Description
This Easy Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup is a hearty and flavorful dish perfect for a comforting meal. It features tender shredded chicken simmered with aromatic vegetables, spices, and tangy tomatoes, enriched by crispy tortilla strips and fresh cilantro. Customize with your favorite toppings such as avocado, cheese, and sour cream for a delicious and satisfying soup.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
- 4 carrots, thinly sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 large (or 3 small) chicken breast halves, bone-in, skin-on
- 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 4 corn tortillas, thinly sliced into strips
Toppings (Optional)
- Chopped avocado
- Tortilla chips
- Shredded cheese (e.g., cheddar or Monterey Jack)
- Lime wedges
- Sour cream
- Additional fresh cilantro
- Sliced jalapeño
Instructions
- Sauté Vegetables: Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, celery, and carrots, sautéing until softened and fragrant, about 8 minutes.
- Add Aromatics and Spices: Stir in chopped garlic, jalapeño, ground cumin, and ground coriander, cooking for another 2 minutes to release their flavors.
- Add Chicken and Liquids: Place the chicken breasts into the pot, seasoning them generously with salt and pepper. Pour the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes over the chicken until it is fully submerged; add water if needed to cover. Stir in chopped cilantro and sliced corn tortillas.
- Simmer Soup: Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Shred Chicken: Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and let them cool slightly on a cutting board. Once cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones, then shred the meat using two forks or a stand mixer for convenience.
- Combine and Reheat: Return the shredded chicken to the soup pot. Stir well and rewarm the soup over low heat if needed.
- Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls and offer toppings such as chopped avocado, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, lime wedges, sour cream, extra cilantro, and sliced jalapeño so everyone can customize their own bowl.
Notes
- For a spicier soup, keep the seeds in the jalapeño or add extra jalapeño slices as a topping.
- You can substitute bone-in chicken with boneless if preferred, but bone-in adds more flavor to the broth.
- If you don’t have fresh tortillas, you can use store-bought tortilla chips as a garnish instead.
- Leftover soup keeps well refrigerated for up to 3 days and freezes beautifully.
- For a thicker soup, pulse some of the soup in a blender and stir it back into the pot.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 280
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 650mg
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 30g
- Cholesterol: 75mg
