This Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe is so creamy, thick, and easy to make. 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.
Enchilada soup is one of the most flavorful soup recipes that are not only filling and comforting, but it is also full of flavor and a crowd-pleasing soup recipe that will put a smile on everyone’s face. They are loaded with beans, chicken and all the Tex-Mex flavors you love all in one delicious bowl of soup. This easy to make Creamy Chicken Enchilada soup is perfect for any night of the week especially on a busy weeknight when you just need dinner ready in no time.
HOW TO MAKE CREAMY CHICKEN ENCHILADA SOUP
This chicken enchilada soup recipe is made on the stovetop. We will also be showing you further on how to make it on your crockpot, slow cooker, and instant pot.
Note: Recipe calls for cooked shredded chicken. Either get a storebought 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!
CHICKEN ENCHILADA SOUP TOPPINGS:
Some optional toppings you can add to your creamy chicken enchilada soup are
- Chopped avocado
- Sliced jalapeño
- Fresh chopped cilantro
- Green onions
- Lime wedges
- Sour cream or yogurt etc.
How to cook chicken for enchilada soup
Cooking the chicken is quite simple. It would be easiest to use a rotisserie chicken but you can certainly cook your own. We recommend using skinless and boneless chicken breasts.
- Add chicken into a pot full of water
- We like adding some sort of herbs to give the chicken some flavor. Use half an onion and a bay leaf. sometimes we use a cinnamon stick but not for this particular recipe.
- Allow boiling for about 15-20 minutes until you easily insert a knife or a fork through the chicken.
- Then, drain in a colander and let it cool off
- Finally, using your hands or forks, shred chicken.
- If you have an Instant pot, you can simply make this Instant Pot Chicken Breast to use in this enchilada soup.
How to make chicken enchilada soup using an instant pot, crockpot or slow cooker
There are other ways to make chicken enchilada soup other than using your stovetop. Here are other ways to cook up your soup.
Chicken enchilada soup using an Instant Pot:
- Using the saute option, add the oil or butter in the instant pot, then add the onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and cook until softens, about 5-6 minutes.
- If using raw chicken, add 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 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 and then add it back into the soup. Mix and serve.
How to cook chicken enchilada soup using 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, garlic and cook until softens, about 5-6 minutes.
- Transfer to crockpot or slow cooker and add in 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 portion of the soup towards the end. Blend it and then add it back into the soup. Mix and serve.
How do you thicken chicken enchilada soup
To thicken your enchilada soup, mix about 1-2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour with some cold water and add over 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.
How to store chicken enchilada soup
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.
We want to let you know right now that this is the best chicken enchilada soup recipe out there. We love it so much and hope you love it too! Please come back and give us some feedback on what you think of this easy enchilada soup. Leave us a comment below and don’t forget to rate it!
Love Soup? We have loads more amazing soup recipes to check out:
- Italian Chicken Veggie Soup
- Creamy Chicken Broccoli Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Homemade Roasted Tomato Soup
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Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Butter or Ghee or avocado oil
- 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 Tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 15 oz Diced fire-roasted Tomatoes 1 can
- ¼ Cup Tomato Paste
- 4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- 14.5 oz Red Kidney Beans drain and rinsed, 1 can
- 14.5 oz 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 butter or ghee (add avocado oil if using) in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, celery, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and cook until softens, about 5-6 minutes.
- Stir in seasonings, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth 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 beans, corn and shredded cooked chicken.
- Stir to combine and boil for a couple of minutes, just to heat it all up.
- Then pour into bowls and top with shredded cheese or your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Fresh, frozen, or canned corn
- Oil- avocado, olive oil, or vegetable oil
- Try Shredded turkey, ground chicken or ground turkey
Amy says
I couldn’t understand what everyone was talking about flavor. I had to look to see if I missed something. Very bland.
Nicole P says
We were so excited for the recipe, that I planned and anticipated it for a week! I would say, that considering other soups I have made, this one seemed to be much more time consuming… sauteing veggies, boiling in broth, blending with hand blender, adding other veggies, including chopping and measuring seasonings. Afterwards, we found it to have too many beans, no enchilada flavor, and very bland. So, although healthy, no one wanted a second portion that night or the next day. But I love the healthy idea of soups that are not canned and loaded with salt! So, I would attempt to make a bigger batch next time (because it took so much work), and then add more salt, more heat via cayenne or jalepenos, and sour cream, and maybe even some low fat homemade corn tortilla strips. I will try again, but only when I have that kind of time!
Amanda says
How much is a serving size?
Rena Awada says
a bowl. which is about 2 cups
Donna says
Absolutely delicious- love blending all the veggies up then adding beans and corn and chicken. Thanks for recipe. I added cayenne pepper
Laura says
This was SO delicious and easy. The flavors are great. I’m wondering how the texture would change if u doubled the veggies?
Haley says
Great recipe! I used 2X carrots, 1/2 beans, then garnished with avocado, cilantro, and shredded Colby jack. I also added Danny Trejo’s hot sauce to my bowls. I will definitely make this again.
Rena Awada says
Thank you Haley
A. says
So good!
I added some jalapeños to my sauteed veggie mix to give the soup and extra kick. Perfect!
Rachel says
Delicious! I realized I was missing tomato paste and substituted with marinara sauce (3x the tomato paste measurement), and it still turned out great. We enjoyed mixing dollops of sour cream once the soup was served into our bowls to cool down the soup a bit too.
Jackie Hodge says
I’m planning on making this. If I use a crockpot do I have to pre cook the chicken and veggies or just put it in the crockpot? Thanks! Cant wait to try it!
Rena Awada says
No you dont have to precook the chicken. Shredd it with a fork towards the end
Kara says
I loved this healthy creamy onion that used vegetables blended to thicken instead of cream cheese as I was looking for a lower fat version. This is packed with healthy veggies and has a good base flavor you can add to if you prefer. I added one large Serrano pepper with seeds and garnished with light sour cream, fresh thinly-sliced jalapeños, shredded Mexican cheese and cilantro. So filling and flavorful on a fall day!
Kara says
Sorry I meant creamy “option” not onion
Kelly says
This was the best soup I have ever made. I cannot believe how healthy it is. This will be a consistent dish I make for soup season!
Rena Awada says
This is for sure a winner! Thanks and glad you like it
Janis Barnett says
This is a great recipe. Love the blended vegetables. I added a little bit of enchilada sauce and we loved it even more! Thanks for sharing a recipe my family will be enjoying for many years.
Maggie says
Nutritious and delicious!
Rena Awada says
Thank you!
Alexandra G says
Yummy! This was so good . Even my pickest eater ate it. I did blend it a lot so she wouldn’t see all the veggies. 10/10 I’m excited to share this recipe with family.
Rena Awada says
It’s definitely a winner. Thanks for the feedback
Pam says
I made this for my family almost as directed (no black beans-my family hates them) and it was a hit. I provided crushed tortilla chips, chopped jalapenos, sliced avocados and sour cream for toppings. The next time I skipped the blender step and used 1 can of kidney beans and 1 can of pinto beans. Although not as creamy it was a little more rustic and we liked it even better. No leftovers!
Sharon says
I had been looking at this recipe for weeks. I finally made it today. I am a soup lover and this is by far the best soup I have made. The only change was I added jalapeño after bending. It was a nice explosion in my mouth. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing.
Jess says
I followed verbatim (I added chiplotle seaaoning for some heat). It was phenomenal. Def keeping this recipe for future meals. Amazing! Super clean Ingredients also which I love.
Sonya says
I made this for my family last night and everyone loved it! I topped it with sour cream, which I definitely recommend because it was delicious. I was anticipating a large amount of leftovers, as there are only 3 people in my family, but we ate all of it. I can’t wait to make this again. It is definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
Rena Awada says
So glad you loved it
Jennifer says
This is so good! I usually add more broth once blended as I tend to get more chicken then called for and it isn’t soupy.
Rena Awada says
Nice. Thanks for the feedback
Amanda says
Can you make this without blending? Also crockpot?
Rena Awada says
Yes to both. You can use use the back of your spoon to mash up some of the soup. It also works on crockpot
Kris Maliszewski says
Delicious!! So good I am making a double batch later today. Just tried for the first time last night. My husband loved it too!!
Rena Awada says
So glad. Yes this one is a winner
Esraa says
Thanks you for sharing this recipe, cant wait to try it!!
Do you add any kind of cream while cooking ? Or just you top it with sour cream?
Rena Awada says
i didnt add any cream. You can though. You can also top with sour cream
Emily says
This recipe was one of the best soups I’ve ever made, absolutely loved it. 5 stars followed the recipe to a T!
Alicia says
It was good and warming. I added heat for more depth of flavoring and almost double seasoning.