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Enchilada chicken tortilla soup is the ultimate cozy soup recipe! It’s filled with juicy chicken, enchilada sauce, then garnished with crispy tortilla strips. It’s quick and easy to make with minimal ingredients and after the chicken is cooked this soup only takes 20 minutes to put together. Load your bowl with toppings and serve with Hatch Chile Cornbread for dinner!
I love soup. It’s such a delicious meal loaded with toppings or served with Jalapeรฑo Cheddar Cornbread to make a filling meal. This soup is also super simple and easy to throw together with ingredients you probably already have. Other comforting soup options would be my Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup and Pozole Verde. They are ultra cozy, and leftover and budget-friendly!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Enchilada Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Chicken – Use bone-in chicken breasts with the skin on because they won’t dry out as fast as boneless/skinless chicken breasts will. Therefore you’ll have juicer chicken for your soup.
- Chicken stock – Adds incredible flavor to the soup. I love to use Homemade Chicken Stock whenever I can, but store-bought stock or veggie broth is fine too!
- Enchilada sauce – Enchilada sauce is an important ingredient because it will really make this soup taste like enchiladas in a bowl! I love to use store-bought enchilada sauce from Hatch and Herdez or homemade enchilada sauce whenever I have it on hand!
- Tortillas – 2 – 3 flour tortillas are cut into strips and then fried. They are used to garnish this chicken tortilla soup!
- Toppings – Use whatever you have on hand or what you like. Crema, cotija cheese, cilantro, sliced avocados, and lime wedges are some of my favorites!
For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!
How to Make Enchilada Chicken Tortilla Soup:
- Make the chicken. Sprinkle chicken with salt then bake until fork- tender and the juices are clear. Allow to cool to room temperature, then shred the meat with two forks.
- Make the soup. Saute onions and garlic until soft then blend with chicken stock in a blender until smooth. Pour the onion mixture back into the soup pot with the rest of the chicken broth and enchilada sauce. Bring the soup up to a gentle simmer then add shredded chicken.
- Make the crispy tortilla strips. Heat vegetable oil in a small saucepan. Add tortilla strips to the hot oil frying for a couple minutes until they are crispy. Transfer strips to a paper towel-lined plate to cool and drain. Sprinkle with salt and repeat as needed.
- Assemble. Pour soup in bowls, top with your choice of toppings then garnish with crispy tortilla strips.
Tips and Tricks
In a hurry? Use leftover cooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken instead of baking it from scratch.
Optional ingredients. Add black beans, canned/ frozen corn or green chiles to the soup for a different flavor.
It’s a great freezer-meal! Double this recipe and save the leftovers for freezer-meals. Once cooled, store in freezer-safe containers or Ziploc freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
This chicken enchilada soup is made with shredded cooked chicken, enchilada sauce, and chicken stock and then garnished with crispy tortilla strips, cheese, and sliced avocado.
You can add a bit more enchilada sauce, stir in softened cream cheese, or add a cornstarch slurry made with 2 teaspoons cold water and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Stir then cook until the soup has thickened to your liking!
More Soup Recipes
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Enchilada Chicken Tortilla Soup
Equipment
- 1 Baking Sheet lined with foil for easy clean up
- small saucepan
Ingredients
The Chicken:
- 2 bone-in chicken breasts, skin-on
Soup:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- Salt
- 3 cups chicken stock, divided
- 1 15-ounce can of enchilada sauce OR 15 ounces of homemade enchilada sauce
Crispy Tortilla Strips:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 to 3 tortillas, cut into 1-inch strips
- Salt
Toppings (feel free to use what you have on hand or what youโre feeling!):
- 1/2 avocado, diced
- Handful of cilantro
- Sliced radishes
- Crema
- Cotija Cheese
- Sliced green onions
Instructions
To Make the Chicken:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt. Place on a lined-baking sheet (I used foil for easy clean-up) and bake the chicken for 30 to 35 minutes. When done, allow to cool to room temperature until itโs cool enough to handle. Shred the chicken with two forks.
To Make the Soup:
- To a medium pot, set over medium heat, add the olive oil. When warm, add the onion, garlic and a few pinches of salt. Cook slightly softened about 5 minutes. Add the onion mixture to the blender, along with 2 cups of chicken stock. Blend until smooth, about a minute.
- Pour the onion/broth mixture back into the medium pot, along with the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth and enchilada sauce. Bring up to a gentle simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, until the flavors are all married together. Give it a taste and salt to your liking. I added about 1/2 teaspoon of extra salt. Add the shredded chicken to the soup and stir.
To Make the Crispy Tortillas:
- Place a few sheets of paper towels on a plate. To a small saucepan, set over medium-high heat, add the oil. Frying them in batches, add the tortilla strips to the oil and allow to fry up for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to the paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
To Assemble:
- Divide amongst bowls and top with whatever toppings youโd like to add. I added a bit of avocado, cilantro, sliced radishes, cotija cheese and green onions.
Notes
Tips and Tricks
In a hurry? Use leftover cooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken instead of baking it from scratch. Optional ingredients. Add black beans, canned/ frozen corn or green chiles to the soup for a different flavor. It’s a great freezer-meal! Double this recipe and save the leftovers for freezer-meals. Once cooled, store in freezer-safe containers or Ziploc freezer bags for up to 3 months.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely delicious and such a quick make!!
I used the Siete Brand enchilada sauce and Tia Lupita Cactus chips since I currently canโt have gluten or grain. I also added one more cup of broth (to finish off the box) and Iโm glad I did because it was so good it helped to have the extra serving in the end! ๐
*Definitely* will be making this regularly!!
This was good but I used two more cups of chicken stock and it needed a squeeze of half a lime at the end. Iโll make it again. Thanks!
Are you using corn, or flour tortillas?
I used corn tortillas! But flour works, too.
Hi! This sounds like the perfect soup for mid week quick dinner, just a question. Out of the 3 cups of Chicken Stock – divided, only 2 cups are used in the recipe. Is the additional 1 cup to be added after the onion/stock mixture is blended?
Ahh just caught that. You add the remaining 1 cup of broth is added to the pot with the onion mixture and the enchilada sauce. Just fixed it. Thanks for catching it!
Thank you for clarifying that! Can’t wait to try it out! ๐
I get you soup takes time to make and daylight savings time is a little bitch. FYI your stuff always looks so great!
Beautiful! And if you’re going to cut a corner or two, rotisserie chicken comes in handy for some quick chicken bits! Not that you don’t know that!
Quick question, looks delicious and I love chicken tortilla soup. It looks like youโre using red enchilada sauce but just want to make sure โบ๏ธ Iโll probably make this for dinner tonight!
Yep, it’s red enchilada sauce! Let me know how it goes! ๐
Chicken tortilla soup is my favorite – this sounds like such a delicious new twist!
Thank you!