Chicken Tortilla Soup in 16 Minutes, With Strips That Stay Crisp
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It is 6:42 on a Wednesday, the plan has left the building, and the only thing in the fridge that still loves you is a rotisserie chicken. This chicken tortilla soup asks for about 16 minutes and a little commitment, and unlike the last person you swiped right on, it actually shows up.
It is the soup you make after "whatever, you pick" has been said twice.
Smoky from chili powder and cumin, bright from a squeeze of lime, and crowded with black beans, corn and shredded chicken, this is the kind of pot that makes a weeknight feel like it had a plan all along. Cans and a cooked bird do the heavy lifting, which leaves you free for the part that gets the compliments: the toppings. A chicken tortilla soup is a bowl you get to dress up, and that is where a tired Wednesday turns into something you would invite people to.
What you need
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 cup corn
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can black beans
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 lime
- 1 avocado, sliced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 oz corn tortilla strips
- 14 oz chicken thigh
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
How to make it
- Dice the 1 medium yellow onion and mince the 3 cloves garlic. Drain the 15 oz can black beans and the 1 cup corn. Shred 2 cups rotisserie chicken into bite size pieces.
- Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the diced onion and minced garlic 3 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp ground cumin and 1 tbsp chili powder.
- Add the 14 oz can crushed tomatoes, 4 cups chicken broth, drained black beans, and corn to the pot. Bring to a boil then simmer 10 minutes.
- Stir the 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken into the pot and heat through for 3 minutes.
- Stir in juice from the 1 lime plus salt and black pepper to taste.
- Ladle the soup into four bowls. Top each with 1 cup tortilla strips, sliced 1 avocado, and ¼ cup fresh cilantro.
Notes
Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS, and that holds here too. Store the soup on its own and keep the avocado, cilantro and crunchy strips in separate containers, because cut avocado browns and a strip left in broth goes soft.
The soup itself should freeze well if you leave the toppings off. Thaw it in the fridge, reheat it until it is steaming hot, and expect the beans to have drunk up some broth. A splash of water or broth loosens it back up.
Day two can be the better day. Spiced soups often taste rounder after a night in the fridge, a bit like a second date: the nerves are gone and the conversation is easier. Add a fresh squeeze of lime when you reheat it, since the brightness fades first.
This is also the kind of dinner the SwipeCart agent can shop in one pass. Cans, a bird, a lime, an avocado and a handful of herbs make for a very short list, and short lists are a love language.
Swaps that actually work
Leave the chili powder, cumin and lime alone. Together they are what make a chicken tortilla soup taste like itself rather than like chicken soup with corn in it. Almost everything else can move.
Chicken. Any cooked chicken works, so leftover roast chicken is fair game, and so is cooked turkey. Shred it small enough to fit on a spoon with a bean and a kernel of corn.
Corn. Frozen corn, thawed, does the job. So does canned corn, drained.
Beans. Pinto or kidney beans are fine stand-ins. You lose the dark, glossy look of black beans, but the soup still eats well.
Chili powder. Smoked paprika brings smoke without much heat, so add a pinch of cayenne if you want the warmth back. Chili powder blends vary, so taste before you commit to more.
Tortilla strips. Crush a handful of tortilla chips over the top and the bowl still gets its crunch. Strips cut from plain tortillas and crisped in a dry pan also work.
Broth. Vegetable broth with an extra can of beans in place of the chicken gives you a meatless pot. It is a different soup, though, not a copy of this one.
Cilantro. Some people find it tastes like soap. For them, sliced scallions are the rebound: perfectly fine for one night, but you will both know who is missing.
If it goes wrong
The strips turned to mush. They sat in hot broth too long. Put the strips on at the bowl, right before the first spoonful, and if they have already gone soft, crush a fresh handful over the top to bring the crunch back.
It tastes flat. A flat chicken tortilla soup is the culinary version of "I'm fine," and the likely culprit is salt. Add a pinch, stir, taste, then squeeze in more lime if it still sounds like "I'm fine."
It is too thin. Let the pot bubble a few minutes longer without a lid, or press a spoonful of the beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in. They thicken the broth without any flour.
The spices taste dusty. Chili powder and cumin need time in the heat to settle in. If the soup tastes raw and sandy, simmer it a few minutes longer and add a splash of broth if it starts to look dry.
What to serve with it
The default for chicken tortilla soup is a bowl on its own with a lime wedge on the rim, and that is a complete dinner for four. The better version of the default is a cheese quesadilla cut into triangles, which turns soup night into something with a bit more ceremony.
For the thing in the fridge that lifts it, reach for sour cream or a handful of shredded cheese. Either one cools the chili heat and makes the broth silkier.
It reheats well for lunch the next day, which is a good argument for making a full pot even when only two of you are home. Pack it in a thermos, keep the strips in a bag, and pour them in at your desk. If you want a little more party, set out extra lime wedges, a bowl of shredded cheese and whatever hot sauce lives in your door shelf, and let people build their own bowls. Toppings turn a pot of soup into a choose-your-own-adventure, and choosing is the fun part.
Why this one earns its place
Because it rescues the evening when nothing else is going to. A pot of chicken tortilla soup lands on the table in about 16 minutes, with enough toppings that it feels deliberate rather than desperate. Swipe it into your week and the agent can shop the cans, which leaves you the fun part: the chopping of cilantro and the quiet smugness that follows.
If you are building a few easy dinners for the busy days, see our quick weeknight dinner ideas. If the soup has you in a Mexican-food mood, chicken tinga tacos are another smoky, shredded-chicken dinner. And if the weather calls for something gentler, chicken noodle soup is a good rainy-day sibling.
More like this: all Mexican recipes in Crave Corner.