This Chicken Taco Soup is the perfect weeknight chicken soup recipe. Packed with tender chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, and your favorite taco seasonings, it’s a quick, hearty, and easy weeknight winner.
I have quite a few easy weeknight soup recipes on the site like Creamy Chicken and Potato Soup, Easy Chicken Parm Soup, and Quick Chicken Tortellini Soup. And adding to that collection today, we have super easy, super delicious Chicken Taco Soup.
It’s a one-pot recipe that can be tossed together in under an hour (most of that is simmering time!), with very little effort.
What Does Chicken Taco Soup Taste Like?
This is a hearty soup full of tender shredded chicken, tomatoes, two kinds of beans, corn, and chilis and seasoned with taco seasonings.
It’s packed full of flavor with just a little bit of heat, depending on what chilis you use. To top everything off, we stir in a little heavy cream (or sour cream) to add a little richness making this a truly satisfying soup.
Ingredient Notes
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts: This recipe calls for two medium to large breasts, which is about 1.5 pounds of chicken. However, if you want to speed things up and have a rotisserie chicken or cooked shredded chicken on hand, you can use 2 to 3 cups of cooked chicken instead. Add the cooked chicken to the soup at the end to warm while the soup simmers.
- Tomato paste: The tomato paste helps add depth of flavor to this soup without making it taste too tomato-y. You only need about 3 tablespoons, so take a look at my post on What to Do With Leftover Tomato Paste if you need ideas on what to do with leftovers.
- Canned diced green chilis: Use mild chilis for flavor without making the soup spicy or hot chilis if you want actual heat.
- Heavy cream: The heavy cream in this recipe helps add extra richness to the soup. If you don’t have heavy cream, you can replace it with sour cream. You can also see my post on What to Do With Leftover Whipping Cream for storage tips and recipe ideas on how to use up any leftover heavy cream.
- Spices: You can replace the spices in this soup with 2 tablespoons of your favorite taco seasoning.
How to Make Chicken Taco Soup
This is a brief overview with pictures of how to make the soup. For the full, printable recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below.
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot with a lid, and add your generously salted and peppered chicken breasts to the pot.
2. Brown your chicken breasts on both sides.
3. Add filtered water to the pot until the water comes about halfway up the sides of the chicken pieces, and bring to a simmer.
4. Cover and cook the chicken until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
5. Prep the rest of your ingredients while the chicken cooks.
6. Transfer chicken and any liquid to a plate or bowl once the chicken is fully cooked.
7. Heat olive oil in the now empty pot, and cook the onion and garlic.
8. Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute.
9. Stir in the tomato paste, and cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
10. Stir in chicken broth, pinto and black beans, diced tomatoes, and green chilis, and simmer for 15 minutes.
11. Add in the corn, and simmer for 5 more minutes.
12. Dice or shred your chicken breast while the soup simmers, and add it to the soup.
13. Salt and pepper as needed, stir in the cream or sour cream, and serve with toppings of your choice.
14. Enjoy!
Taco Soup Toppings
Although this soup doesn’t need a lot of toppings, you can certainly add some if you want to! Here are a few of my favorites:
- Shredded cheese
- Chopped cilantro
- Sour cream
- Finely diced onion or sliced green onions
- Chopped avocado
- Spinach (If you want to add spinach to your soup, you can stir in a couple of handfuls of spinach at the end of the cooking time so that it doesn’t overcook.)
FAQ
How do I store my chicken taco soup leftovers?
You can store the soup in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 3 days.
For longer storage, this soup actually freezes really well. Store in individual serving size portions in airtight containers or freezer bags for up to 3 months for best results.
Chicken Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 2 medium-to-large boneless skinless chicken breasts about 1.5 pounds
- Salt as needed
- Pepper as needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- Filtered water as needed
- 1 large white or yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 3 tablespoons (45g) tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 15-ounce can pinto beans drained
- 1 15-ounce can black beans drained
- 2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 1 4-ounce can diced green chilis hot or mild depending on your preferences
- 1 15-ounce can whole kernel corn drained
- ½ cup heavy cream OR 1/2-1 cup of sour cream
Instructions
- Before you begin assembling the rest of your ingredients, start cooking the chicken breasts. Generously salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
- In a large pot with a lid, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook undisturbed until well-browned, 2 to 4 minutes, flip and repeat. Once both sides are browned, add filtered water to the pot until it comes about halfway up the sides of the chicken pieces (it doesn’t need to be exact). Bring the water to a simmer, cover the pot and turn the heat down to medium.
- Cook for 8 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat reads 165°F (170°F if you’re going to shred the chicken). Check occasionally and add more water if the majority has evaporated. (Do not allow all the water to evaporate!) Larger chicken breasts will take longer to cook, so be sure to check for doneness before removing from heat.
- While your chicken cooks, prep the rest of your ingredients for the soup. Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer it and any liquid left in the pot to a clean plate or bowl.
- Return the pot to the stove and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Heat over medium heat and add the onions and minced garlic. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the edges of the onions begin to turn translucent, stirring well to remove any cooked on bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, paprika, and oregano, and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring often, until the tomato paste just begins to stick to the bottom of the pot, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in the chicken broth, pinto and black beans, diced tomatoes, and green chilis. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add corn and simmer for 5 minutes more. While the soup cooks, dice or shred the cooked chicken breast and add it into the soup.
- Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Stir in the cream or sour cream and then check salt levels once more. Serve topped with cheese and cilantro if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
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