Chicken Tortilla Soup
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Not your typical chicken tortilla soup, this creamy, flavor-packed version is a hearty blend of veggies, broth, and corn tortillas. It’s a meal in itself, especially topped with corn, sour cream, avocado, or your favorite seasonal add-ins.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Whenever we visit my parents in Longboat Key, Florida, we have dinner at Tommy Bahama. The food is always good, and we love sitting around a big table under gently spinning wicker fans, listening to a one-man band play endless Jimmy Buffet tunes. While we all have our favorites at Tommy’s, the dish we unanimously love is the chicken tortilla soup. Unlike the typical tomato and broth-based varieties, it’s a hearty, creamy blend of puréed vegetables, broth, and corn tortillas—a combination that, in my opinion, beats the standard version by a mile.
This is my take on Tommy’s tortilla soup. At the restaurant, they garnish it with grilled chicken, charred corn, and a drizzle of crema. Feel free to add these or your own favorite toppings—diced avocado, beans, pico de gallo, and cilantro would all be great additions.
“Delicious recipe! I added chicken & topped with fresh pico and tortilla strips. It was a meal!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Olive Oil and Butter: Used for sautéing the vegetables and also add flavor to the soup.
- Onions, Garlic, Green Bell Pepper: These aromatic vegetables are essential for the soup’s base flavor. They add sweetness, depth, and a slight bite.
- All-purpose Flour: Acts as a thickening agent for the soup, giving it a more substantial texture.
- Chicken Broth: Serves as the liquid base of the soup, providing depth, richness, and body.
- Corn Tortillas: Thicken the soup and add a traditional corn flavor.
- Cumin, Chili Powder, and Cayenne Pepper: These spices add warmth, heat, and a smoky flavor.
- Chicken, Avocado, Corn, Beans, Cilantro, Sour Cream: Optional add-ins to customize your soup.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by heating the oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and green pepper.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. (Turn the heat to medium-low if the mixture is browning too quickly.)
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
Add the chicken broth, cut tortillas, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne.
Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Off the heat, then use a handheld immersion blender to purée the soup until completely smooth.
If you don’t have a hand-held blender, let the soup cool slightly and use a standard blender to purée in batches. Be sure to remove the center knob on the blender top and cover with a dish towel to avoid splatters.
Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Stir in the chicken, if using, then ladle the soup into bowls and serve with optional additions. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Chicken tortilla soup will keep nicely in the fridge for up to 4 days. It may thicken up while refrigerated, so add a bit of water or chicken broth when reheating to thin it out as necessary.
Yes, the soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat on the stovetop over medium heat, thinning it with a bit of broth or water if necessary.
Yes, you can easily make this soup vegetarian by substituting the chicken broth with vegetable broth and omitting the chicken. You can add more vegetables like zucchini or carrots, or black beans to keep the soup hearty and fulfilling.
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Chicken Tortilla Soup
Not your typical chicken tortilla soup, this creamy, flavor-packed version is a hearty blend of veggies, broth, and corn tortillas. It’s a meal in itself, especially topped with corn, sour cream, avocado, or your favorite seasonal add-ins.
Ingredients
For Soup
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped (about 2½ cups)
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into quarters
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 6 cups chicken broth (best quality such as Swanson)
- 6 small (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Optional Additions
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftovers
- Sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, corn, cilantro, avocado, black beans, lime wedges
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and green pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. (Turn the heat to medium-low if the mixture is browning too quickly.)
- Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, cut tortillas, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat, then use a handheld immersion blender to purée the soup until completely smooth. (Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and use a blender to purée in batches. Be sure to remove the center knob on the blender top and cover with a dish towel to avoid splatters.) Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Stir in the chicken, if using, then ladle the soup into bowls and serve with optional additions.
- Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be made up to 4 days ahead of time and refrigerated, or frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. The soup may thicken during storage, so add a bit of water or chicken broth to thin it out while reheating, if necessary.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Serving size: 1 bowl (does not include toppings)
- Calories: 328
- Fat: 21 g
- Saturated fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Sugar: 6 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 9 g
- Sodium: 579 mg
- Cholesterol: 28 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Wowie-wow-wow! This was delicious! Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this again and really, can’t put into words how much I love this! It does not taste easy! I’m seriously dreaming about it… come to think of it, I might have a problem… It’s full-bodied, easy to customize and packed with flavor. I have added beans & corn. I have pulled out some of the dice before blending it and adding it back in, so it has some extra ‘junk.’ I’ve served it with all the garnishes and with only a few. I’m bringing it to a neighborhood Halloween party. I expect to bring home an empty crock pot! We will be eating this until May! Thanks again!
Fantastic! Didn’t change a thing! This will become a regular on my menu. Chopped up some chicken for my toddler and he loved it. Love that you can be pretty careless with how big you chop up your veggies because you’ll puree them in the end anyway. Thanks Jenn!
This is the BEST Chicken Tortilla Soup I have EVER eaten! Absolutley fabulous. The only thing I changed was substituting a Sweet Red Pepper for the Green Bell Pepper.
Make this soup the day before you eat it…it develops and marries all the flavors…I added a few shakes of crystal hot sauce (crystal gives depth,but isnt all that hot).
Also added a dollop of sour cream to the garnish, with four blend shredded mexican flavor cheese…and chopped rotisserie chicken as it was our main course…..fabulous!
Loved how easy it was to make on a workday! The corn tortillas added a nice flavor and a satisfyingly thick texture. I added just a dash of red pepper flakes. This is now a family favorite!
Delicious, fun, festive, and a family favorite!
The immersion blender makes these soups so easy to make. Transferring to a blender is a hassle and you can find an immersion blender that will get the job done for $30.
Hi Jenn. This soup sounds absolutely delicious and I would love to make it tomorrow night for dinner (with the garnishments and all)! I do not have an immersion blender and will need to put the soup in my kitchenaid blender. Does the entire pot of soup need to be blended? I’m guessing 2 cups at a time?
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Aminah, This is one of my favorites — you will love it! Yes, the whole soup does need to be blended. You can do it a few cups at a time; just be sure the hole is open in the lid to allow the steam to escape and cover with a dish towel.
I was pleasantly surprised to find this was so easy to make and so very delicious! I will surely make this again.
My daughter has a peanut allergy and with the recent recall of cumin due to contamination with peanut proteins, I was wondering whether that spice could be omitted or substituted?
Hi Julie, I’m afraid the soup might be a little bland without the cumin, as it’s the main seasoning in the soup, but you could try substitute more chili powder and some ground coriander.
This soup is easy to make and extremely flavorful! The butter in it gives a very rich taste. The soup was good without anything in it but my husband loved it filled with chicken, cilantro and avocado.
I made this soup for a friend who came out of the hospital and had strict dietary restrictions. He, and his family, loved it! I loved it too, I didn’t know I liked tortilla soup! Super easy and quick as well.
I made a double recipe of this soup to serve to the crowd after a snowshoe race today. It was delicious and the optional toppings were fun, especially for a larger group with varying tastes. I made it exactly as written, and serve with avocado, cilantro, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips (plain and spicy). I will definitely make it again, but will probably try reducing (or even leaving out) the butter; I think it would still be great with the lower fat content.
Another hit! I made this last night, to rave reviews from my husband and three kids (ages 13, 10 and 8 — although it was a little spicy for the youngest). In our house, we rate new recipes as “keepers” or not, and this goes in the keeper pile. I served with homemade corn muffins, hot out of the oven.
I made this soup with a few changes. Decreased the fat to 1TBSP oil, 1TBSP butter, omitted all the added salt and let guests add their own (plenty of salt in the broth), and used leftover turkey instead of chicken. As suggested, added avocado and cilantro and chips. It was really great. Made my own tortilla strips by cutting corn tortillas and baking at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.
What a great way to use leftover turkey. Thanks, Karen!
I was recently in Maui and we ate at Tommy Bahama’s in Wailea. Had this soup and searched for the recipe the day after we got home it was that good. THANKS 🙂 Gonna try to make it very soon
This is my husband’s favorite soup! I add just a little extra chili powder because he likes it spicy!
Last year I had tortilla soup at Tommy Bahama’s in Scottsdale,AZ.
It was so delicious, I had to find the recipe. The recipe Jenn has posted here is it! This soup is so easy to prepare, tasty, healthy and loved by my family.
I cut up corn tortillas and bake the strips to use as a garnish. Chopped avocado in the soup is my favorite! It’s so easy to keep ingredients on hand.
This is amazing! Family loved it and so did my coworkers when I took it the next day. i didn’t purée just simmered for hours. Still amazing! Thanks.
This is a real winner!! I make it often. I garnish with shredded cheddar and chopped cilantro.
Thank you Jenn! Can’t wait to make it:)))
This soup is flawless and spectacular! If you like Chicken Tortilla Soup – this is the recipe you’ve been looking for! I squeeze a little lime on top and add a nice dollop of sour cream (in addition to the avocado and tortilla chips). Make this soup! You will not be disappointed!
Thank you Jenn! I also can’t eat bell peppers any more:( any flavor suggestions? Will it be boring without it?
Tami, It will still be good. I would just substitute another vegetable, like a carrot.
Hi, this soup sounds fantastic! I can’t eat nightshades: red pepper, cayenne, chili. Any substitutes you can think of?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Tami, You can just leave out the cayenne and chili powder. It won’t make a big difference. You might add a 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano and some other form of heat. Not sure if you can have jalapeño peppers, but you could add one with the green peppers in the beginning if you’d like the soup to be spicy (add the seeds at your discretion – that’s where most of the heat is).
May I suggest poaching the chicken breast in 4 cups of water, with a bay leaf and some whole pepper corns, instead of baking it. That’s what I did, and used the poaching water for 1/2 of the stock. Fantastic recipe thank you.
Would not change a thing. Awesome soup
I made this and was so proud , it looked so good before puréed I hated to do it but it was worth it! Yum!!
I had this soup at Tommy Bahama in Manhattan, NY on Sunday. When I got home I looked for the recipe and found yours. Delicious, just like Tommy Bahamas. Evelyn
I’ve made this soup three times in the last month and it’s been so delicious every time!
I have Celiac Disease, so I substitute 3 cubes of gluten-free chicken bouillon + 8 cups of water (instead of the boxed chicken stock) and use a dash of ground fresh chili paste instead of the chili powder. I’ve also started cutting back on the amount of butter – the last batch I made used only 2T and there was no discernible change in taste.
A BIG winner in our house! Thanks, Jenn!
I loved the tortilla soup. I’ve never been to the Tommy Bahama restaurant so I couldn’t compare it to that, but it was better than the ones I tried in Arizona and New Mexico.
This soup is delicious. We’ll be going to Lido Beach at the end of July and can’t wait to eat at Tommy Bahamas.
Hands down, the absolute best tortilla soup recipe on the planet! E.V.E.R.
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been making this soup for a year now and every time I make it, I think about eating at the Tommy Bahama restaurant in Naples, FL.
This soup is so easy yet the flavor is huge. Whenever I have a baked chicken on hand, this is the first recipe I think about for the leftovers.
Thanks!
One of my favorite soups. Can’t wait to try your version!
Yum!!
We love Tommy Bahamas in Long Boat Key. I was excited to try this soup and was very happy I did! Delicious.
I love the creaminess and richness of this soup. It is also very good with chicken and tortilla chips.
This soup is so good & so easy.
I get so many compliments every time I make it. The corn tortillas give the perfect amount of thickness. A Costco rotisserie chicken is perfect to add at the end. Yummy!
my family loves this recipe! delish!
All I can say is YUM!! One of my favorite things in cold weather- soup and Mexican food and with this recipe I get both!! 🙂
I love this soup and how easy it is to make!
This was SOOO good!!! My husband was raving about it the whole time he was eating, and he asked me to make it again when we have company tomorrow. I broiled some boneless, skinless chicken breasts (which only took about 15 minutes), shredded them, and added them in at the end. Thank you so much for another winning recipe, Jenn!!!
The stock of this soup looks delicomma and I plan to make it tonight. For my taste I think I’ll add roasted corn and black beans along with the chicken. I’ll let you know how the final product tastes!
I love this soup!
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks.
We make a very similar soup.
No added salt or butter, but we add skinless chicken to soup while it simmers with chopped cilantro stems and a can of enchilada sauce. Remove the chicken and puree soup. Shred chicken and add to soup, top with chopped cilantro leaves, tortilla chips, avacado, jalapenos…
We made this soup last night, preparing for the snow storm. It is FANTASTIC! We love the blend of flavors. I’ll definitely be making this recipe again, soon. Great for lunch the next day too.
The soup was good! Very tasty…I loved it with the avocado — really balanced out the flavor. I brought some on for lunch today 🙂
I love St Armands Circle and my husband loves his Tommy shirts. This soup looks wonderful..perfectly soul warming
Tommy Bahamas is my Favorite restaurant in Long Boat Key as well! I am obsessed with their fish tacos, if you get a chance try them next time
Hello, love your blog and this is a great recipe!
Have you ever blog hopped before? We’d love it if you contributed this awesome soup recipe, it’s a great way to get links back to your site. Really easy too.
You can check out our blog hop here:
http://blog.recipelion.com/fabulous-food-friday-january-blog-hop/
Thanks,
Sarah
Editor
RecipeLion.com
blog.recipelion.com