If this Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup isn’t the easiest and best one you’ve had, send me your favorite recipe because this one will be hard to beat. This is an authentic Mexican recipe for your pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup | Easy, Delicious and Authentic!
I have simplified my previously simple chicken tortilla Soup Recipe even more, by cooking it all in one step, in the Instant Pot, but without compromising the flavor.
There’s really only one manual step, but this one is an important one: It’s essential to sauté the vegetables until they thicken.
This will take at most 10 minutes, but will add a world of flavor to your Chicken Tortilla soup.
This is without a doubt a robust, spicy soup. If you need a milder version, you should cut down on the canned chipotle chile, but as this brings a lot of flavor to the soup, it may make it a little less flavorful.
I have also used fewer tortillas than other people use because I’m trying to keep it a little low carb, but I don’t think you’ll miss them in this super full-bodied soup.
Looking for more great soup recipes? Check out my Poblano Chicken Soup! It’s a delightful low carb soup that’s easily made in your Instant Pot!
Another great soup recipe is my Instant Pot Cioppino Seafood Stew. If you’re a fan of seafood, your going to fall in love with this stew recipe!
So the next time you’re looking for a simply, delicious and filling soup recipe, make this flavorful Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup! It’s easy, bursting with flavor and done in under 30 minutes.
The steps for this recipe are:
- Blend vegetables together
- Stir and thicken them for 10 minutes
- Cook everything together at high pressure for 20 minutes
- Shred chicken and add back
- Eat
You may also want to check out my Keto Instant Pot Cookbook–the only Keto Cookbook authorized by Instant Pot. This cookbook is full of delicious recipes that even your non-keto Family will love.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! Just click on the stars in the recipe card to rate.
This Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup will be the easiest and best one you've had! Make an authentic Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup in your Instant Pot!
- 1/2 cup onion, roughly chopped
- 1 cup Tomatoes chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce from can with 1 teaspoon sauce (1 chili, not one can)
- 1/2 Jalapeño pepper
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
- 1-2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoons oil
- 2 large chicken boneless skinless breasts
- 4 cups water
- 2 corn tortillas, cut into small pieces (optional)
- Sliced Avocado
- Chopped Green onions
- Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
- Sliced Jalapenos
- Tortilla Strips
- Sour Cream
- Cilantro
- In a blender, blend together onion, tomatoes, garlic, chipotle chili, jalapeno, salt, and cilantro.
Turn your electric Instant Pot on to Sauté, and when it is hot, add the oil.
- Once the oil starts shimmering, pour in the blended vegetables and stir well. Keep stirring on and off for 10 minutes until the sauce is relatively thickened.
Add in 4 cups of water, and if you're using the corn tortillas to thicken, add them now.
Add in chicken breast cut into big pieces (you'll need to fish them out to shred them later).
Set your Instant Pot to manual, High Pressure 20 minutes and let it release pressure naturally for 10 minutes. Release all remaining pressure when finished
Remove and shred the chicken, add back, and serve with cheese, slices of avocado, corn tortilla strips or other garnishes.
Nutritional info does not include garnishes
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating above! Just click on the stars in the recipe card to rate.
I am not a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information is provided a courtesy, and can vary depending on the exact ingredients you use.
Oh also? If you want to see the CUTEST little chef ever making this soup, you must check out my little 3-year old buddy Sam making this Chicken Tortilla Soup with her mom.
d_patterson says
September 24, 2018 at 8:26 pmThis may be the CT soup I have ever tasted. Followed the recipe to the letter with the exception of using canned tomatoes in chipotle. Looking forward to making this many times over especially now that the weather will be getting colder. Thanks for sharing!!
Adina says
May 7, 2018 at 9:09 pmI made this over the weekend for Cinco de Mayo, and it was so easy and tasted great! The only change I made was instead of 1 cup of tomatoes, I used 1 cup of salsa that I had in the fridge. The salsa made the soup extra spicy, but that’s totally fine with me! I just added a dollup of sour cream when serving to cut down on the heat. Tip: this freezes well.
Marie says
May 6, 2018 at 10:29 amQuestion, I have cooked recipes that include shredded chicken for 8min and then NPR for 10min. It shreds perfectly. I am curious about the 20min cook time.
URVASHI PITRE says
May 6, 2018 at 4:02 pmIt’s really more to get maximum flavor into the broth. You can try a shorter cook time. But this recipe is very popular just as written.
Sarah says
April 27, 2018 at 2:47 pmCan I use frozen chicken breast in this recipe? If so how would you alter the cooking time?
URVASHI PITRE says
April 27, 2018 at 4:23 pmAs long as they were individually frozen pieces you wouldn’t alter the time under pressure.
Christina says
March 15, 2018 at 9:18 pmThis made a lovely pot of soup! I used frozen thigh meat (what I had) and it took quite a while (30 min) to come to pressure even after the vegetable saute phase. We finished it off with lemon, avocado and baked tortilla strips. I really liked the adobo flavoring. Thanks for another great recipe!
Christie says
February 20, 2018 at 9:12 pmMy family and I loved this recipe. I didn’t want the soup to be too spicy so I just use the Chipotle chile and left out the jalapeno. The soup still had quite a kick to it.
Tammy Jones says
February 4, 2018 at 9:02 pmI Love this soup. I make it at least every two weeks so I have some for lunches during the week. Sometimes i sub chicken broth or pickled jalapenos. It always turns out great. Servings are large and low calorie.
Rebecca says
February 3, 2018 at 8:23 pmAbsolutely wonderful. A great recipe
Neefer says
February 2, 2018 at 3:22 amOMG this Chicken Tortilla Soup is ah-maze-ing! (For those of us who are Keto, I’m considering the 9g per serving carb hit is totaly worth it to get that slight hint of corn tortilla flavor in every bite, and to thicken it up just enough to be soupy instead of watery.)
I didn’t even top it with anything — just slurped it down. Realistically serves 4, especially if you add lots of toppings. I was able to get about 2.75 ladle-fulls per serving, and I’m stuffed. Definitely another winner here!
It has quite a kick — though less of a kick than the Texas Chili. Spicy food avoiders will probably want to cut down the Chipotles in Adobo by half. But do keep some in, because the flavor they add is excellent!
Sally says
February 1, 2018 at 12:43 pmLoved this super easy tasty recipe!! It was the perfect amount of flavor. The technique of blending the vegetables made for a good secret way to get my kids to eat it. Thank you for sharing. Keep them coming!
Jan says
February 1, 2018 at 12:37 pmI made the soup last weekend, following instructions to the letter, and it was delicious. Very quick, easy and healthy—and everyone in my house liked it!
Krissy says
January 31, 2018 at 2:11 pmI have to admit I was a bit disappointed. I did exactly as the recipe said (left out the tortillas but did tortilla strips on top). I thought it was very bland and it needed a lot of enhancements (avocado, salsa, onion, cilantro, etc). It didn’t taste BAD, but just…. bland and boring.
URVASHI PITRE says
January 31, 2018 at 2:13 pmSo that surprises me as it is actually very full bodied and bursting with flavor typically. Let’s troubleshoot this. Did you Brown the veggies? Did you use good quality chipotle Chile? Did you remember to get some of the adobo sauce? The majority of the flavor comes from those three things
Lorna says
April 25, 2018 at 10:26 pmSo maybe I am blind, but I don’t see anything about browning the vegetables? Only reducing them.
Anna Rubin says
January 28, 2018 at 2:29 pmI have now made this soup many times and coworkers are now requesting I bring it to work! Question… If I double the recipe, do I literally just double everything? Thanks for your help and this remarkable recipe!
URVASHI PITRE says
January 28, 2018 at 3:21 pmYes double everything except time under pressure which stays the same
Kat says
January 20, 2018 at 2:37 pmWhat is your suggestion if the chicken is already cooked?do the liquid ingredients change at all?
URVASHI PITRE says
January 20, 2018 at 5:27 pmThey would but honestly I’m not sure how much
Lynae says
January 13, 2018 at 1:47 pmIf I double the batch – do I have to double the time?
URVASHI PITRE says
January 13, 2018 at 4:32 pmNo you don’t
Mary says
January 9, 2018 at 1:09 pmMy fiance said this was the best chicken tortilla (sans tortilla) soup I’ve ever made, and I agree! I left out the tortillas and used chicken broth instead of water but otherwise followed the recipe to a T and it was soo amazing. Thank you!!
URVASHI PITRE says
January 9, 2018 at 4:03 pmYour fiancé has good taste clearly haha! glad you guys liked it.
Cilka says
January 4, 2018 at 10:24 pmOh one more question – can I substitute the water for chicken broth? I like chicken broth a lot, but I don’t want to ruin the recipe. Thanks!
URVASHI PITRE says
January 5, 2018 at 12:03 amYou can use either without ruining this very flexible recipe. Canned tomatoes are what I typically use as well, since they’re reliably flavorful.
Cilka says
January 4, 2018 at 10:15 pmCan I use canned diced tomatoes or do they need to be fresh? The tomatoes in my supermarket are not very good, sadly, and I feel the taste of the soup probably has a lot to do with the taste of the tomatoes.
Greg M. says
December 20, 2017 at 11:24 pmDidn’t have any jalapeno or fresh tomato, so substituted a drained can of Rotels. Also didn’t have corn tortillas, used flour. Had to add about 2 tbsp on saute at the finish to thicken. THIS WAS FANTASTIC!
URVASHI PITRE says
December 20, 2017 at 11:28 pmYay! I’m so glad to hear that!
Amy Willard says
December 20, 2017 at 5:45 pmI got my Instant Pot a few weeks ago and this is the best recipe I have made so far. I like spicy stuff so I put the whole can of chilis in adobo sauce in and substituted the water with chicken broth. This is the best chicken tortilla soup I’ve ever had. I also plan on using the first step of blending the veggies when I just want to make a fresh salsa.
URVASHI PITRE says
December 20, 2017 at 8:47 pmNice!! I’m so happy to hear that!
Jeanette says
December 10, 2017 at 1:01 amThis was my first attempt at tortilla soup, and it was fantastic. Love that it uses a ton of fresh ingredients. I doubled the recipe and upped the cooking time to 35 minutes – it was perfect. I’m still fairly new to the IP world, so I was worried how this might come out, but this is going into my permanent pile of recipes! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
URVASHI PITRE says
December 10, 2017 at 7:29 amYay! So glad to hear! Btw even if you double ingredients, you don’t need to double time. It still cooks within the same the under pressure.
SSAM says
November 27, 2017 at 12:56 pmBest tortilla soup ever! I like it that all the vegetables are blended. Great for the super picky eater.
Karla says
November 16, 2017 at 10:21 pmLove your recipes! I added two adobo peppers & full onion to this yummy soup, I like things spicy. Hardly any leftovers.
Victoria says
November 13, 2017 at 10:23 pmSo delicious! Thank you for the recipe! The link for the other recipes that use the adobo chipotle peppers isn’t working! The one can has so much!
URVASHI PITRE says
November 14, 2017 at 3:34 pmI will make a note to self to fix that! Thanks for letting me know
Cindy says
October 31, 2017 at 10:16 pmGreat recipe! It was finally cool enough to make this soup! Even my half-Mexican husband said it was good 🙂 For the corn tortillas, I would probably add 4 corn tortillas next time for thicker soup. The shredded chicken thickens the soup a bit too. I used 2 organic chicken breasts and chicken bone broth (not water) but didn’t have adobo spice off hand so I didn’t add that. I also added juice from half a lime for acidity at the end before serving and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
URVASHI PITRE says
October 31, 2017 at 10:18 pmI’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
Maggie Strickland says
October 11, 2017 at 4:05 pmWhat would happen if I use flour tortillas instead of corn????
URVASHI PITRE says
October 11, 2017 at 4:22 pmNothing bad can happen with tortillas 🙂 it might not melt as easily as a corn tortilla but it should be good
Amreen says
October 8, 2017 at 9:53 pmThe soup turned out great! A bit watery for my taste but I will put quinoa in it to make a meal out of it! Thanks for the recipe!
URVASHI PITRE says
October 8, 2017 at 9:56 pmGlad to hear that! Did you add corn tortillas? They help thicken it up a bit
Amreen says
October 8, 2017 at 10:11 pmI didn’t have it so I added corn and black beans after I took out the chicken and did a 3 min qpr. It helped along with the quinoa:)
Deborah Mathison says
September 4, 2017 at 11:57 amThere’s a tiny misspelling (with crunchy consequences) in your list of ingredients: Adobe should be Adobe. ???? Can’t wait to make this recipe!
Deborah Mathison says
September 4, 2017 at 11:58 amGrrr…adobo. Spell check wins again!
URVASHI PITRE says
September 4, 2017 at 12:15 pmSame w me. Silly spell check. I will fix
Leslie says
September 4, 2017 at 12:04 amCould I use frozen chicken breasts and just cook for a little longer?
URVASHI PITRE says
September 4, 2017 at 6:40 amYes that shouldn’t be a problem
erica says
January 14, 2018 at 6:17 pmabout how long do you think for frozen breasts?
URVASHI PITRE says
January 14, 2018 at 8:11 pmI don’t really know for a fact but I’d say 10 minutes
Linda says
July 28, 2017 at 11:46 amIn case anyone wondered, this excellent chicken tortilla soup recipe, as written, fits in the new 3 quart instant pot. And the vegetables fit perfectly in a 1-quart mason jar for blending with an immersion blender.
URVASHI PITRE says
August 2, 2017 at 12:40 pmOh now I didn’t know that! I just created a review of the mini so this is handy.
Donna says
July 13, 2017 at 10:07 pmStarted Keto and this totally fits the mark….thank-you I know what I’m making tomorrow….whatever recipe of yours Ive made I’ve LOVED.
URVASHI PITRE says
July 14, 2017 at 5:41 amOh that’s fantastic! We love this soup. Lots of flavor
Jennifer Welte says
June 12, 2017 at 12:59 amIt would add a TON of flavor if you used chicken stock/bone broth in your soup instead of water =)
URVASHI PITRE says
June 12, 2017 at 6:03 amGreat idea! Oddly enough I don’t usually have bone broth made. My freezer is so full of leftovers it’s a little stupid. I need to make some. Cooking the chicken in the soup itself does lend a lot of chicken-y flavor mind you.