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    5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup

    September 16, 2024

    This streamlined, five-ingredient tortilla soup is built mostly from pantry ingredients and quick, easy and satisfying.

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    5 ingredient chicken tortilla soup in a bowl with cilantro and sour cream

    Staying Home Is Weird. But This Soup is Delicious.

    Can you be bored and overwhelmed at the same time? Turns out, YES. Yes you can. That’s why we’re reaching for recipes that require almost-no prep work (or brain power) and offer quick comfort, like this five-ingredient chicken tortilla soup! Built mostly from pantry ingredients, it’s easy, ultra-fast and satisfying. Because honestly, you need some down time right now!

    ingredients laid out for 5 ingredient chicken tortilla soup stock, rotisserie chicken, canned tomatoes enchilada sauce

    15 Minutes + Five Ingredients. You Can Handle That!

    If you can get your hands on a rotisserie chicken, this soup will be incredibly fast. However, you can also use any cooked chicken that’s available—you could even just use some poached chicken breasts. For another riff on this flavorful soup, check out our classic Chicken Tortilla Soup. Whatever works! Here are the five ingredients you’ll need for this easy tortilla soup:

    • Chicken stock
    • Rotisserie chicken, shredded
    • Canned red enchilada sauce
    • Canned tomatoes. We used diced, fire-roasted.
    • Canned creamed or sweet corn
    corn, chicken stock, shredded rotisserie chicken, canned tomatoes and enchilada sauce in a soup pot.
    corn, chicken stock, shredded rotisserie chicken, canned tomatoes and enchilada sauce mixed together in a soup pot.

    How To Make the Easiest Tortilla Soup EVER.

    We’ve shared a lot of super easy soup recipes over the years, but this one is a contender for our easiest, fasted soup recipe ever. Grab a few cans from the pantry and get a stock pot simmering. You’ll be slurping a big bowl of tortilla soup in no time! Our super fast, five-ingredient chicken tortilla soup recipe is as easy as:

    1. Dump all of the ingredients—shredded chicken, corn, enchilada sauce, tomatoes and stock—into a big pot.
    2. Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes so the flavors meld, and the chicken gets infused with the wonderful Mexican spices in the enchilada sauce.
    3. Serve! Ladle into bowls and dig in.
    5 ingredient chicken tortilla soup in a bowl with cilantro and sour cream

    Garnish, Garnish, Garnish.

    While you could totally enjoy a bowl of this bare-bones soup as-is, what really makes it great is a good garnish! The rule of this garnish game is there are no rules! Use what you’ve got and use what you love! We love to dress it up with:

    • A squeeze of lime juice
    • Sour cream
    • Shredded cheddar cheese
    • Avocado
    • Tortilla chips
    • cilantro
    5 ingredient chicken tortilla soup in a bowl with cilantro and sour cream

    Tools You’ll Need

    More Easy Soup Recipes:

    Super easy, freeze-able and no fussy ingredients, these four soup recipes are on our to-make list right now:

    5 ingredient chicken tortilla soup in a bowl with cilantro and sour cream

    How Are You?

    How are you doing? We’re working hard to bring you recipes that work hard for you during these strange days. We hope that easy pantry-focused recipes like this can lighten your load a bit. If you make this tortilla soup, let us know! Snap a photo of your soup and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!

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    5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup

    Updated on September 16, 2024

    • Serves:  4
    • Prep Time:  15 min
    • Cook Time:  15 min
    • Calories:  388
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    Ingredients

    • 4 cups chicken stock
    • 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
    • 1 (19 oz) can red enchilada sauce
    • 1 (14 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes, diced
    • 1 (14 oz) can sweet corn, drained (or canned creamed corn)

    Method

    1. Place all ingredients into a large soup pot and bring to a boil.
    2. Simmer for 15 minutes.
    3. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with your favorite fixings: lime juice, sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado, chips etc.

    Nutrition Info

    • Per Serving
    • Amount
    • Calories 388
    • Protein 29 g
    • Carbohydrates 39 g
    • Total Fat 17 g
    • Dietary Fiber 4 g
    • Cholesterol 0 mg
    • sodium 317 mg
    • Total Sugars 10 g

    5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup

    Questions & Reviews

    Join the discussion below.

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    • Chele

      Should I place tortilla chips in the bowl, then ladle the soup over it? Or use cut up corn tortillas stirred in? Not sure how to make this truly chicken tortilla soup. Thanks!

      We top it with crushed up tortilla chips but you could also ladle soup on top of the chips if you prefer. Hope you enjoy!

    • Mikenna

      Can I substitute the rotisserie chicken for chicken breast? Also, can I make this in the crock pot?

      Yes, you can use chicken breast. We are sure you could do it in the crock pot but we don't have specific instructions for that.

    • scott

      is the red enchilada sauce real spicy. i only like a little spicey. could i substitute green?

      If you buy mid enchilada sauce it shouldn't be very spicy but feel free to substitute green. It will still be delicious.

    • Ashlee

      Would you cover the pot at anytime?

      No need to cover the pot, hope you enjoy Ashlee!

    • James

      Can I use taco sauce instead of enchilada sauce

      Hi James, it won't have the same flavor profile or be as flavorful in general but you could use the taco sauce as a substitute.

    • ks1986

      I tried this recipe following it exactly and opted to use a can of creamed corn rather than sweet corn when the option was presented. It just sounded too weird to not try and I like my soup on the thicker side and felt this would help.
      It actually turned out pretty amazing! I would have never guessed so few ingredients were used as I've tried complex and painstaking tortilla soup recipes only for them to end up flavorless. Will def make this regularly.

      Thanks so much, we are so happy you loved this recipe!

    • Carmen

      We were pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this soup, when it was such a simple recipe. We served it with tortilla chips and sour cream. It was a great hit with the kids, as well

      That's so great Carmen, glad everyone loved it!

    • Bev

      This is an excellent recipe! I substituted four chicken breasts for the rotisserie chicken. I also added chopped green onion while it simmered. We topped with chopped avocado. We will have it often at our house.

      We are so glad you liked it Bev, this is a favorite in our homes!

    • Hailee

      Made this recipe multiple times! Great for a quick meal! Definitely one of our favorite.

      Yay, love hearing that!

    • Justyna

      Love this soup! I’ve made a handful of your other recipes so I knew this should be a delicious soup but I didn’t think about how EASY it would be! This is going to be my go-to for when I don’t want to cook but don’t want to get take out. Everyone, including my picky toddler, enjoyed it 🙂

      yes! That is a win!