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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.
Mine was not smooth or creamy after beating with a hand mixer or in Kitchenaid stand mixer. I could not beat as much as I would have liked because soup started flying over the counter and stove. (haha) There are still pieces of onion and tomato and pepper in the soup. I also noticed the skin of the tomato or pepper came off. Did anyone blanch their veggies before cooking?
I used an immersion blender. I also tilted my pot to make sure the blender was completely in the sauce.
My family loved this soup! However as a vegetarian, I didn’t add the chicken. I did add another can of beans for the extra protein. I also added 1 up heat corn tortilla that tore into pieces to add the tortilla flavor of an enchilada. So yummy!
Glad you loved it.
My husband said this is the best soup I’ve made so far! I’m making it a second time this month per his request
How much is a serving?
Hi Maggie. That’s one bowl or 2 cups
I made this a couple of days ago, it is fabulous. The only thing I did different was instead of fire roasted tomatoes, i used 2 cans of rotel because that’s what I had on hand. I will be making this again.
That’s even better! Thanks for the feedback.
This soup is sooooooo good. I absolutely love it. Thank you.
Thanks. Glad you loved it.
Just made this for dinner, cooked the chicken inside the soup, took it out, shredded it and put it back in. AMAZING
Thanks for the feedback. So glad you loved it.
This was by far the best soup ever. My husband is so fussy about certain ingredients and by looking at the pot of soup he was salivating. Unbeknownst to him…He absolutely loved it!!! I myself am sharing this recipe to everyone!!!! Love it!!!!
Excellent! I put all in a crockpot and let it cook all day! Wonderful!!!
Just perfect! Glad you loved it.
I made this last night…delicious. Lots of flavor …I decided to not puree the vegetable so my hubby could take out the peppers and make it seem heartier to him. He loved it too. Will be making for my son when he comes home soon. Love all your recipes!
Great idea to not blend! Thanks for the feedback Karen
How many chicken breast do you recommend ?
Hello Antonio. Two large chicken breasts should do. About 1lb
Great soup and a simple staple to always have on hand. Added some extra heat but otherwise this is perfect as is! Thanks for this.
— FYI Recipe says Oregano however video shows Thyme
Thank you. Yes, it should be oregano, not thyme.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Yes. It will keep for up to days in the fridge
This looks so good! What a great lunch meal prep for the week!
Thanks
Wow, just wow. What a great way to sneak in some vegetables. My husband is a tough critic, and just keeps going on and on. Thank you!
Best feedback ever! Thank you
Delicious, thank you for the recipe. I will definitely make this again.
I used shredded pork instead of chicken because it’s what I had on hand. It’s delicious with or without the meat though.
Thanks for the feedback.
I’ve made this recipe about four times now and every time I make it is just incredible. It’s got a lot of flavor and if you don’t fully blend it with the stick mixer you can get little chunks of carrot and celery that add some nice texture. I am known for being picky and lazy when it come to cooking and this recipe is very easy to make. Honestly I don’t think it even needs the chicken as there’s so much protein and flavor already. I can already tell that I’ll be making this for years to come. I am also looking through your other recipes now.
This is one of our favrorite! So glad you liked it.
Wow! I made this tonight and it was an absolute winner!! I served it with brown rice and corn chips… it was an 11/10! One of my new favs! Thank you for sharing this superstar dish! I look forward to cooking my way through many of your other meals on your beautiful Instagram page and website.
Love that! We love this so much too and glad you will be trying more of our recipes
What is a serving size?
Hi Dianne, One bowl, which comes out to about 2 cups
FIVE STARS!! I changed a little. After the veggie finished cooking (5-8 min), I added spices and let them bloom for 2-3 minutes before adding the tomatoes, paste and chicken stock. I also used Jidori chicken breasts and thighs that were boiled for 10 minutes in vegetable broth (1 cup) and Chicken stock, low sodium (1 cup), 1 bay leave and 1/2 white onion sliced. After 10 min boil, reduced to simmer for 7 min and then covered and turned off stove and let sit for 20 minutes. Strained the liquid, shredded the chicken and added to the soup. Great flavor. If you haven’t tried Jidori chicken… you have been missing out on life!!
Thank you! I will definitely give it a try.
Hi Rena
I just recently found your page on Instagram, your beautiful pictures drew me in. This is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried but let me tell you it wont be the last.
This was perfect for a busy midweek evening meal. I had to substitute the tin of tomatoes, but threw in some fresh chopped tomatoes and a carton of passata as that’s all I had but it all worked out great. thumbs all round from the family. now the only decision to make is shall we try the chicken frissace next or the Mongolian chicken, haha thanks xxxx
Hi Sian. Thank you. So glad you loved it.
That’s a hard one. Both are so good but my kids love the Mongolian more.