Anything goes with this filling soup dish! Try substituting carrots for the red bell pepper; additional garlic is fine! I’m a big fan of cilantro! Whatever vegetables you choose, they will all be delicious and sure to please your family’s palate. For those who like to spice up their tortilla soup at our house, I always place a bottle of our preferred spicy sauce on the table. Add tortilla chips and Monterey Jack cheese as garnish.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 9 |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
- 4 quarts water
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 (14 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 cubes chicken bouillon
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels
- 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 bunches chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Place chicken and water in a stockpot, and add onion, celery, and garlic. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is tender, about 45 minutes.
- Remove chicken from broth, and set aside to cool. Skim off fat. Smash cooked garlic cloves against side of pot. Add undrained tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and bouillon cube to the broth. Cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
- Add corn, green onion, and cilantro. Simmer 10 minutes longer.
- Skin and bone chicken, then dice or shred into bite-size pieces. Add chicken to soup along with cooked rice. Heat through. Season with salt to taste. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with cheese and tortilla chips.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 304 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 25 g |
| Cholesterol | 67 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 371 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used the recipe for spices and I tried to make a healthier version. Substitute quinoa for rice, a package of frozen veggies, land low sodium tomatoes. I had purchased a Sam’s Club chicken, so did not add any salt! I put diced avocado on top of crumbled tortilla chips. A VERY YUMMY soup!!!
This soup was easy to make and delicious. The next time I make it I may add some beans for added fiber.
This soup is a life changer, so easy and so good, and it’s healthy too!
I made this soup last night and added a couple more ingredients, but it still came out delicious. I added a California chili, green peppers, kidney beans, and half a Serrano pepper. it was perfectly spicy. I didn’t take a pic of the finished product, but here are a few of the process.
This is SOOOOO GOOD. Stop looking!! Make this!
Wow! delicious and easy to prepare. I used four split breasts with ribs and boiled for 45 min when I shredded them later they were perfect. I added carrots and frozen corn, along with a can of black beans with jalapeños. Loads of dried cilantro and cumin, along with some ancho chili seasoning I had in the pantry. Served with corn bread and it was a big hit. Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
We thought this was great! Per other reviews and because this was all I had on hand, I used 1 can of Rotel tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce. The recipe doesn’t state when to add the red pepper, but I finely chopped it and added it where it states white pepper. A can of black bean or two would be great. You could easily omit the rice. We finished it off with some chips, avocado and a squeeze of lime.
WE LOVED THIS!! However, we halved the recipe and it still made enough for 2 people to eat for a week. We added chili powder and added more cayenne pepper than it asked for and it still wasn’t very spicy. Next time may try Hunt’s Fire Roasted Tomatos. But we used Trader Joe’s Fire roasted corn and it gave it so much more flavor. Also used 1/2 can Goya black beans,and substituted black pepper for white pepper. Topped with crushed tortilla chips and 4 Mexican cheese (shredded) Delicious!!
Lack of flavor. It was okay but needed more of everything or a quart less water. How much cilantro is 2 bunches?
This was the first soup recipe I ever tried and it was delicious even with a few changes. I did half the servings and didn’t use a whole chicken. Instead I just boiled 1 lb of chicken breast. For most of the spices however, I kept the quantities as written. I used half water and half chicken broth (which I think I will cut down the amount of chicken broth and increase the water because it was a little salty). I added a little bit of taco seasoning because it’s mostly cumin anyway along with the cumin. I didn’t add celery, white pepper or peppers and it still tasted delicious. Will definitely make again!
This soup tasted very good. I only used one bunch of cilantro and I think it was plenty. I also didn’t have any green onions, so I just left them out.
Good soup, used yellow rice was the only change, will be making this again.
This was awesome soup!! I started with chicken legs, onion and garlic to make the broth and added a bunch of extra veggies- carrots, peppers and cabbage. Following other reviews I added more cumin and sprinkled a little extra in the bowl for serving. I don’t have access to cilantro (which I LOVE!!) but this soup was well flavored without it.
This is a really good recipe! I did make some modifications, first I used a rotissary chicken from Walmart so I could skip the first step. So instead of using the water from cooking the chicken I used low sodium chicken broth. The second change I made was to use brown rice instead of white. I will probably reduce the amount of rice to 1 cup next time. Lastly, it’s a bit confusing because the ingredient list calls for red pepper but the directions say to add “carrots” and doesn’t say anything about the red pepper. I had both so I added both in. Turned out delicious! One warning…it is a little spicy so you might cut back on the cayenne pepper if you don’t like that but overall a great recipe!
This was a fantastic soup that you can really tailor to your likes. I made a couple of minor changes to this to be able to freeze this. I didn’t add the cilantro simply because I forgot to. I skipped the green onion and used regular onion instead. We really enjoyed this soup and look forward to eating this for lunch tomorrow and freezing the remainder.
I liked this soup, as did my kids. Hubby thought it was missing something. We did think it was better the second day though.
Very good, but I liked the slow-cooker chicken tortilla soup much better, and it was easier to make!
Delicious!! I added carrots, tripled the cumin, and doubled the cayenne. I also used 4 chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken. Such a good, hearty meal!
This is OK but I usually make this Tortilla soup recipe I found on here and I like my usual recipe much better. I probably won’t make it again.
I made a couple of changes but nothing that would change up the recipe entirely. I did not make my own stock but used chicken breast and broth instead and, I left out the bouillon. Very flavorable and one I will make again.
For a lower-salt version, we left out the bouillon cubes…it was still delicious! Used one can of tomatoes and substituted black beans for corn. Very healthy yet hearty. Love this recipe!