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My Chicken Enchilada Soup is an easy one-pot dish that’s creamy, thick, and so delicious. Loaded with hearty shredded chicken and beans, it is a crowd-pleasing soup that’s full of your favorite Mexican flavors and very comforting and delicious.
Feed me this chicken Enchilada soup every day, and I will never complain. It is one of the best and most flavorful soup recipes, not only filling and comforting but also crowd-pleasing, putting a smile on everyone’s face.
This soup is loaded with beans, chicken, and all the Tex-Mex flavors you love, in one delicious bowl. Easy-to-make High-Protein Chicken Enchilada Soup is perfect for any night of the week. Especially on a busy weeknight when you need dinner ready in no time.
You may also love my classic chicken chili soup or my white chicken chili soup recipe.
Recipe Overview
Reasons to love this soup
- Best-tasting soup ever: The taste of this soup is seriously out-of-this-world good.
- Filling: This soup will keep you full, happy, and satisfied. Perfect for lunch or as a light dinner.
- Healthy and good for you: Packed with fiber and protein, this soup is good for you in every way.
Ingredients you will need
Below is a list of the ingredients I used to make this soup. Full measurements are listed further down in the recipe card.
- Butter or Ghee: To keep this on the healthier side, you can skip butter. You may use avocado oil.
- Onion: use white sweet onions or cooking onions
- Veggies: Celery Stalks, Carrot, Red Bell Pepper,
- Beans: Red Kidney Beans and Black Beans
- Seasonings: Ground Cumin, Chili Powder, and Dried Oregano
- Garlic Cloves: Do use fresh garlic for the best flavor.
- One can of Diced fire-roasted Tomatoes. Fire-roasting gives it an amazing flavor, but you can use what you have on hand.
- Tomato Paste: This adds depth and flavor to the soup. You can use tomato sauce instead.
- Fresh or Frozen Sweet Corn: You may use canned corn if that’s all you have and you don’t want to make a trip to the grocery store.
- Shredded Cooked Chicken: Make your own chicken or get a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. To prepare your own, check out our post on How to poach chicken breast.
- Low-Sodium Chicken Broth– If you plan to poach your own chicken, you may save the broth from that.
- Mexican Shredded Cheese Blend for garnishing, or you may also use Monterey Jack cheese
- Optional: If you prefer to add some enchilada sauce, you can. I didn’t, but it certainly won’t hurt and will add some flavor to the soup.
How to make Creamy Enchilada Soup
This chicken enchilada soup recipe is made on the stovetop. I will also show you how to make it further in your crockpot, slow cooker, and Instant Pot.
Note: The recipe calls for cooked, shredded chicken. Either get a store-bought rotisserie chicken and use that, or cook your own at home using chicken breast (scroll down to learn how to cook the chicken for your enchilada soup).
To make enchilada soup on your stovetop:
- Prepare vegetables and ingredients: Set up all the ingredients and get your shredded chicken ready.
- Cook vegetables: Add butter or oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. First, add the onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and cook until softens, about 5-6 minutes. Then, stir in seasonings, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Cook and prep soup: Lower the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until veggies are very tender.
- Blend: remove from heat and using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth and creamy. (This is optional if you don’t want to blend you can skip this step).
- Add beans and chicken: Place the soup back over medium heat and add in beans, corn, and shredded cooked chicken. Stir to combine and boil for a couple of minutes, just to heat it all up.
- Serve: Pour into bowls and top with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Enchilada Soup Topping Options
Endless toppings to come up with, but here are some optional toppings you can add to your soup:
- Chopped avocado
- Sliced jalapeño
- Fresh chopped cilantro
- Green onions
- Lime wedges
- Crushed Tortilla Chips
- Sour cream or yogurt etc.
- Shredded Cheese
How to cook chicken for enchilada soup
Cooking the chicken is quite simple. You can use any pot or a Dutch oven. It would be easiest to use a rotisserie chicken, but you can certainly cook your own. I recommend using skinless and boneless chicken breasts.
- Add chicken into a pot full of water
- I like adding some sort of herbs to give the chicken some flavor. Use half an onion and a bay leaf. Sometimes I use a cinnamon stick, but not for this particular recipe.
- Boil for about 15-20 minutes, until you can easily insert a knife or fork into the chicken.
- Then drain it in a colander and let it cool. Or you can just remove the chicken and place it on a cutting board while you save the chicken stock.
- Finally, use your hands or a fork to shred the chicken.
- If you have an Instant Pot, you can simply make this Instant Pot Chicken Breast to use in this soup.
Alternative ways to make this soup
There are other ways to make this soup other than using your stovetop. Here are other ways to cook up your soup.
How to make it in an Instant Pot:
If you are looking for an instant pot soup recipe, then here is how you can make this soup using your instant pot:
- Using the saute option, add the oil or butter in the instant pot, then add the onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes.
- If using raw chicken, add it in with the veggies in the previous step at the bottom.
- Add in the seasonings, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and broth.
- Next, add in the beans, corn, and shredded cooked chicken (if using pre-cooked shredded chicken). Stir to combine.
- Then, place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal. Using the “manual” setting, cook on high pressure for 10-12 minutes.
- Allow the Instant Pot to natural release for 10 minutes or so before doing a quick release.
- Finally, remove the lid from the Instant Pot, shred the chicken (if used, raw whole chicken breast), and serve with your favorite toppings.
- Note: You may remove a portion of the soup towards the end. Blend it, then add it back to the soup. Mix and serve.
How to make it in a crock-pot or slow cooker
- In a pan or skillet, add oil or butter over medium-high heat, add the onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes.
- Transfer to a crockpot or slow cooker, then add the seasonings, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and broth.
- Then, add in beans, corn, and shredded cooked chicken. Stir to combine. Cover and set it on High for 2 hours or Low for 4 hours if using cooked chicken.
- Note: You may add raw chicken breasts to the crockpot or slow cooker right before you add in the veggies at the very bottom and set it to cook longer. 6 hours on low and 4 hours on high. Then, towards the end, use a fork to shred the chicken.
- Also, Note: You may remove a po, then add it back rtion of the soup towards the end. Blend it and then add it back into the soup. Mix and serve.
Common questions
To thicken your enchilada soup, mix about 1-2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour with some cold water, then add it to the soup and let it cook for a few more minutes.
Another option would be to blend some of the beans and add them back in to make the soup thicker.
Place your creamy chicken enchilada soup in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Store in the freezer for 3-4 months. To reheat, place in a pot/pan and reheat on the stovetop or microwave in a bowl.
You can get creative with what you serve with your enchilada soup. Some ideas for you would be some toasted garlic bread, jalapeno cornbread, biscuits, grilled cheese sandwiches, roasted corn like this street corn on the cob, Tacos, Mexican Rice, etc
You can use ground turkey, ground beef, or ground chicken.
This soup is actually dairy-free and doesn’t have any cream, even though I call it creamy. The creamy texture comes from blending the veggies during the first few steps. If you do want to add a bit of unsweetened dairy-free milk, you can.
More Soup Recipes
- Italian Chicken Veggie Soup
- Creamy Chicken Broccoli Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Homemade Roasted Tomato Soup
- Healthy Lasagna Soup
- Taco Soup Recipe
- Mexican Sweet Corn Soup
- Beef and Barley Soup
Thanks for stopping by. If you try a recipe and love it, it would mean the world to me if you take a moment of your time and leave me some feedback in the comment section below. I always love hearing from my readers.
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Note: This post was updated to add an ingredient photo and some process shots to make it easier for you to follow.
Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup (Easy One-Pot Recipe)
Video
Equipment
- spatula
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Butter or Ghee, or Ghee, avocado oil also works
- 1 Medium Onion, diced
- 2 Celery Stalks, sliced
- 1 Medium Carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 Large Red Bell Pepper, diced
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
- 1½ teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 tablespoon Chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 15 ounces Diced fire-roasted Tomatoes, 1 can
- ¼ Cup Tomato Paste
- 4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- 14.5 ounces Red Kidney Beans, drain and rinsed, 1 can
- 14.5 ounces Black Beans, drain and rinsed, 1 can
- 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Sweet Corn
- 2 Cups Shredded Cooked Chicken
- 1 Cup Mexican Shredded Cheese Blend, for garnishing
- Salt and pepper, to your taste
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon Butter or Ghee (add avocado oil if using) in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.
- Add 1 Medium Onion (diced), 2 Celery Stalks (sliced), 1 Medium Carrot (thinly sliced), 1 Large Red Bell Pepper (diced), 2-3 Garlic Cloves (chopped), and cook until softens. About 5-6 minutes.
- Stir in seasonings ( 1½ teaspoon Ground Cumin, 1 tablespoon Chili Powder, and 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano, 15 ounces Diced fire-roasted Tomatoes, ¼ Cup Tomato Paste, and 4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth. Season with Salt and pepper, to your taste, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until veggies are very tender.
- Remove from heat and using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth and creamy. Place the soup back over medium heat and add in 14.5 ounces Red Kidney Beans and 14.5 ounces Black Beans, 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Sweet Corn, and 2 Cups Shredded Cooked Chicken.
- Stir to combine and boil for a couple of minutes, just to heat it all.
- Then, pour into bowls and top with shredded cheese ( 1 Cup Mexican Shredded Cheese Blend divided into 6 servings) or your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- Corn: you can use fresh, frozen, or canned corn
- Oil- avocado, olive oil, or vegetable oil
- Try shredded turkey, ground chicken, or ground turkey. I love to use leftover chicken, or I just buy a rotisserie chicken to save time. Especially if I am going to Costco. You can’t pass that up. So, next time you are at Costco, grab that chicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ooh I love it, I love how you prepare and explain it. It’s delicious. Thank you so much for sharing
Thank you!
What exactly is making it creamy with no milk/cream added? Is it more broth based, thinner than a cream based soup? The pic looks creamy and was trying to figure out how. Either way, Looks good.
Hi Dana. You are right. No cream or milk. Blending gives it that creamy look, texture and taste without having to add milk.
Huge hit with my family. I put in extra Chile powder , chipotle and garlic. We are going to have this again soon, and double the recipe!
Yummy. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi! I was wondering if there is an idea on how to make this vegetarian friendly? It looks delicious! But my friend won’t eat any meat. Thank you!
Hi Morgan. You can skip the chicken and add maybe tofu for added protein or skip entirely. For the broth just use vegetable broth.
Delicious.
Thanks!
All my family members really like your soup. Just the right amount of heat and spices. We have a three generation household, and it is hard to make a meal all will like. Stomach can tolerate the spice mix. My daughter that it was not very spicy, but that is her (she eats hot peppers like they are candy).
So glad to hear that everyone loved it
The recipe doesn’t mention the shredded cheese. When is that added?
Hi Patty. I fixed it. The cheese is added at the end for garnishing which is optional.
I plan on making this for my coworkers next week. I thought the calories seemed high, but I see that is for 6 servings. How big is a serving? I’m curious how much I should make!
I would say a bowl or approximately 2 cups.
Holy shnikies! This stuff is amazing! It’s so simple and easy, filled with veggies that the kids can’t even see, and they all downed it! We just finished dinner, but my 13 month old is working on his 3rd bowl. I’ve never commented on any recipes because they never pop out, but this one really does! I will definitely be making this again! It’ll probably be a family favorite!
Thanks for the awesome review. Glad your family loved it.
Made this in the instant pot with raw cubed chicken. Added 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp pepper at the end then used a hand blender to break the chicken up a bit.
Topped with shredded cheese and sour cream which gave it the creamy flavour.
Delicious!
I’m making a second batch now to freeze.
I. didn’t blend because it didn’t say so. in the slow cooker version. did i mess up?
It will still be great. I will update the instructions to include blending.
Finally tried your recipe last night and it was a total success! Easy and delicious! Two thumbs up!
Thank you! Glad you loved it
It is as good as all the other reviews suggest. I chose not to thicken the broth and loved it unthickened. Such a tasty, healthy meal in a bowl.
Awesome! It’s such a delicious meal! Glad you loved it
Can I put it in the regular blender if I don’t have a hand blender?
Yes, you can.
I’m so excited to try this BUT I calculated the calories myself & the whole recipe listed is 1950 calories. So for 6 servings = 325 calories per serving! I’m sure it all depends on brand of ingredients but wow! That’s very low calorie!
Yes. It all depends. Also, use a built-in nutrition facts calculator which may not be 100%. Let us know if you like it.
I made this last night . Used the crockpot version . I did make a substitute using Rotel in place of the diced tomatoes . Served it with crushed up nacho cheese Doritos on top . Amazingly delicious!!
I love your Doritos addition! yummy!
This was delicious. The only addition I made was a small can of dice green chiles. We like spicey! I think this is a great recipe with room to adjust your seasoning and topping preferences . My kids loved it as well. We will make again!
Thanks, Jill. Green chiles sound like a great addition.
LOVED this recipe! Was super easy to make. Topped mine with cilantro, scallions, avocado, and shredded pepper jack cheese.
So glad you loved it. It is one of our favorites
I’ve made countless recipes I’ve found on Pinterest and have never left a review, until now. This soup was not only incredibly easy but is insanely delicious!! I added a little Sriracha and some avocado to mine. Absolutely delicious and will definitely become a go to.
Sriracha sounds like such a great addition. Yummm. Glad you loved it
I noticed that the written recipe doesn’t call for thyme but the video has thyme. Is there much of difference in taste ?
Hi. That was an Error. It should have said oregano, not thyme. But it shouldn’t alter the taste much regardless.
Great recipe! I will definitely make this again, following the recipe next time! I added all the ingredients after the veggies cooked, duh! so I couldn’t blend the tomatoes and veggies. It was still a fantastic soup. I like the addition of kidney and black beans and corn. My husband and I do not care for spicy food, and this one was perfect. This recipe will replace a chicken enchilada soup recipe I have used for years.