation, it is this Chicken Tortilla Soup. I love using Easy Mexican Shredded Chicken when I have a little extra time, but a rotisserie bird works beautifully on a busy weeknight.

The Tucson soup I’ve been chasing since high school

There was a restaurant in Tucson, AZ, where I grew up called Café Terra Cotta, and they had the most iconic Chicken Tortilla Soup in the city. It’s long gone now, but back in the good old days of high school, when we had zero responsibilities, my friends and I would go for lunch or girls’ night and, without fail, every single one of us ordered that soup.

It was smoky, a little spicy, and I always added extra cheese the second it hit the table. It’s one of those food memories that just sticks, and being able to recreate that same flavor at home makes me so happy.

If you’re a fan of Southwestern-flavored soups, you’ll also love my Chicken Chili Verde, my White Chicken Chili, and my Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili!

Ingredients

What you need, and the three ingredients that matter

Most of this list is pantry stuff: an onion, garlic, a jalapeño, a little oregano and cumin, black beans, corn, and chicken stock. Nothing fussy. But three ingredients do the heavy lifting, and they’re worth a second of attention at the store.

Ground chipotle pepper. This is where the smoke comes from. Half a teaspoon gives the broth that restaurant-style smoky depth without making it a spicy soup. Want more heat? Go up to a full teaspoon. If you only have chipotles in adobo, use one pepper plus a teaspoon of the sauce, and blend it right into the broth with the tomatoes. It’s a little tangier that way, but still delicious. Smoked paprika will give you the smoke without any heat if you’re cooking for little ones.

Fire-roasted tomatoes with green chiles. Don’t swap in plain diced tomatoes here. The charred edges on fire-roasted tomatoes are doing real work, and the green chiles add a mild, bright heat that regular tomatoes can’t. One 14-ounce can is all it takes. If your store only has fire-roasted tomatoes without the chiles, grab a small can of diced green chiles and add those too.

The chicken. Rotisserie chicken is the weeknight move, and it’s what I use most of the time. One cup, shredded, and dinner is on the table in 40 minutes. When I have a little extra time, I make a batch of my Easy Mexican Shredded Chicken instead, and the soup gets even better because the chicken brings its own seasoning to the party. Leftover roast chicken or Thanksgiving turkey works too.

One more thing: use a good chicken stock. The broth gets blended smooth and there’s nowhere for a weak stock to hide.

Substitutions & Swaps

🍗 Chicken

• Leftover Cooked Chicken - Use shredded chicken breasts or thighs in place of rotisserie chicken. Add it after blending the broth and heat through.
• Leftover Turkey - Shredded cooked turkey is an easy substitute, especially after Thanksgiving.

🌽 Corn and Beans

• Canned or Fresh Corn - Either works in place of frozen corn. Drain canned corn before adding it to the soup.
• Pinto Beans - A mild, creamy alternative to black beans.
• Hominy - Swap it for the corn for a heartier texture and a slightly different Southwestern flavor.

🌶️ Heat and Flavor

• Less Chipotle - Reduce the amount of chipotle for a milder soup. Add more to taste if you prefer extra heat.
• Vegetable Stock - Can replace chicken stock if needed, although the soup will still contain chicken unless you also replace the meat.

🧀 Toppings

• Cotija or Queso Fresco - Sprinkle over the finished soup instead of using a melting cheese.
• Mexican Crema or Sour Cream - Add a spoonful to individual bowls for a creamy contrast to the smoky broth.
• Store-Bought Tortilla Chips - Crush over the soup when you don't have time to fry homemade tortilla strips.
• Easy Homemade Chipotle Salsa

How To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup

Step 1: Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, and jalapeño and sauté until the onion is translucent and the jalapeño softens.

Step 2: Season with the salt, pepper, dried oregano, cumin and chipotle pepper. Stir to combine and cook for 1-2 minutes until the spices toast.

Step 3: Add the fire-roasted tomatoes and the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup ingredients until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Step 4: Add the black beans, corn, and shredded chicken, and continue cooking until everything is heated through.

Step 5: Divide the soup into 4 bowls and top with cheese, avocado, cilantro, and crisp tortilla strips. Add extra lime juice if desired and/or jalapeño slices. Serve immediately.

How to make crispy tortilla strips

Step 1 : To make the tortilla strips: In a small skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add the tortilla strips in a single layer, frying quickly for about 30-45 seconds, flipping them once to ensure both sides get crisp. Remove the tortillas once crisp with a pair of tongs and transfer them to a paper towel lined plate to dry.

🌶️🍲 Gabys Tips & Tricks

A few simple tricks will give you a smoky, flavorful broth and plenty of texture in every bowl.

• Why blending the broth makes all the difference. Most tortilla soups are a brothy tomato base with everything floating in it. This one works differently, and the difference is the whole reason it tastes like the Café Terra Cotta version I grew up on.
• Blend the base before you add the good stuff. After the tomatoes and stock have simmered for 30 minutes, the immersion blender turns the onion, garlic, jalapeño and tomatoes into a smooth, almost velvety broth. That’s what gives the soup body without any cream or flour. Then the chicken, beans and corn go in, so you get a silky broth with real texture in every spoonful instead of a thin soup with chunks of onion in it. If you don’t have an immersion blender, ladle the base into a regular blender in two batches, keep the lid cracked so the steam can escape, and pour it back into the pot.
• Taste the broth before you add the chicken. This is the moment to adjust. Too mild? Another pinch of chipotle. Flat? It almost always needs more salt than you think, plus a squeeze of lime. Once the chicken and beans go in, the broth is harder to correct, so fix it while it’s smooth.
• Toast the spices in the pan, don’t dump them in the liquid. The recipe has you stir the oregano, cumin and chipotle into the softened onions for a minute or two before the tomatoes go in. It feels like a small step, but spices bloomed in a little hot oil taste deeper and rounder than spices that just get boiled in stock. You’ll smell the difference the second they hit the pan.
• Keep the toppings off until the bowls are filled. Avocado, cheese, cilantro and tortilla strips all go on at the table, not in the pot. The strips stay crunchy, the avocado stays green, and everyone gets to build their own bowl. This also means leftovers reheat perfectly, because there’s nothing soggy in the container.
• What to serve it with: Chicken Poblano Skillet Enchiladas alongside the soup is honestly a dream dinner situation.

Chicken Tortilla Soup FAQs

More soups for the fall rotation