Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup—tortilla soup that is made with actual tortillas! The corn tortillas slow cook along with the bites of chicken, tomatoes, veggies and broth and then they thicken the soup into a lovely consistency. You’re going to love this simple way to make real tortilla soup!
Get the INSTANT POT Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe here
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
When my sister sent me a text stating that she tried a tortilla soup with actual tortillas in it and that it was soooo good I knew I needed to try my own version of it in the crockpot.
The original recipe calls for cooked chicken. Of course I like to combine all steps into one. So instead of adding cooked chicken into the slow cooker. I added raw chicken and let it simmer and cook along with all the other ingredients. The original recipe also has several steps and asks you to boil the soup for 45 minutes. My version has 2 main steps–sauteeing the onion and adding in all the ingredients. If you’re all about simplifying and cooking in a hands-off way this recipe is for you!
A note about the corn tortillas: This recipe is a made with corn tortillas that act as a thickener for the soup. If you try to use flour tortillas you will end up with a gloopy tortilla mess. Do not use flour tortillas. If you don’t like corn tortillas then maybe this isn’t the recipe for you. Try this easy creamy tortilla soup recipe instead.
You might also like…
Slow Cooker Mexican Street Corn Soup
Recommendations
Slow Cooker Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
Slow Cooker Chicken Bacon Chowder
What Slow Cooker Did You Use?
To make Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup I used my Ninja Auto-iQ 6 Quart Slow Cooker.* My favorite feature of this slow cooker is that it has a stove top function. This is perfect for sauteing the onions before pressure cooking the soup.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup (with actual tortillas!)
- Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
Description
Tortilla soup that is made with actual tortillas! The corn tortillas slow cook along with the bites of chicken, tomatoes, veggies and broth and then they thicken the soup into a lovely consistency. You’re going to love this simple way to make real tortilla soup!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp vegetable or corn oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 7 cups chicken broth
- 1 ¼ cups diced celery
- 1 ¼ cups diced carrots
- 1 (14 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 (4 oz) cans diced green chiles
- 3–4 Tbsp of taco seasoning (see note)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 ½ – 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
- 10 (8 inch corn tortillas) or 14 (5 ½ inch corn tortillas), cut into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 oz grated monterey jack cheese (see note)
- Optional toppings: avocados, tortilla chips, cilantro, sour cream, etc.
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the oil and the onion. Saute the onion for about 4-5 minutes. Transfer the onion to the slow cooker.
- Then add in the chicken broth, celery, carrots, tomatoes, chiles, taco seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper, chicken breasts and finally the tortillas.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours. Remove the lid.
- Remove the chicken and cut it into pieces or shred it. Return the chicken back into the slow cooker.
- Temper the sour cream by adding 3 ladles of hot soup liquid, 1 ladle at a time, and whisking until smooth. Slowly pour the tempered sour cream into the slow cooker, stirring constantly. Then stir in the cheese.
- Salt and pepper the soup to taste. Add additional taco seasoning, if needed. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with desired toppings.
Notes
I noticed that different brands of taco seasoning have different potencies. For example the big bottle of taco seasoning at Costco is way less potent than the bulk bins at Winco. Therefore I add 2-3 Tbsp of taco seasoning to begin with and then add more to taste after the soup has cooked.
I like to buy a block of cheese and grate it myself. Sometimes when I add pre-grated cheese into soups it clumps up and gets weird.
This recipe is a made with corn tortillas that act as a thickener for the soup. If you try to use flour tortillas you will end up with a gloopy tortilla mess. Do not use flour tortillas. If you don’t like corn tortillas then maybe this isn’t the recipe for you.
Recipe adapted from https://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-tortilla-soup-ii-4627/
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
*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.
This soup is so delicious! We’ve made it several times for friends and everyone raves about it. Thank you for sharing!
Do you think this could be made ahead and then frozen? I’m wondering if I could just omit the sour cream and cheese until I reheat it and add it in at that point.
★★★★★
Yes I think that would work well.
Would you see a problem with adding corn? Frozen or fresh.
Not at all! sounds great!
Can you half this recipe? If so, how long do you cook for?
yes you can, keep the same cooking time.
One of the best Crock Pot soups I have ever made. My husband loved it and had plenty for leftovers for lunches during the week!
YAY!