Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup–an easy dump and go soup recipe that you can make in minutes in your electric pressure cooker.
Get the SLOW COOKER creamy tortilla soup recipe here
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
I’ve been making this soup in the slow cooker for years and decided it was time to make an Instant Pot version. It turned out beautifully and my whole family agreed that it tasted awesome! I love how fast and easy this Instant Pot creamy chicken tortilla soup is to make. You literally dump all the ingredients into the pot and walk away.
It’s up to you on what chicken you want to use. You can use cooked chicken, uncooked thawed chicken or frozen chicken. I had a bunch of seasoned shredded chicken on hand because I prepped it earlier in the week. I threw that into the soup and the pot came to pressure quickly and the soup was done before I knew it.
One of the most fun parts of the soup is the toppings you can add at the end. Personally I think sliced avocados are non-negotiable. I also love to crunch up a few tortilla chips or corn chips on top of my soup.
More recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Instant Pot Mexican Street Corn Soup
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
PrintInstant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Description
An easy dump and go soup recipe that you can make in minutes in your electric pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs (can be frozen)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup picante sauce
- 1 (14.5) oz can petite diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 (13.75 oz) can cream of chicken soup (I use Campbell’s)
- 1 cup frozen corn or drained canned corn
- 1 (14 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 red bell pepper, diced (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Optional toppings: grated cheddar, sour cream, cilantro, avocado and tortilla chips
Instructions
- Add chicken to the Instant Pot. Pour in the chicken broth. Dump the picante sauce, tomatoes, garlic powder, cumin, cream of chicken soup, corn and beans on top of the chicken. Don’t stir.
- Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 10 minutes for thawed chicken or 12 minutes for frozen chicken. Alternately you can add in cooked chicken (like this chicken or rotisserie chicken) and you’ll only need to set the time to 5 minutes of pressure cook time.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid and stir the soup. Remove the chicken and shred or cut into bite size pieces and then stir the chicken back into the pot. Add in the red bell pepper. Salt and pepper the soup to taste.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with your desired toppings.
Notes
Remember that it will take the pot 10-15 minutes to come to pressure. If the chicken is frozen the pot will take longer to come to pressure. You can speed up the process by turning on the saute function while adding in the ingredients and add in boiling chicken broth.
If you don’t like using cream of chicken soup you can leave it out. Add in a cup of heavy cream after the soup has cooked.
To make gluten free: Double check your broth to be sure it does not contain gluten. Also, “Pacific” brand makes a gluten-free carton of cream of chicken soup that is a great substitute. You can also search up homemade cream of chicken recipes.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
Send Me Free Recipes
Like this recipe for Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup? Get all my new recipes delivered to your email inbox by signing up below.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Insiya Khambaty says
Hi Karen,
I’ve really enjoyed making this soup the past few times. However recently last 2 times my instapot gives me the food burn message after adding one serving. I add the ingredients in the order recommended uncooked thawed chicken on bottom, sauces after and then corn and beans. Recently the chicken has been sticking to the bottom.
Has this happened to you? Any suggestions on how to prevent it from happening?
Karen says
Darn! I would pour in broth first and then the chicken. Hopefully that will help!
Julie says
this is great! I’m enjoying it now as I type this. I used a can of Rotel with green chiles and some of my homemade salsa instead of picante, and when it was done cooking i added about 2 cups of cilantro lime rice that was leftover from a couple days ago and 2 more cups of water to thin it down a bit. it was not necessary to add anymore spice or salt (because I used Better than Bouillon, which is already salty enough).
I will be forever grateful for yor recipes and for inspiration me to get back in the kitchen!
Karen says
I am so happy to hear that you are back in your kitchen Julie! Your version sounds amazing. I love the addition of rice!!
Julie Moore says
I cook a whole chicken in IP on the weekends and use the shredded chicken in this recipe (as well as others). I love this soup…I use cilantro lime seasoning, a can of Rotel and jarred salsa…delicious every time!
Karen says
I like the sound of cilantro lime seasoning!!
Jax says
I am going to make this today. Could I cut up the chicken first and would it change the time?
I hate fishing out gloppy whole breasts and shredding it. I make a huge mess. It is so much easier to cut it slightly frozen. But I don’t want to over cook either. And would I still layer the ingredients? Advice?
I am using my IP so much more since getting getting your emails. Every single recipe I have tried has been outstanding. And so easy. I have learned many new things about my pot since watching your videos. Thank you very much for all your hard work.
Karen says
Yes you could totally do that. I would only cook for 5 minutes on the soup button. I’m so glad you are finding value in the recipes here! Thanks for sharing 😊
David says
Great recipe! It doesn’t make as much as you’d expect so I double it if cooking for 4?
Karen says
For 4 people it should be fine but for 8 you’d definitely want to double it.
Rodi says
I made this exactly, it’s delicious, but i had to add more chicken broth after cooking because it was too thick! Isn’t one cup of broth too little? So not for 4 people:)
Karen says
For me with all the other ingredients it gets to be enough juice. Maybe because the chicken I use puts off liquid??
Becky says
I’ve made this several times and love it, however lately my chicken has been tough and stringy. Any thoughts on what I’m doing wrong? Should I completely natural release instead of just for 5 minutes? Thanks
Karen says
That might help. Have you used a different brand or type of chicken?
Sue Milloy says
Delicious! I only had regular salsa not picante. Also, had to substitute diced fire roasted tomatoes instead of petite diced. It was a hit with the family! I will definitely be making this again!
Karen says
Love those changes!
Sue Milloy says
Delicious! I only had regular salsa not picante. Also, had to substitute diced fire roasted tomatoes instead of petite diced. It was s hit with the family! I will definitely be making this again!
Kim says
I needed something quick to make for lunch and this fit the bill. I had frozen chicken breasts and all the ingredients except, I subbed salsa for the picante sauce. Oh my goodness, this turned out so good. I’ve tried other recipes similar to this and I did not care for the flavor. By using the two spices it turned out great. I topped mine with shredded cheddar cheese and cilantro. YUMMO! I will be making this again. TFS!
Karen says
I love this one too Kim! Glad you liked it.
Kim says
I forgot to add that my area doesn’t have the 13.75 oz size cans of soup, only the 10.75 oz. It was fine. Also, because I didn’t thoroughly read through the directions, I ended up adding the red peppers at the beginning and they didn’t turn out mushy. Love this recipe. Have made it a couple times and also added about 4 oz. of cream cheese and 1/4 c. of shredded cheddar cheese to soup when it was done. I have it cooking again right now and doubled the recipe and also added 1 tsp. of chili powder. Didn’t have red pepper (darn it), but that’s ok. I love this soup. I’ve added it to my rotation as well.
Naomi says
Absolutely love this recipe, I am wondering however how large the serving size is in ounces or cups
Tiffany W says
Surprised and delighted by the flavor with such an easy and quick recipe. I doubled the corn, to mask the tomatoes from my 11 year old and it tasted great. I used a 10.5 oz cream of chicken soup as I couldn’t find 13.75 oz and didn’t have any issues with the soup being too thin. This is a keeper for sure!
Arpita Patel says
I cooked the chicken with whole celery stalks and carrots in addition to the diced amounts for a more flavorful base. Thanks for a great recipe! I will make again and again!
PJ G says
This is the most amazing thing I have made in my Instant Pot. It was flavorful and yummy and the different textures were spot on. Did it with boneless skinless thighs and added sliced jalepeno along with the red pepper at the end. Topped it with shredded cheese, avocado, and a dollop of sour cream. This is PERFECT and it is going in my regular rotation. Thank you!!!
SandyToes says
So good! We didn’t have any picante sauce, so subbed in some spicy taco sauce. I also nuked the diced red pepper for 90 seconds to make it tender-crisp. I’m really picky about chicken tortillas soup, and this is almost as good as my holy grail soup from BJ’s Brewhouse.
Even though I used cream of chicken soup, it was pretty thin after cooking. so we shredded some cheddar and threw that in, along with a little cream. I was wishing I had some avocado to mash into it, that would have been the perfect thickener.
No matter, it was still every bit as good as the soup I usually spend 2 hours making, at least half of that hands on! I couldn’t believe this flavor came from a dump recipe. Thanks, Karen, for streamlining my favorite soup and keeping all the flavor! I don’t know how you did it.
Karen says
I’m so happy that you found it! We love this one so much!
Pamela says
Amazing! I had to sub cream of mushroom. Out of cream of chicken. Left out corn as I don’t care for it. I used tomatoes with green chilies and left out red pepper. Topped it off with black bean, garlic flavor tortillas. I had 2 bowls and I rarely eat much of anything at one time, but it is really good. This recipe is certainly a keeper for me.
Karen says
Your changes sound great Pamela!
Susan Bragdon says
This is an awesome soup. So easy to make and everyone loved it. Even my daughter…impressed that it was made so quickly. Definitely a keeper. Love your recipes…so easy to follow….not like the ones taken off the net!!
Sue
Karen says
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! It is cold and rainy here today so I think that I will make this for dinner 🙂
ken says
I like this soup. I also enjoyed the crunch of the peppers by adding them at the end. I think it made the soup with the different texture. Instead of corn, I used some frozen mixed vegetables I had left over from the chicken pot pie recipe. Starting to get the hang of this IP.
Karen says
Good ideas! You’re doing awesome!
Amy says
We called it Mexican Chicken soup and it is delicious! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe, whatever you want to call it – its still very tasty.
Mindy says
Delicious and sooooo easy! I used fresh chicken thighs. Also, I am not a fan of canned soup so, per your note, added heavy cream once soup was done. Mine was a little thin (by not using the canned soup) so I stirred in a bit of shredded cheese to give a bit more body. We really loved this soup!!! Just the right amount of spice. Thank you for another great recipe!!!!!!
Karen says
Nice! Good idea on the cheese 🙂
Amy says
Is there a reason why the peppers are added after it’s cooked? They were hard even after I let it sit for 10 minutes. Good otherwise just hard peppers.
Karen says
Hi Amy,
I like the little bit of crunch so that’s why I add them later. If you add them at the beginning they will be indistinguishable mush.
SandyToes says
Hi Karen,
We never use picante sauce. Do you have a substitute to recommend?
Karen says
Jarred salsa should work!
Rachel says
If it does not have tortillas in it, you can not call it tortilla soup. Call it Mexican Chicken Soup or Chicken Taco Soup. But Tortilla soup must have corn tortillas cooked into the broth. It is essential to the flavor. I’m sure this recipe is yummy, but tortilla soup it ain’t.
ken says
Do you think Wheat Thins would work? lol
Toni says
it does say tortillas are optional JS