Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup in Slow Cooker

For a dump and go kind of meal, try this easy chicken tortilla soup that you make in the slow cooker. Full of flavor with shredded chicken, beans, corn and super savory broth. Then you add all kinds of tasty toppings. Great for busy weeknight dinners or for feeding a crowd.

Check out all of these easy slow cooker recipes.

My son has been stuck with doing remote learning this past month and I’ve been finding myself cooking more and more for him and my husband since they are home all day. Because they both love Mexican I thought I’d make this slow cooker chicken tortilla soup and it was a huge success!

I liked it because it’s really just pouring a few different cans of ingredients and laying the chicken breasts in the soup to cook. There really wasn’t any chopping. The chicken cooks in the flavorful broth and when it’s done, you take it out, shredded and put it back in.

It’s so easy to make and it’s nice that they can grab a big bowl of soup for lunch that is so hearty and delicious. And if I’m making this for dinner, I just make s a few quick quesadillas to serve with it along with a green salad. 

I also made homemade tortilla strips in the air fryer but I have instructions on how to do it in the oven. Also you can just crumble up some store bought tortilla chips if you want. 

Recipe ingredients I used.

As I mentioned above there wasn’t really any chopping in this recipe. Everything was from a can, jar or other container from the grocery store. The simple ingredients I used were boneless skinless chicken breasts (could also use chicken thighs if you wanted), chicken stock, jar salsa, black beans, frozen corn kernels, canned pumpkin, canned tomatoes with chiles, fresh garlic, chili powder and cumin.

I used the chunky salsa because I figured it would have the vegetables like yellow onions and bell peppers in it as well as add some spice to the dish. The pumpkin gives it a richer flavor and even thickens it a bit.

And the tomatoes are the ones from the Mexican section of the grocery store. It’s diced tomatoes and chiles. You can always substitute regular diced tomatoes and maybe add a bit of heat with hot pepper flakes or even some chopped green chiles.

Note you could use rotisserie chicken in this recipe if you want. However you really wouldn’t need to use the slow cooker. You could make everything in a big pot or dutch oven on the stove and add the cooked rotisserie chicken at the end.  

How to make easy chicken tortilla soup in the slow cooker.

Step 1: Get out the slow cooker and pour in the broth, salsa, pumpkin, corn, black beans, tomatoes, garlic and spices. Mix well.

Step 2: Place the chicken breasts in the soup and put the lid on.

Step 3: Cook on low for about 4 ½ hours or until the chicken breast is completely cooked. Cooking time may vary.

Step 4: ake the chicken out and place in a bowl. Shred chicken then put it back into the soup and let it cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Step 5: And that is all there is to it. Ladle the soup into bowls and then top it with your favorite toppings. Scroll down to learn how to make tortilla strips in the air fryer.

Store leftovers in an airtight container. Or place it in freezer safe containers and freeze for another day.

Delicious toppings to try on your soup!

My family loves the crispy tortilla strips on their soup so I quickly made some with a couple of corn tortillas. You could also make these with flour tortillas or just buy them. If you want really crunchy tortilla strips use the corn. It has more flavor and holds up better in the soup.

Additional toppings to try are sour cream, fresh cilantro leaves, fresh jalapeno pepper slices, pickled jalapenos, diced avocado, sliced black olives, green onions, hot sauce, cheddar cheese or Mexican shredded cheese, etc.

You can also serve with lime wedges and squeeze a bit of fresh lime juice into your bowl before eating.

How to make the crunchy homemade tortilla strips.

To make tortilla strips all you need is a few corn tortillas, cooking spray and salt.

1. Stack a couple corn tortillas then cut in half. Add the halves on top of each other and cut into strips small enough to fit into a bowl of the soup.
2. Place them in a bowl and spray them with nonstick cooking spray or use a little oil and mix well.
3. Spray the basket of the air fryer and spread out the strips. Sprinkle liberally with salt and bake at 350°F for about 4-6 minutes. Start checking at 4 minutes, give them a shake and cook until they are brown and crispy.
4. Let cool before serving.

To make them in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the strips with oil and spread out on a baking sheet that is sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle salt all over the strips and bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown and crunchy. Note cooking time may vary.

More easy Mexican recipes to try.

• street corn salad and Mexican spicy corn side dish
• Mexican bean salad
• Instant Pot burrito lasagna
• spicy red lentils or veggie bean burritos
• easy chicken enchiladas
• oven chili quesadillas and slow cooker chili
• poblano corn soup
• chicken burrito casserole
• fish tacos and taco salad

So that is my super easy chicken tortilla soup recipe that you can make in a slow cooker or crock pot. This is definitely going into our regular rotation as we all loved it and because it was so quick and easy to make. I hope you enjoy it too!