Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Breasts – Boneless skinless chicken breasts are my favorite to use. They’re so easy to shred and cook perfectly with this low and slow method. If you’d rather have dark meat, use chicken thighs instead, just discard the skin and bones once cooked.

Black Beans – Make sure to drain the beans before using them.

Corn – Just like the beans, you’ll want to thoroughly drain the can of corn before using it.

Tomato sauce – make sure to use tomato sauce not tomato paste, those are quite different.

Lime Juice – Freshly squeezed yields the best flavor.

Seasoning – salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and paprika. Use a little more or less of red pepper flakes and chili powder to control the amount of heat in this recipe.

See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Cook the chicken. Combine water, chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns and coriander in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 hours (1). Stir occasionally.

Strain. Set both the chicken and stock aside for now. Strain the stock (2) and discard of the bay leaves and coriander. Once it’s cool enough to handle, shred or dice the chicken.

Sauté the veggies. Heat a pot over medium heat and add onions. Sauté until transparent, then add the tomatoes and cook them for 2-3 minutes (3). Add the garlic and mix well (4). Add the corn and beans and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Add more ingredients. Stir in the cooked chicken. Then, mix in the broth, tomato sauce and seasoning (5, 6).

Cook the soup. Bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat to medium-low or low. Cook for about 45 minutes and stir occasionally (7).

Enjoy! Stir in some freshly squeezed lime juice just before the soup is done (8). Mix well.

Storing Instructions

Always remember to cool the soup to room temperature before storing it and always keep it in the refrigerator. You can store tortilla soup in the the ordinal cooking pot, as long as it has an airtight lid. If not, transfer the soup into an airtight food storage container.

Properly stored, it should be good for 3-4 days. Remember to use a clean ladle to get soup out each time.

Freezing Instructions

Before freezing, it’s best to cool the soup as quickly as possible. The faster it cools and freezes, the less chance for developing bacteria, which affects the shelf life. The best way to cool any soup is to place the pot into a larger container filled with ice. To help it cool faster and evenly, make sure to stir it from time to time as it cools.

Once it’s cooled, you can divide chicken tortilla soup among two or more freezer bags. Get all the air out and close completely. Label the bag with date and name. Place the bags flat on a cutting board and place it in the freezer. Using a cutting board will help keep bags flat and straight as the soup freezes.

Once the soup is frozen, you can remove the cutting board and stack the bags.

When ready to thaw, make sure to pull the frozen soup out of the freezer and into the refrigerator. Slow-thaw it overnight or for up to 24 hours. Reheat in the pot over medium heat until starts to simmer.

To read more about freezing and see step-by-step photos, see this post about freezing.

More Chicken Soup Recipes

• Chicken Tortilla Rice Skillet
• Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
• Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Chicken Gnocchi Soup
• Chicken Meatball Soup

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.