Soups Stews

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Name: Chicken Tortilla Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts; 1 lb roma tomatoes (about 4 medium), halved; 1 medium white onion, quartered; 2 medium jalapeños, halved lengthwise; 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled; 2 tbsp ancho chili powder; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp dried oregano; 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 2 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable or canola), divided; 1 (14.5-oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes; 1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed; 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth; 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 large lime), plus wedges for serving; 8 corn tortillas (6-inch), cut into 1/4-inch strips; 1/2 cup neutral oil, for frying tortilla strips; 1/2 cup sour cream, for serving; 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, for serving; 1 medium avocado, diced, for serving; 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, for serving

A smoky, deeply spiced chicken tortilla soup with charred tomatoes, black beans, and crispy tortilla strips. Ready in 1 hour, weeknight-friendly.

By Brian · Published September 29, 2026

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A good tortilla soup lives or dies by the depth of its base — and the shortcut most home cooks skip is charring the aromatics before the liquid ever hits the pot. Blistering the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeños directly in a hot dry skillet pulls out a roasted, slightly smoky backbone that no amount of simmering can replicate. This is what separates a flat, acidic broth from something that tastes like it's been going all afternoon.Expect a broth that's rich but not heavy — tomato-forward with smoky ancho chili heat, balanced by lime and topped with genuinely crispy tortilla strips you fry yourself (takes 5 minutes, worth it). This is a solid weeknight dinner that also holds well for lunch the next day. If the broth tastes flat after adding the chicken, it needs salt and lime — not more time on the stove.

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🕐 Prep: 20 min | 🔥 Cook: 40 min | ⏱️ Total: 60 min

Ingredients

Servings 4

▸ 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
▸ 1 lb roma tomatoes (about 4 medium), halved
▸ 1 medium white onion, quartered
▸ 2 medium jalapeños, halved lengthwise
▸ 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
▸ 2 tbsp ancho chili powder
▸ 1 tsp ground cumin
▸ 1 tsp smoked paprika
▸ 1/2 tsp dried oregano
▸ 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste
▸ 1/4 tsp black pepper
▸ 2 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable or canola), divided
▸ 1 (14.5-oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
▸ 1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
▸ 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
▸ 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 large lime), plus wedges for serving
▸ 8 corn tortillas (6-inch), cut into 1/4-inch strips
▸ 1/2 cup neutral oil, for frying tortilla strips
▸ 1/2 cup sour cream, for serving
▸ 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, for serving
▸ 1 medium avocado, diced, for serving
▸ 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, for serving

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Recommended Gear

12-inch cast iron skillet or heavy stainless skillet

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5-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot

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Blender or immersion blender

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Rimmed half sheet pan (for draining tortilla strips)

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Wire rack

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Paper towels

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Tongs

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Ladle

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Instructions

Char the Aromatics

1. Heat your cast iron skillet over high heat for 2 minutes — it should be visibly smoking. Place the halved roma tomatoes cut-side down, quartered onion, and halved jalapeños cut-side down directly in the dry skillet with no oil. Add the unpeeled garlic cloves. Char without moving for 4-5 minutes until the cut faces are deeply blackened and the tomatoes have released some juice; you'll smell a roasty, slightly sweet scent rather than raw vegetable smell. Flip everything and char the other side for 2-3 more minutes. The garlic skins will be completely black — that's correct.
2. Transfer the charred garlic to a small plate and let cool for 1 minute, then squeeze the soft roasted garlic out of the blackened skins and discard the skins. Transfer all charred aromatics (including the garlic) to a blender. Add the canned fire-roasted tomatoes and blend on high for 30-45 seconds until completely smooth — the mixture should be deep brick-red with a slightly thick, pourable consistency. Set aside.

Build the Broth

1. Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in your Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the ancho chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, and black pepper directly to the oil. Stir constantly for 60-90 seconds — the spices will darken slightly and smell intensely fragrant and toasty. Don't walk away; they can scorch in seconds.
2. Pour the blended charred tomato mixture into the pot — it will spatter aggressively, so stand back. Stir to combine with the bloomed spices and cook over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture deepens in color and begins to pull away from the sides of the pot.
3. Add the chicken broth and drained black beans. Increase heat to high and bring to a full rolling boil — you'll see large bubbles breaking the surface and hear a steady rapid simmer. Taste the broth now and adjust salt if needed.

Cook the Chicken

1. Add the whole chicken breasts directly to the simmering broth. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and cook for 18-22 minutes until the chicken is completely opaque and registers 165°F on an instant-read thermometer. The broth should maintain a steady gentle simmer — not a hard boil, which toughens the meat.
2. Remove the chicken breasts with tongs and place on a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the meat into rough 1-2 inch pieces — it should pull apart easily with no resistance. Return the shredded chicken to the pot and stir to distribute. Add the lime juice and taste; adjust salt and acidity as needed.

Fry the Tortilla Strips

1. While the chicken cooks, heat 1/2 cup neutral oil in the cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until a tortilla strip dropped in sizzles immediately and vigorously — about 350°F, roughly 3 minutes of heating. Fry the tortilla strips in two or three batches, stirring gently, for 2-3 minutes per batch until golden amber and rigid (not still pliable). They crisp up further as they cool. Transfer with tongs to a wire rack set over a sheet pan lined with paper towels and immediately season with a pinch of salt.

Serve

1. Ladle the hot soup into deep bowls. Top each serving with a handful of crispy tortilla strips, a spoonful of sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack, diced avocado, and fresh cilantro. Serve lime wedges on the side for squeezing at the table. The broth should be deep red-brown, glossy, and steaming — add the crispy toppings last so they don't go soggy before the first bite.

Cook's Notes

Don't skip charring the aromatics in a dry skillet — this single step creates the smoky backbone of the broth that simmering alone can't produce. Even 3 minutes of charring on each side is better than none.
The soup base (without chicken) can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the fridge. Reheat, poach fresh chicken in it, and proceed from step 6.
Ancho chili powder is not the same as generic chili powder — it's made solely from dried ancho chilies and has a deeper, earthier, less cayenne-forward heat. Find it in the Latin foods aisle or order from Penzeys.
Fry tortilla strips in smaller batches. Overcrowding drops the oil temperature and gives you pale, greasy strips instead of crispy ones.
If your broth is too thick after simmering, add chicken broth in 1/4-cup increments until it reaches a consistency you like — somewhere between soup and stew is ideal.

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Pro Tips

→ The oil temperature for frying tortilla strips is critical — too low and they absorb oil and go limp; too high and they burn before the center crisps. Test with a single strip before committing the batch. It should sizzle aggressively on contact and be golden in about 90 seconds.
→ If the blended tomato base splatters violently when it hits the hot oil-spice mixture, it means your heat is too high or the pan isn't deep enough. Use the Dutch oven for this step, not a skillet, and reduce heat to medium before pouring.
→ Blooming the spices in oil before adding liquid is non-negotiable. Raw dried spices added directly to broth taste dusty and one-dimensional; 60 seconds of toasting in fat unlocks their fat-soluble flavor compounds completely.
→ If the finished broth tastes bitter, it usually means the garlic skins were blended in, or the spices scorched during blooming. There's no easy fix for scorched spices — start the broth step over in a clean pot. Bitterness from garlic skins is fixable with a pinch of sugar and extra lime juice.
→ For a silkier, more restaurant-style broth, blend half of the black beans into the tomato mixture before adding to the pot. This thickens the broth naturally without any starch and gives it more body.
→ Chicken breasts poached at a hard boil come out chalky. Keep the liquid at a lazy simmer — small bubbles occasionally breaking the surface — and the chicken will be genuinely tender and easy to shred cleanly.

What to Serve With This

Serve this soup with warm flour tortillas or a stack of charred corn tortillas on the side — something to tear and drag through the broth. A simple avocado salad dressed with lime juice, flaky salt, and a drizzle of olive oil adds fat and cooling contrast to the smoky heat without competing with the bowl.For beer, go with a Mexican lager like Modelo Especial or a Bohemian-style pilsner. The clean carbonation and mild bitterness cut through the richness of the broth and reset your palate between bites. A cold agua fresca — hibiscus or tamarind — is an equally smart non-alcoholic option; the tartness echoes the lime in the soup.If you want wine, choose something with low tannin and high acidity. An unoaked Albariño or a light, chilled Grenache works here — something fruity but not heavy, so it doesn't clash with the spice. Avoid anything oaky or tannic; it'll make the chili heat feel harsher.For a fuller meal, pair with a crisp romaine salad dressed with a simple lime vinaigrette and cotija cheese. The cool, crunchy leaves against the hot soup make for a textural contrast that genuinely improves both components.

Variations & Substitutions

To make this fully vegetarian, swap the chicken for two 15-oz cans of black beans (one blended into the broth for body) and use vegetable broth. Add 1 cup of frozen corn kernels in the last 5 minutes. You'll lose a little richness but gain earthiness — stir in 1 tbsp of neutral oil at the end to compensate for the missing chicken fat.For a smokier, New Mexico-style variation, replace the ancho chili powder with 2 tbsp of guajillo powder and add 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced, along with 1 tsp of the adobo liquid. The guajillo brings a deeper, wine-dark heat while the chipotle adds a distinct smokiness. Skip the jalapeños if you want to control heat more precisely.Gluten-free cooks are already covered — just verify your chicken broth is certified GF (Swanson's regular broth is not always gluten-free; Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Broth is). The tortilla strips should be made from certified corn tortillas rather than flour.To scale this up for 8 servings, double every ingredient but use the same pot (a 7-quart Dutch oven works well). The charring step stays the same — don't try to blister double the aromatics at once or they'll steam instead of char. Work in two batches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken breasts? ▼

Yes — use about 3 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken and add it in the last 5 minutes of simmering just to warm through. Don't simmer pre-cooked chicken for 20 minutes or it will turn stringy and dry. You'll also get a slightly richer flavor from the seasoned rotisserie skin, which is a bonus.

How do I store leftover tortilla soup? ▼

Store the soup base (without toppings) in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Keep the tortilla strips in a separate container at room temperature — they'll stay crispy for 2 days. Reheat the soup over medium heat on the stovetop; microwave reheating tends to make the chicken rubbery.

Can I freeze this soup? ▼

Freeze the broth and chicken without toppings in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat gently on the stove — the texture of the chicken holds reasonably well. Fry fresh tortilla strips after reheating; frozen ones turn soggy.

What if I can't find ancho chili powder? ▼

Regular chili powder (like McCormick) works but is noticeably milder and less complex. To get closer to ancho's earthy depth, combine 1 tbsp regular chili powder with 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and 1/4 tsp cocoa powder. It's not identical but gives you similar body in the broth.

My broth tastes thin and acidic — what do I do? ▼

Thin, acidic broth usually means the tomatoes weren't charred long enough, or the spices didn't bloom properly. Fix it by stirring in 1 tbsp of tomato paste and letting it cook for 2 minutes before adding more broth. Also check your salt level — under-salted soup always reads as flat and sour.

Can I make this in a slow cooker? ▼

Yes, but don't skip the charring step — it takes 10 minutes and is the most important part of the flavor. After charring, add everything to the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours. Shred the chicken directly in the pot and fry the tortilla strips fresh before serving.

How spicy is this recipe? ▼

Moderate heat — the jalapeños and ancho chili give warmth but not burn. For mild, remove the jalapeño seeds before charring and reduce ancho chili powder to 1 tsp. For more heat, add a second jalapeño or stir in 1 tsp of chipotle powder with the other spices.

Can I use chicken thighs instead of breasts? ▼

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs work great here and stay juicier than breasts, especially if you're reheating leftovers. Use the same quantity (1.5 lbs) and same cook time. Thighs can handle a bit more simmering without drying out, which gives you a small margin of error.

What's the best oil for frying tortilla strips? ▼

Any neutral high-smoke-point oil works — vegetable, canola, or avocado oil. Avoid olive oil; its lower smoke point means the strips will taste greasy and slightly bitter before they get crispy. Use at least 1/2 inch of oil in the pan so the strips can float and fry evenly rather than soak.

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