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This easy Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup recipe tastes like it’s been cooked low and slow, but it’s fast and requires minimal effort!
Try my stove top chicken tortilla soup recipe if you prefer.
I think you’ll really like this Tex-Mex chicken soup. It’s got a delicious fire-roasted tomato broth, corn, beans, spices, and tender shredded chicken. It’s not too spicy, but it’s packed with flavor. It’s actually pretty healthy too.
The toppings are always my favorite part, though. 😉
Love making soup in the Instant Pot? You may also like my Instant Pot taco soup recipe, my Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup, or my Instant Pot chicken tortellini soup.
How to make chicken tortilla soup in an Instant Pot
Sauté your onion right in your Instant Pot, add your chicken breasts and the rest of the ingredients, seal it up, and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure. Shred the chicken with two forks then add it back into the pressure cooker. Serve and garnish bowls as desired. Simple as that!
This tasty soup can be topped with a variety of things:
- Chopped avocado
- Mexican shredded cheese blend (mine had cheddar, queso quesadilla, and Monterey Jack)
- Chopped cilantro
- Tortilla chips
- Lime wedges
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
…etc.
This Instant Pot tortilla soup is so good that the leftovers went really fast too. They’re even better for lunch the next day!
If you prefer chicken thighs, you can definitely make the swap. In fact, they’ll be even more juicy than chicken breasts.
Will you try making this electric pressure cooker chicken tortilla soup recipe? Hope you give it a try! Questions? Ask me in the comments below.
More Instant Pot chicken recipes you may want to try:
- Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
- Easy Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
- Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken (Chicken Breasts and Thighs)
Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 3 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can corn drained
- 1 (15 fluid ounce) can black beans drained & rinsed
- 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles
- 2 (13.5 fluid ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes with juices
- 4 cups chicken broth
- Salt & pepper to taste
Toppings (optional, to taste):
- Chopped avocado, Mexican shredded cheese blend, cilantro, tortilla chips/strips, lime wedges, sour cream
Instructions
- Sauté the onion in your Instant Pot for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the other soup ingredients, except for salt & pepper, to your pressure cooker and give it a stir.
- Cancel sauté, close the lid, and ensure the valve is on the "sealing" position. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. It'll take about 10-15 minutes for it to get up to pressure.
- Once the countdown has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, and then do a quick pressure release.
- Take the chicken out and shred it with two forks. Add it back into the soup, dish it up, and top each bowl as desired.
Notes
- I use this 6-quart Instant Pot.
- Here is the stovetop version.
- You can use chicken thighs if you prefer (use about a pound or so).
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Can this be adapted to a non insta pot recipe? Thanks!
Hi Stephanie! Yes.. just follow the steps and take the chicken out to shred once you think it’s done. I don’t know exactly how long it’ll take since I haven’t tested it. You could even do it with already cooked chicken (like rotisserie) and then it’ll take less time. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I’m grateful for online recipes, but I’m getting a bit jaded with the concept of “prep time.” How in Hades can anyone prep this in five minutes? For the sake of research, I busted my anus on this one, didn’t even throw cans away, and chopped faster than I’d usually do, and it still took me 25 minutes. Don’t you folks have to peel your onions and garlic, open your cans, measure your spices? I even had all the canned goods on the counter top when I started – there’s just no way a mere mortal could do this in five minutes. Do you wash your hands after handling raw chicken? There’s a minute right there, no?
The onions saute for five minutes – don’t you stop to stir that? I dunno. Maybe it’s just me, but the cult of the insta-pot seems to get in people’s heads and minutes are just shaved away . . . .
As a side note, a lot of insta pots show a ‘burn’ message if the user switches from ‘saute’ to ‘pressure cook’ without several minutes of down time. I’ve read this depends on the unit, but ours is certainly prone to this buzzkilling error message 🙁
I’d love to see a website / blog / whatever with REAL prep times for a change. I don’t mind functioning in reality – I do it probably 90% of the day – but recipes should definitely hover in the realm of ‘real’ – in my humble opinion. We generally add 25 – 40 minutes to any ‘prep time’ in an insta pot recipe anymore.
(Finished Ranting) . . . That said, I’m sure this will turn out great – I’ve never had a tortilla soup that sucked, and the proportions here all seem well suited. I’d love to see more realistic prep times in the future.
Thanks for all you do,
me
Hi Stewart! I just re-read this recipe. I think what I did here was chop the onion and then prepped the rest while it was sauteing. Since the onion is already cooking, I don’t really count that as prep time since it’s already cooking. Prep to me is purely the time before you can get the cooking going if that makes sense. I don’t prep everything before starting to cook. Only when baking. It takes me less than a minute to add all the spices to the IP, but I probably am faster than the average person. I put the garlic into my garlic press whole and that takes seconds. Yup, I definitely wash my hands after touching the raw chicken, but I don’t add that until the very end. I get what you’re saying, though. I do try to keep prep times reasonable when writing the recipe up – I may be off the mark for some people, though – my apologies. Yes, I always give the onion a quick stir or two while sauteing. I don’t stop to do this, though. Honestly, I have never once received a burn warning on my IP. I’ve even tried to create that message for the purpose of troubleshooting recipes. On the bright side, at least I include inactive time in here (the time the IP takes to get up to pressure). 😉 That’s my pet peeve about online IP recipes. They leave that part out. Hope you like the taste of the soup at least.
Stewart,
It took me less then 5 mins of prep! Maybe you should watch some YouTube videos on how to chop your veggies instead of ranting on someone’s blog! And, my IP never gave me a burn warning going from sauté to pressure cook. Sounds like another personal problem!
Try taking a breathe and enjoying life buddy!
My daughter made this 2 days ago and she and her family loved it! Two adults and one child…no leftovers, need I say more. I made it last night and my husband and I were amazed at how delicious it tasted! The deep flavors were awesome, like it simmered for hours. We have leftovers and we are excited to eat it again tonight!
We did cook it for 30 mins not 8. Other than that we went exactly by recipe. I will be making this for years to come. Easy and delicious!
I’m so happy it was so well received! Thanks for letting me know. ❤️
I’ve tried many different Tortilla Soup recipes, and I must say this one is at the bottom of the list. No offense – maybe it’s because I’m truly not a fan of Tex-Mex, but this one really didn’t work for me. Threw away the leftovers….
Ouch. I wonder what went wrong considering you’re the first person who’s had such a negative reaction.
This is delicious, could not be easier and has a nice hearty flavor. I did add a handful of tortilla chips to it and subbed jalapeños for the can of chili’s, used navy beans – this was just what I had on hand. So delicious, thank you for sharing. A keeper for sure!
Yay! I am so happy you like it, Jennie! I like what you did with the recipe too… good suggestions!
I made this for a friend who had just gotten out of the hospital. It was a nice hearty soup and there was enough for a dinner for the two of us as well. I will definitely be making this again.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I want to add some veggies — some green beans and squash. Do I need to adjust the amount of liquid or cook time?
I haven’t tested it so I can’t say for sure, but I would leave everything the same. I imagine the veggies will end up quite soft based on other recipes I’ve made in the IP.
Are there tortillas in this recipe? I cook this in the slow cooker but am wondering how corn tortillas hold up under pressure. I’m new to IP cooking. Thanks.
Hi Karen! Nope, there’s no tortillas in the actual soup. I just add them on for toppings. They would not hold up under pressure, so I just add the tortilla chips/strips on top for a little crunch after it’s done cooking.
Oh my goodness, you had me at ‘minimal effort’ but I will keep making this for the wonderful flavor!! We loved this soup!! I toasted up some Italian bread to dip into this flavorful soup & it went fast!! I have a little bit left for some leftovers but not much!! LOL!! Thank you for sharing this!!!!
I am so happy you enjoyed the soup and found it easy, Kelly! 🙂
I just made this, it was very good!! I will definitely be making this on a regular basis. I used boneless thighs and they worked just fine with the cook time. It is really a wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, Cathy! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. 🙂