Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup is packed with hidden veggies, tender shredded chicken, and plant-based protein from quinoa and beans. Cozy up with a big bowl and your favorite toppings—you’ll be hooked!

Love chicken tortilla soup? Check out these versions next: a 20-minute stovetop Chicken Tortilla Soup and an Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken tortilla soup has always been a favorite in my home — especially with homemade tortilla strips; who can resist that?! Since it’s a soup I enjoy so regularly, I thought I’d put a healthful spin on it by adding a few more veggies and a superfood — quinoa! The quinoa adds a nice thickness and texture to the soup while adding loads of health benefits and plant-based protein in every bowl — score! 

Why Sauté First?

Yes, this slow cooker meal is easy, but sautéing first makes it taste better. If your slow cooker can sauté, you won’t need another pot!

Sautéing the aromatics, spices, tomato paste, and tomatoes makes the flavors richer. It also makes sure the onion is tender, as it might be crunchy if not sautéed first.

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup Ingredients

A few ingredients worth calling out:

• Chicken: While chicken breasts will work, I highly recommend chicken thighs. The thigh meat becomes exceptionally tender in the slow cooker and shreds quickly and easily. It’s also more forgiving if it is cooked longer, since chicken breasts tend to dry out if they’re cooked too long.
• Red enchilada sauce: Enchilada sauce can vary greatly in heat from brand to brand. Personally, I love and recommend Old El Paso® mild red enchilada sauce (not sponsored). If you aren’t able to find this specific brand, I’d recommend tasting the enchilada sauce first and making sure it isn’t too spicy. If you need to control the heat, add only a portion of the enchilada sauce, replacing the remaining liquid with additional chicken stock.
• Chicken stock: A high-quality, flavorful stock adds loads of flavor and allows us to cut down on spices or other additions. I highly recommend Swanson ® chicken stock — it’s our favorite in this recipe.

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup Notes

• Rinse the quinoa: Quinoa has a bitter saponin coating that needs to be rinsed off before use. Place it in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it well before adding to the slow cooker.
• The longer this soup cooks, the more liquid the quinoa absorbs. For a heartier soup, that’s great, but if you want it to remain more broth-y, stop cooking as soon as the quinoa has “popped.” 
• Each slow cooker is a little different so the cooking time varies. Look for chicken that shreds easily, fully cooked quinoa, and tender veggies.
• Use a big enough cooker to fit everything: I recommend a 6-quart slow cooker to fit everything nicely. Crock-pot is actually the brand name of a specific line of slow cookers, but most people use it as a generic term for any slow cooker.
• Cook on high. Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t cook well on low. The quinoa needs higher heat to “pop” and cook through. 
• Cut the chicken into thin/small chunks. Otherwise, it won’t be done at the same time as everything else. You don’t need to spend much time cutting the chicken; just quickly cut 2-inch (1-inch thick) pieces.

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup Toppings

Choose 2-3 of your favorites or whatever can be ready the quickest in your home! 

• Start with tortilla strips (this is chicken tortilla soup after all!). To keep things quick and easy, grab some at the store, or if you’re feeling ambitious, make your own! To keep this soup as healthy as possible, use baked or air-fried corn tortilla strips.
• Cheese: I love adding a Mexican blend, sharp Cheddar, or Monterey-Colby Jack cheese.
• Layer on the avocados. I like to chop an avocado and put it in the soup. The avocado adds a cooling and refreshing creaminess. Adding avocado instead of cheese is a great way to add creaminess while keeping this soup on the healthier side.
• Drizzle on some fresh lime juice. The lime adds such a great brightness and freshness to the soup.
• If you are a cilantro fan, load up your bowl with some finely chopped cilantro. If you aren’t a cilantro fan, just skip it!
• Add a scoop of light sour cream. Sour cream adds creaminess to this healthy chicken tortilla soup and if you use fat-free or light sour cream you won’t be adding quite as many calories.

Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup Spiciness

Using mild enchilada sauce (like Old El Paso) and McCormick chili powder, this soup is slightly spicy. Toppings like cheese, sour cream, and avocado will reduce the heat.

For a milder soup, reduce or skip the jalapeños, use diced tomatoes without green chiles, opt for mild enchilada sauce, and/or cut back on chili powder. Note: Use chili powder, not chili powder (which is very hot). American chili powder, like McCormick, is mild.

More Delicious Soup Recipes:

• Curry Lentil Soup with red lentils
• Beef and Barley Soup in the slow cooker
• Zuppa Toscana Soup in the slow cooker
• Instant Pot Beef Stew reader favorite recipe
• Crockpot Chili winner of dozens of chili cook-offs!