Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup Dinner Recipe

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup combines Rotel tomatoes, taco seasoning, Hidden Valley Ranch and chicken to create an easy, flavorful, healthy, comforting, creamy, tangy and savory soup that is ready to eat when you are. It’s a favorite recipe to make for busy weeknights and can easily scale up for large crowds.

Why This Works

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup has been a go-to meal for us for as long as I can remember. I know you’ll love this recipe because it’s:

• Flavorful, the combination of the taco seasoning and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix creates a flavorful, well-rounded soup. It’s creamy, tangy and savory.
• Easy to Make, you’ll be shocked to hear that you’ll throw everything into your slow cooker at the same time. There’s no precooking the chicken and no additional pans to worry about. Just dump and cook.
• Hearty, it’s the perfect dinner on chilly days. It’s a great excuse to make homemade bread to go along with this recipe.
• Easy to Customize, use white or yellow onions and experiment with the level of spice.
• Family-Friendly, my kiddos devour this recipe. It’s hearty and flavorful.
• Perfect for Sharing, this recipe doubles or triples easily. It’s a recipe you’ll be making again and again.
• Ready When You Are, throw everything into the slow cooker and walk away. Set on low and come back to a delicious, well-rounded soup.
• Healthy, packed with veggies and protein. It’s an easy, delicious, healthy recipe.

Ingredient Notes

Chicken Breast

• This recipe calls for a pound of chicken breast but you can easily swap in boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I would actually recommend this as they hold up really well against drying out if your slow cooker runs hot and the soup cooks a little longer than expected. Chicken thighs have a richer, more intense flavor.
• You can also use rotisserie chicken. Add shredded rotisserie chicken to the recipe for the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Onion

• You can use a yellow or white onion in this recipe.
• The recipe calls for half a cup of chopped onion.
• If you’re looking to make the recipe with even less effort, grab a bag of frozen, chopped onions and use that.
• I’ve made this recipe both ways and haven’t noticed a huge difference in taste.

Red Beans

One can, drained and rinsed. You can substitute black beans.

Black beans are firmer and less sweet/flavored than red beans, which might be good if you’re trying to get your family to eat beans, ha. Crush a few tablespoons of whichever bean variety you’re using before adding to the soup to help thicken the soup a bit.

Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

One can, do not drain. This will add a little heat, not crazy, but more than most people get from the ground beef taco seasoning.

You can use Rotel Hot if you like your food on the spicy side. If there are spicy-phobes at your table, use a can of regular diced tomatoes and a good pinch of cayenne pepper.

Stewed Tomatoes

One can, do not drain. Stewed tomatoes are softer and sweeter than regular canned diced tomatoes and break down in cooking.

This helps to thicken the soup. If you don’t have stewed tomatoes on hand, diced will be OK but your soup will be a bit thinner.

Corn

One can, drained and rinsed, such as regular sweet yellow corn, or about a cup of frozen corn, thawed or not. Adds a nice texture and a little sweetness against the spicy broth.

Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix (Buttermilk Dressing)

I know it sounds weird but trust me here. It really adds a nice flavor.

Do not use the bottled salad dressing, as it will make your soup greasy and cloudy. The dry mix adds some zing without adding any additional liquid.

This is the one ingredient in this recipe that I wouldn’t mess with.

Taco Seasoning

One 1 oz. packet of taco seasoning or 2 Tbs. homemade taco seasoning. Don’t skimp out on the taco seasoning, since I know it sounds like a lot, but the soup isn’t very spicy so you need at least one full packet for moderate spice.

If you want more of a kick add another packet or use Rotel Hot.

Onion Powder

Instead of chopping an onion you can use a teaspoon of onion powder and it’ll be just fine. The soup doesn’t have the same clear flavor if you do, though.

If simmering the soup for 2-4 hrs the onion will disappear into the broth anyway.

Note that all the liquids that the Rotel tomatoes and stewed tomatoes come packed in are important, forming a big part of the broth.

Chicken Broth

Chicken Broth is 4 cups, or 32 oz., 1 carton. Try to use a lower-sodium chicken broth if possible.

See tips.

How to Make It

Place chicken breasts and onion in slow-cooker. Top with corn and beans.

Add the contents of both cans of tomatoes without draining. Add taco seasoning and ranch seasoning packets and chicken broth.

Stir well, just to distribute seasonings, though not fully mixed is ok, to avoid clumps of seasoning. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours until chicken is cooked through and falls apart easily.

Remove cooked chicken from pot using tongs and shred using 2 forks (see tip). Return shredded chicken to slow-cooker and heat an additional 10-15 minutes on LOW, or place lid ajar and keep on WARM.

Taste soup, adding more seasoning (see tip) if desired. Ladle soup into bowls and serve, garnished with sour cream and cheese if desired.

Best eaten with tortilla chips. Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

TIPS AND VARIATIONS:

It is very important not to overcook the chicken in the crockpot. If left to cook on HIGH for too long, that is, more than 3 hrs., it will be quite stringy and dry.

It will shred, but won’t be as tender and moist. Check the chicken after about 2 hrs. and if it’s done, remove from slow-cooker and shred.

Leave it out of the slow-cooker while you finish cooking the soup. Place shredded chicken back into soup, put lid ajar and adjust setting to WARM.

The taco and ranch seasoning packets and chicken broth already add a lot of sodium to this recipe. It is best to use a low-sodium chicken broth and taste soup before serving to make sure it isn’t overly-salty.

If needed, add a bit more chicken broth or a squeeze of fresh lime juice to balance out the saltiness.

If you like your food with a bit more zip, add an additional 1/2 seasoning packet OR a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper.

If you add sour cream to the crockpot instead of serving, it will break apart in the broth. Use sour cream and cheese as a garnish only.

Can you make this recipe in a different size crockpot? Yes, use general sizing guidelines to help you determine what size crockpot to use.

Serving Suggestions

Chicken soup is one of those meals that tastes even better the second day. Keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

To serve, simply heat over medium heat on your stovetop until thoroughly heated throughout. Alternatively, serve individual portions in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 90 second intervals, stirring in between, until thoroughly hot.

Add a splash of chicken broth if necessary since the starches in the beans will thicken the soup as it sits in the fridge. Serve in deep bowls with your favorite toppings.

How to store: Refrigerate leftovers in airtight containers. You can also freeze this recipe, excluding the chips and sour cream, up to 3 months in airtight quart sized freezer bags or containers.

Beans will be a little softer when thawed but soup will still be delicious. Defrost overnight in fridge before reheating.

• Toppings: shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips or chips cut into strips, fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime if you have one. Try adding some avocado slices or guacamole to make it even more filling. Cornbread is another option as are some warmed up flour tortillas. All of these extras turn this hearty soup into a meal. This would be a great option to make on Sunday and have an easy meal waiting for you on a busy weeknight. Portion out some soup into freezer or refrigerator safe containers and add fresh toppings each time.

Rotisserie Chicken Shortcut: Want to shorten the cooking time on this recipe? Use 2 cups shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken, or more or less to suit your tastes, added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Follow directions as written otherwise.

Add Cream Cheese for a Creamy Version: Some kids and grown-ups don’t care for soups that are more brothy, preferring a thicker, creamier consistency. To make this recipe more like a chicken and bean chowder, add an 8-oz. block of cream cheese cut into small cubes during the last 30 minutes of cooking, stirring occasionally, until cheese has melted and soup is creamy.

Do not add cheese at the beginning or it will break because it needs the gentle heat at the end of cooking to melt in smoothly.

Vegetarian Version: Leave out the chicken. Add another can of beans (black beans would be good) and vegetable broth in lieu of chicken broth.

• For a more New Mexico-style tortilla soup add one 4-oz. can of diced green chiles for a roasted chile flavor. Otherwise, this recipe leans more toward a Tex-Mex version of tortilla soup.