Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
With tender shredded chicken and and lots of veggies, this Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup is the perfect, easy weeknight recipe.
What Is A Traditional Tortilla Soup?
What Is A Traditional Tortilla Soup?Mexico City is the home of Tortilla Soup, and while the exact origins are unknown, it made its way into California and Texas by the middle of the 1900s. By the 70s and 80s it had become a classic of Tex-Mex (and Mexican) cuisine in the States.
Traditional Mexican Tortilla soup is more of a simple, comfort food soup, made from good chicken stock that has been blended with roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilies, and fried tortilla strips. Often you will find it garnished with bits of toasted chilies and sauteed onion.
But, in the States, you will find it including various meats, beans, and vegetables. Apparently, we tend to throw anything we like into a hearty bowl of soup. And, there's nothing wrong with that!
Our Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
We like things to be easy. And, that is exactly what our adaptation on the classic Tortilla Soup is: hearty and easy.
This soup puts the crock pot to good use by starting off with easy ingredients like whole chicken breast and dry beans. After 6 hours of cooking, you have a house that smells amazing and dinner on the table in just as long as it takes you to shred the tender chicken breast into spoon-sized chunks.
Add some sour cream, salsa, and, of course, crispy bits of tortilla, and you have yourself an easy meal that is full of the flavors of Mexican comfort food.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 c corn
- 1 c black beans, dry
- 1 c pinto beans, dry
- 1 small green pepper, diced
- 2 small jalapenos, diced
- 4 c chicken stock (we prefer low sodium)
- 4 c water
- 1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoon juice)
- 3 tablespoon cornmeal
- 3 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
To Serve (Optional)
- Lime wedges
- Sour Cream
- Tortilla Chips
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a 6 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
- Before serving, remove chicken from the crock pot and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot. Mix well.
- Serve the soup with extra lime, sour cream, or tortilla chips, as desired.
Nutrition
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Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
This soup looks really good. Thought I'd pass along what I use for thickening my Mexican soup/stew/sauce concoctions is masa harina instead of corn meal. I find it gives an authentic hint of tortilla flavor. 1 heaped Tablespoon added to a pot of Chili con Carne knocks it out of the parIt's k! best to make a slurry with small amt warm water or broth but I usually just sprinkle over and whisk lightly til any lumps are gone. They will go away
I'm puzzled with Catherine's comment about flour substitutions as I don't see any all-purpose flour used in the recipe, but the good news is masa harina and cornmeal are gluten free
Thanks for sharing Kim!
Recipe looks really good. Is it possible to replace the unbleached all-purpose flour with a gluten free flour? I have on hand almond flour, amouranth flour,cassava flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, and paleo grain-free baking flour. Would any of these substitute? I'd really like to make it today because I'm working on the Chile right now. Thank you both recipe sound great!
Hi Catherine. We are not too familiar with the thickening properties of gluten free flours. I would probably try the tapioca flour first, since I do know that it will give you some thickening properties. However, I believe you would need to mix the tapioca flour with water and probably add it near the last hour of cooking. If other readers have more experience with this, hopefully they will chime in!