Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

By Sarah DiGregorio

Total Time: 5½ hours
Rating: 4(573)
Notes: Read community notes

While the origins of tortilla soup (also known as sopa Azteca or sopa de tortilla) can be traced to central Mexico, it has many variations, often characterized by a brothy chicken base flavored with puréed roasted tomatoes, chiles and garlic, and topped with fried leftover tortillas and other garnishes. In this nontraditional slow-cooker version, tomatoes, onion, garlic and chile are charred under the broiler (on a foil-lined sheet pan, for easy clean-up), then go straight into the slow cooker, where they add savory depth to the chicken soup. (No slow-cooker? Use the stovetop version of this recipe.)

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

5large plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and halved
1white onion, peeled and quartered
12ounces cherry tomatoes (about 2 heaping cups)
8garlic cloves (unpeeled)
2jalapeños, stemmed and halved, 1 seeded and de-ribbed
2tablespoons vegetable oil
2tablespoons tomato paste
2½teaspoons ground cumin
2teaspoons dried oregano
1½teaspoons coarse kosher salt, plus more to taste
1teaspoon onion powder
1teaspoon garlic powder
4cups chicken broth or stock
2carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1½pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed
1lime
Tortilla chips
Any combination of hot sauce, cilantro and queso fresco, for topping

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat a broiler with a rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source. Line a sheet pan with foil, add the plum tomatoes and arrange them in an even layer, cut sides up. Add the onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic and jalapeños, distributing them evenly, and broil for 15 minutes, checking and rotating the pan every 5 minutes to make sure the vegetables are charring and blistering evenly. (The vegetables should be blackened in spots, slumped and sizzling. Many of the cherry tomatoes will have burst.)
Step 2
Discard the garlic skins, then roughly chop the onion, garlic, jalapeños and plum tomatoes, transferring them to a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker. Transfer the cherry tomatoes and any juices to a separate bowl and refrigerate.
Step 3
Stir the oil, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, salt, onion powder and garlic powder into the slow cooker, followed by the chicken broth, carrots and chicken thighs. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.
Step 4
Before serving, fold the avocado into the cherry tomatoes; season with a pinch of salt and the juice of half the lime.
Step 5
In the slow cooker, coarsely shred the chicken with two forks. Add the juice of the remaining lime half, and season to taste with salt.
Step 6
Serve the soup in bowls topped with crushed tortilla chips and spoonfuls of the tomato-avocado salsa. Pass hot sauce, queso fresco and/or cilantro at the table, if desired.

Ratings

4 out of 5

573 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Darcy1 year ago

The cherry tomatoes weren’t really needed, and the carrots should be omitted—too strong a flavor that was mismatched with everything else. Double the garlic! Definitely taste and add salt, I found I needed quite a bit. Smelled great cooking all day and a great way to use summer produce. I added a poblano pepper to the broiling veggies, and next time I will add rice to the soup.

Maggie1 year ago

My hunt for a really flavorful Mexican Tortilla soup found satisfaction with this hearty version. Corrections include doubling garlic and a bit more salt toward the end. The salsa mix could use a dash of Smokey paprika and salt to spice it up a bit. Lime juice and cilantro brought it all together for a delicious and snappy soup.

cornelia1 year ago

Fantastic deep flavor from the summer garden. Yum!!! We put the soup over the corn chips (heath food store version of Fritos). I agree with other person, cherry tomato/avocado salsa didn’t add much that I could tell.

Daina1 year ago

Used canned whole tomatoes because it’s February. Put the juice from the can in pot, used only 3 cups chicken broth. No carrots. Tomato and avocado is worth mixing up.

Maureen4 months ago

Delicious! (And to those who do not have a slow cooker: request one for the next holiday or birthday! it's as indispensable as a Vitamix or a rice cooker!)

Jazmyn4 months ago

Just a quick question, why not roast the carrots with the rest of the vegetables?

me4 months ago

Made in instant pot. Added cauliflower and corn.

Ann6 months ago

I felt the veggies were too chunky, so I used an immersion blender before adding the chicken back in, also added corn and black beans at the end. Used more garlic, per recommendation and omitted carrots. The soup was fantastic!

Katie7 months ago

The roasted cherry tomatoes and avocado salsa were excellent to garnish the soup.

stephani7 months ago

I used 2 guajillo chiles instead of jalapeños because 2 of our diners are kids. The last of the garden tomatoes went in. I blended the charred veggies and strained the purée through a fine mesh strainer. Bloomed the spices and tomato paste in the oil. I agree that the soup needed a bit more salt at the end, but that is personal taste. We loved this soup!

adam7 months ago

Didn’t do the cherry tomatoes, otherwise made this exactly as written except one thing: blended the soup before adding back in the shredded chicken. Made it perfect. Huge hit. Also added burlap and barrel single origin cobanero chili flakes to taste (available online).

Annissa1 year ago

Thought this was a super delicious and hearty soup…but followed recs of others: I added a can of black beans, and left in the carrots (we liked them!) I also added a poblano pepper in addition to the 2 jalapeños. I guess we like spicy, because we definitely didn’t think it was too hot and still added hot sauce as a topping. Didn’t do the cherry tomato/avo step, just cuz of time. Added sliced avo, queso fresco, sour cream, cilantro, green onions, and tortilla chips on top. Yum!!

David1 year ago

Way too hot even with just a dash of cumin. Next time I will use one cleaned up jalapeno. Otherwise really good.

Ms Kitchen Witch1 year ago

Agree with the reviewer who recommended leaving out the carrots. Great soup!

Snohomish County cook1 year ago

Too much chicken forbtheamount of broth; cherry tomatoes unnecessary.

Richard L. Floyd1 year ago

This is a good recipe. The chicken comes out moist and tender. It's weird to have a tortilla soup recipe with no tortillas in it, but I'm guessing they wouldn't have held up in the slow cooking. The avocado/tomato at the end is fussy and can be omitted. “The crowd cried out for more.”

Monica1 year ago

I found the soup to be very bland and the cumin overpowering. Definitely, needs more salt, garlic and onion. I ditched the carrots. The soup is already very orangey red and carrots add no flavor. I think I will add some bell peppers the next time I cook this. At the end of the day, the shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado and chips made the soup rather tasty.

Margie D1 year ago

I loved this recipe. I added sliced tortillas which I had crisped in the oven (about 350 degrees) to the soup when served. I've had tortilla soup at local Mexican restaurants which feature tortillas sliced (on the long slide) so I wanted to duplicate this aspect in my soup. Other all, very good. I felt that there was enough salt (i forgot to check the salt level at the point of serving) but so check it for your taste. I disagree about the avocado. I think that it added a lot of flavor.

Nik1 year ago

can you make this in Instant pot? how long?

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