This Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup is a delicious one-pot dinner that’s loaded with Mexican seasonings – it’s ready in just 30 minutes!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – or any other neutral cooking oil like canola oil or avocado oil.
- Yellow onion – white onion or shallots would also work here. You can use red onions but they’ll have a stronger flavour.
- Garlic – fresh minced garlic is best but jarred minced garlic can be used in a pinch.
- Chicken breasts – you could also try using boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Chili powder – make your own using a blend of paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Cumin – coriander would be the best substitute here.
- Paprika – Spanish-smoked paprika is best if you can find it. In a pinch, use more chili powder instead.
- Coriander – if you don’t have any on hand you can leave this out altogether.
- Black beans – swap out for another kind of beans like kidney or pinto beans.
- Frozen corn – you can use canned corn, just stir it in at the end instead of cooking it with the rest of the ingredients.
- Can of diced tomatoes – you can also try using a can of whole peeled tomatoes or crushed tomatoes.
- Chicken broth – vegetable broth will provide a similar flavour.
- Red pepper – use any colour bell pepper of your choice like green, yellow or orange.
- Lime juice – freshly squeezed lime juice is preferred but bottled lime or lemon juice can also be used.
How to make chicken tortilla soup in the Instant Pot
- Add everything to the Instant Pot in order but the red pepper and lime juice.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Shred the chicken breasts.
- Stir in the lime juice and red pepper.
- Serve with your favourite toppings and dig in!
Making it on the stovetop
You can also make this chicken tortilla soup on the stovetop so it’s not exclusive to the Instant Pot alone. Like the Instant Pot instructions, you’ll want to add everything except for your toppings, red pepper and lime juice in a pot on the stovetop. Bring everything to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
Cooking the chicken in the broth with the other ingredients makes it so tender and easy to shred at the end and the added kick of lime juice brings it over the top. Don’t add in the red pepper until the last 5 minutes of cooking time because it does cook super fast. Other than that, it’s super easy!
Frequently Asked Questions
This chicken tortilla soup needs to cook on high pressure for 5 minutes in the Instant Pot. It will take about 15-20 minutes to reach the high-pressure setting on the Instant Pot, so the total cooking time is still just 30 minutes.
I like adding toppings to my soup so it’s basically like a delicious taco in a bowl. Add on some tortilla strips, avocado, lime wedges, cilantro, sour cream, jalapeno and hot sauce – the options are endless. You can also just serve it on its own with some fresh bread.
This recipe is super healthy and is packed full of fresh veggies and chicken breasts. Just make sure you don’t overdo it with the toppings or it can quickly veer towards the unhealthy side! Without any of the toppings or garnishes, this soup has about 258 calories per serving.
Storing and reheating
You can store any leftover soup without the toppings in the fridge for 3 to 4 days in an airtight glass container or even a mason jar. When you’re ready to enjoy, pop the soup in the microwave for a couple pf minutes or reheat it on the stovetop then garnish with fresh toppings and dig in.
Freezing this recipe
One of the great things about this soup is that you can freeze it for up to 3 months and reheat in the microwave! I usually use these individual serving-size glass bowls that come with lids on them so it’s super simple to grab a soup out of the freezer and then reheat it for 7-8 minutes in the microwave. Talk about an easy dinner idea!
More Instant Pot soup recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing leftover soup.
- I get all my chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 medium-sized chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika (Spanish smoked paprika tastes best but regular paprika is fine!)
- 1 tsp coriander (optional)
- 1 can black beans
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 (796mL) can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2 tsp lime juice
Toppings
- Tortilla strips
- Lime wedges
- avocado, sliced
- Cilantro
- Jalapeno
Instructions
- Add everything to Instant Pot in order listed above except for red pepper and lime juice. Press the pressure cook button and select the high setting, then set to cook for 5 minutes – Instant Pot will take about 15-20 minutes to preheat then the 5 minutes to pressure cook.
- Do a quick release of the pressure by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon, then open lid when safe to do so. Shred chicken breasts, then stir in lime juice and red pepper.
- Serve in bowls and top with toppings – add as many or as little as you want, the choice is yours! Enjoy!
- NOTE: This soup will keep in the fridge up to 5 days. Alternatively, you can freeze it in small glass bowls (individual serving size is best) and reheat each bowl in the microwave for 7-8 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
Notes
Nutrition
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