Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup is an easy and healthy family recipe that’s quick and easy to whip up. Serve with all their favorite garnishes for a meal your kids will love. It’s also perfect for football season – a great recipe for sharing!
A Note from Nora
I have never met a soup I didn’t love. This might just be the reason why I have every kind of soup here on the blog… From Instant Pot Lentil Soup to Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup, Slow Cooker Tuscan White Beans Soup with Sausage and Hearty Pasta Fagioli Soup…
Better yet? Both my kids and my husband are huge fans, too, and this Chicken Tortilla Soup is in our regular rotation every fall!
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup:
Read on for the detailed step-by-step ingredients and instructions, or scroll down for tips and the printable recipe card.
Watch the Video Tutorial for Chicken Tortilla Soup:
I know, not THE most revolutionary soup out there… But:
- it’s easy, a dump and go kind of instant pot recipe
- it’s healthy – full of vegetables!
- and it’s CRAZY delicious
Ingredients for Chicken Tortilla Soup:
- chicken
- onion
- red bell pepper
- mild green chiles
- fire roasted tomatoes
- chicken Broth
- tomato paste
- taco seasoning
- salt
- black beans
- frozen corn
- To serve: tortilla chips lime, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, avocado…
You can use any chicken pieces you like, though chicken breast and/or chicken thighs generally work best.
If you don’t have any chicken broth on hand, you can also just use water and a little extra seasoning. The soup will be a bit less flavorful, but still absolutely delcious.
Leave out the mild green chiles for an extra mild soup, or replace them with chilies that have more heat for a spicy soup.
Key Steps to Chicken Tortilla Soup:
This soup is ridiculously easy.
1 Pressure Cook
Once you have prepped your ingredients, simply place everything EXCEPT for the black beans, corn (and toppings, obviously), in your instant pot.
Make sure to stir well so nothing gets caught on the bottom – this could trigger the BURN warning.
Close the lid and set the valve to the “sealing” position, then pressure cook on high pressure for:
- 10 minutes for boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 15 minutes for frozen chicken breast OR boneless chicken thighs
- 20 minutes for large or bone-in chicken thighs
2 Natural Pressure Release
Once cooking time is up, do a natural pressure release for 5-10 minutes – this is important, or you’ll have tough chicken.
To do this, just switch off and leave your pressure cooker alone. Then, follow manufacturer’s instructions to release any remaining pressure manually.
3 Finish the Soup:
Open the lid (careful, hot steam ahead!) and stir in the black beans and corn.
Set the instant pot to “sauté” and simmer for 4-5 minutes to heat through the beans and corn.
Then, serve with your favorite toppings!
My best tips to make this instant pot soup easy and foolproof:
Cut all vegetables roughly the same size
Try to dice the mild green chiles, red pepper and onion all about the same size.
Otherwise you’ll end up with bits that are more cooked than others, which gives the soup a weird texture.
Use any chicken parts you like
I used bone-in chicken thighs, because that’s what I generally prefer for instant pot and slow cooker recipes.
But you can use anything: thighs, wings, breast, a whole chicken cut into parts… Keep in mind that cooking time might vary depending on the size of your chicken pieces.
Make sure to add the corn and beans at the end
I prefer to add the corn and cooked black beans at the end and just heat them through on the sauté setting.
They don’t really need to cook, and even though they’re both quite sturdy they do get a little too soft for my taste when cooked with the soup.
Can this recipe be frozen?
Yes, you can freeze it without the toppings.
- make sure to wait until the soup has cooled to room temperature before packing and freezing it (otherwise the heat could affect the other food in your freezer)
- use a container suitable for freezing
- label with the name and use-by date (this soup can be frozen for up to 3 months)
- make sure the food is piping hot all the way through after defrosting and reheating
What can you serve with chicken tortilla soup?
We often eat it with just our favorite toppings: avocado, sour cream, cheese and tortilla chips
But if you need a heartier meal, try these suggestions:
- pumpkin cornbread or French bread on the side
- add some cooked rice to the soup
- serve dessert! Cinnamon Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Bread is a great fall dessert.
Grab the printable recipe:
Printable recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Recipe details
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken pieces I used bone-in thighs
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 3 mild green chiles diced
- 15- oz can fire roasted tomatoes
- 4 Cups Chicken Broth
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups frozen corn
- To serve: tortilla chips lime, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, avocado…
Instructions
- Cook: Place all ingredients EXCEPT black beans, corn and toppings in the inner pot of your instant pot. Close the lid and set the pressure valve to "sealing". Cook 10-20 minutes on high (10 minutes for chicken breast, 15-20 minutes for larger pieces). Do a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then carefully release any remaining pressure manually.
- Finish soup: Open the pressure cooker. Add black beans and corn and heat on sauté until piping hot.
- Serve: Serve with your favorite toppings.
Pressure Dad says
I make this a lot and freeze it for weekday lunches for my wife. I substitute whatever beans I have on hand it’s always good.
My only suggestion is make your own taco seasoning from real spices mixed together. I cheated one time (I was in a rush used Ortega mix) it will create and unpleasant goop on top of the soup. I make my own blend and put it in empty spice jars just for this soup or anything that’s not “taco taco”
Nora says
I’m so glad your family likes the soup! And great tip with the seasoning, thank you so much for sharing.
Lorri says
Can you freeze the leftovers?
Nora Rusev says
Lorri, I haven’t tried to freeze the leftovers, but I’m sure it would work well.
Amanda says
15 mins on manual or soup/stew setting?
Nora says
Manual!
Willow says
I just found your site and excited to try some of your recipes! Would frozen chicken breast’s work for this too?
Nora says
Hi Willow, aww that made me smile! And yes, frozen chicken breast absolutely works for this soup! Just add 2 minutes to the cooking time (if your chicken breasts are individually frozen, you’ll probably need an extra 5 minutes if they’re in a big clump).
Carolyn Hawkins-Young says
If you use bone in chicken thighs, how do you go about deboning. Or with chicken breasts, do you do big cubed chunks or whole breasts and shred post-cooking?
Nora says
Hi Carolyn, with thighs the meat is so fall-off-the-bone tender, it slides right off. I carefully lift out the thighs after cooking, pick out the bones and shred. Chicken breasts go in while for me, and then I shred them after cooking. Hope that helps!