This lighter instant pot chicken tortilla soup started with an Amazon sale. When the Instant Pot went on sale, I went for it. I was feeling the pressure (ha)… and figured I’d want to figure it out eventually. And then it sat in the giant box taking up space in a closet for like a month and a half.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Lighter Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Serves: 10 -12
- Calories: 206 cal
- Protein: 30.5g
- Fat: 1.3g
- Carbs: 13.1g
- Why You'll Love It: There's nothing easier than a pot of soup all ready to go at dinner time... except for for an INSTANT pot of soup. Healthy, easy, tasty chicken tortilla soup.
I have to admit I still haven’t branched out much. No desserts or homemade yogurt or even rice or potatoes. But I’m LOVING that I can decide in the afternoon to cook some meat, throw it in, and have shredded meat for a million different purposes. THAT is straight magic. My Instant Pot smoky honey cilantro chicken and Instant Pot creamy buffalo chicken are proof. This time I added all the yummy tortilla soup fixings, and it was ready to pile into bowls with barely any hands-on time. MAGIC.
If you love a Tex-Mex soup night, my healthy white chicken chili is another easy one.
Can Chicken Tortilla Soup Be Healthy?
YES. Here’s the thing… when I started counting macros, I pretty much stopped making soups and chilis. I always worried one bowl wouldn’t feel like enough, and soups can get so high in carbs with beans, quinoa, or squash. So I stuffed this one full of chicken for protein and skipped the beans. One 350g bowl has 206 calories, 30.5g protein, and just 1.3g fat.
How Long Do You Cook Chicken Tortilla Soup in the Instant Pot?
It cooks on manual (high pressure) for 12 minutes, then gets a natural release for 10 to 20 minutes, until the lid opens easily. Shred the chicken, stir in the last few ingredients, and it’s ready. The recipe card lists 30 minutes of cook time.
Important Ingredients and Substitutions
- Salsa verde: one 16 oz jar, like Herdez. It’s the flavor base, so use one you like.
- Liquid smoke: 1 tablespoon gives it that smoky flavor without grilling anything.
- Chicken breasts or tenderloins: 3 pounds, thawed. Either one works.
- Frozen corn: just 1 cup. For me, the corn is worth the carbs for that little sweet pop in each bite. Skip it if you want to cut the carbs a little more.
- Toppings: I top mine with avocado, cotija, fat free sour cream, and Trader Joe’s lite three cheese Mexican blend. They’re not included in the macros, so log them separately.
Before You Start Cooking
- Thaw the chicken. The recipe uses 3 pounds of thawed chicken breasts or tenderloins.
- Skip the extra bowl if you want. You can mix the salsa and spices in a bowl first, or just pour everything one by one right into the Instant Pot. No biggie.
- Watch for the burn warning. I’ve never had it happen, but a few readers have gotten a burn warning. If you’re worried, add 1 cup of the chicken stock before it cooks for the 12 minutes.
- Plan for the natural release. After 12 minutes at pressure, it needs 10 to 20 minutes to release on its own before you shred the chicken.
- Tracking macros? Once I got used to the recipe feature in MyFitnessPal, everything opened up and I felt like I could make and track anything. So liberating! Here’s how to create a recipe in MyFitnessPal. If you’d rather not plan at all, my macro-friendly meal plans give you a new high-protein, family-friendly menu every Thursday, with the recipes preloaded into MyFitnessPal, Macros First, and Lose It.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Mix the sauce. Stir together the salsa verde, garlic, green chilies, chili powder, salt, liquid smoke, cumin, paprika, and crushed tomatoes.
- Load the pot. Add the chicken, diced onion, and diced bell peppers to the Instant Pot and pour the salsa mixture over the top.
- Pressure cook. Seal the lid, close the vent, and cook on manual for 12 minutes.
- Natural release. Let the pressure release on its own for 10 to 20 minutes, until you can open the lid easily.
- Shred the chicken. Pull it out with a slotted spoon and shred it in a different dish, or do what I do and throw it in your KitchenAid to mix until it’s shredded. (I’m lazy.)
- Finish the soup. Put the chicken back in the pot and stir in a handful of cilantro, the green onions, 2 cups of chicken stock (more if you want it soupier), and 1 cup of frozen corn. Close the lid and keep warm until you’re ready to eat, ten minutes or a few hours later!
Can You Make Chicken Tortilla Soup in the Slow Cooker?
I haven’t made this exact recipe in the slow cooker, but I’m sure you could put it all in and cook it on low for 6 to 8 hours. Add the stock, corn, and herbs once the chicken is shredded.
What to Serve with Chicken Tortilla Soup
Eat it like a normal person with your toppings… or with some tortilla chips (or Fritos if you’re not above them, YUM) or cornbread on the side! My lighter cornbread waffles are a fun one for dipping.
Macro trick: halfway through my bowl, I tossed in some steamed cauliflower to make it stretch a little further. There was enough flavor to go around, and I felt like I doubled my food for just a handful of carbs. Maybe even pile it on top of a bowl of mashed cauliflower like this garlicky lemon baked shrimp, because sometimes volume IS EVERYTHING.
For a salad on the side, try my corn avocado salad, light Mexican Caesar salad, or Mexican chopped kale salad.
How to Freeze Chicken Tortilla Soup
This soup freezes great, and it’s on my list of macro-friendly freezer meals.
- Freeze the soup on its own, without avocado, cheese, or sour cream. Add those fresh after reheating.
- Portion into freezer bags or containers and label with the date and grams (one serving is 350g).
- Thaw overnight in the fridge, or reheat from frozen on the stove over low heat.
- Add a splash of chicken stock if it’s thicker than you like.
- Keeps up to 3 months.
More Tex-Mex meals for the freezer: my Instant Pot chicken enchilada casserole, creamy Mexican chicken bake, skinny creamy chicken enchiladas, and cauliflower rice enchilada skillet. And for a cozy non-Mexican soup, my healthy lemon chicken soup freezes well too.
Chicken Tortilla Soup Calories and Macros
One 350g serving of this instant pot chicken tortilla soup has 206 calories, 30.5g protein, 1.3g fat, and 13.1g carbs. That’s just the soup, without toppings. The full nutrition is in the recipe card below.
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Lighter Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz jar salsa verde like Herdez
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 can green chilies
- 2.5 tbs chili powder
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tbs liquid smoke
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Pour the above mixture over:
- 3 lb thawed chicken breasts or tenderloins
- 1 large onion diced 330 g
- 2 bell peppers diced 275 g
After initial cook add:
- Handful of cilantro
- 3-4 green onions chopped
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup frozen corn 135 g
- These are the toppings I did for mine but the macros below will be for just soup
- Avocado 30 g
- Cotija 5 g
- Lite three cheese mexican blend I like Trader Joes (10 g)
- Fat free sour cream 15 g
Instructions
- Mix together salsa, garlic, green chilis, chili powder, salt, liquid smoke, cumin, paprika, and crushed tomatoes.
- Add chicken, diced onions, and diced bell peppers to the bowl of the instant pot and pour salsa/spice mixture over the top (Or if you don’t want to dirty that second bowl just pour everything one by one right in there! No biggie.)
- Seal lid, close vent, push manual, and the up arrow to 12 minutes. It’ll start on it’s own.
- When it’s done, let it do it’s natural release for 10-20 minutes until you can open the lid easily.
- Pull out the chicken with a slotted spoon and shred in a different dish OR do what I do and throw it in your kitchenaid to mix until it’s shredded. (I’m lazy.)
- Throw it back in the pot, mix it into the juices and add in a handful of fresh cilantro and green onions.
- Add 2 cups of chicken stock (you might want more if you want it soupier and less like chili) and 1 cup of frozen corn.
- Stir- close the lid and keep warm until you’re ready to eat… ten minutes or a few hours later!
Notes
- *Macro trick: About half way through I added some steamed cauliflower to my bowl to make it stretch a little further and it was great! Β There was enough flavor to go around and I felt like I doubled my food for just a handful of carbs. *I haven’t made this exact thing in the slow cooker but I’m sure you could put it all in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours and it’d be great!
- I’ve had a few comments from people who’ve gotten a “burn warning” from their instant pot. I’ve never had this happen so I don’t know why it varies! But if you’re worried about that, or have had it happen to you, add 1 of the cups of chicken stock before it cooks for the 12 minutes!
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
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Great recipe–can you give fiber content with the other macros for this one? I’m not sure how to determine that on my own.
I did also have trouble with my Instant Pot (I didn’t get a burn warning, but actually did burn some of the chicken!). I included 1 cup of broth. Would probably do 2 next time or else cook it as a slow cooker recipe.
I made this on the stove top with prepackaged rotisserie chicken from Costco. So easy, so delicious! I cooked all the vegetables in the broth/tomato base on medium (kept spices exactly as the recipe indicates) for about 30 minutes; then added the already cooked chicken. My son said it was restaurant quality, spice was perfect! My very picky husband said to add it to our winter rotation β€οΈπΊπΈβ€οΈ. Thank you Lillie for a delicious, healthy and macro friendly recipe.
Just started Marco tracking and excited to try so your recipes. I cooked my chicken before hand and 3 cooked chicken breasts have me 1 pound of chicken when I weighed it or about 3 cups and the soup is really thick. The recipe says 3lbs of raw chicken so does that mean you adding like 9 cups of chicken to this soup? I’m just confused between raw and cooked and trying to figure it out, and insight super appreciated. Love your recipes, humor and the time you took to put them into my fitness pal. Thx
I also got the burn notice…I cleaned the pot (completely) and added chicken stock and tried again…another burn notice. By this time though, the chicken was cooked through and I shredded and just put it on the stovetop in a new pot. This recipe was SO good. My kids are picky so I find it helps to make rice to go with it as my youngest (5) will eat anything over rice. All four of them requested that I add this to the rotation. Thank you!!
Once again, Lillie kills it. Our family LOVED this one and it was so easy and so flavorful and made enough I was able to freeze some and save it for another cold night. Thank you for sharing with us all.
This recipe was a huge hit with my family tonight!! Thank you!! I stirred the wet ingredients in with the onion, bell pepper and chicken, and didnβt have any problems with burning in the Instant Pot. My picky eaters LOVED the dinner and even THANKED me for making it! This will definitely go into the regular rotation at our house.
I used less than the 2.5 tablespoons of chili powder. The brand of chili powder I have is really spicy, and a 1.5 teaspoons is enough to give a good spice level without being overwhelming. Other than that, this recipe is amazing! It has become a weekly staple. I’ve even gotten my mom and a couple of friends hooked on it. I absolutely adore that it is healthy and delicious.
Is the avocado, corn and other late additions in the recipe included in the macro count?
So yummy. I got burn notice too, but still works out ok. 0 pts on WW too!