Inside: Find out how to make the most delicious chicken tortilla soup you will try. It is easy and a hit with crowds that are large and small.
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One of my mom’s favorite foods is definitely soup, and she is always happy to make some every time that she comes to visit us. In the central part of Mexico, chicken tortilla soup is very popular. That is especially true when served with recently fried tortilla strips.
What are some Chicken Tortilla Soup varieties?
There are a few different popular tortilla soup variations. For example, you can add beans and it becomes “Tarasca” soup, or if you omit the chicken it is called “Azteca” soup.
Today, however, I am going to share my recipe for the traditional Chicken Tortilla Soup. It is perfect for cold, rainy days – but if you are like me, you will like it year-round.
How Do You Make Chicken Tortilla Soup?
Chicken Tortilla Soup is very easy to make and you can prepare it from start to finish in under thirty minutes. The secret to making this soup even better is making sure that the tortilla strips are still perfectly crunchy when it is time to serve the soup.
You can achieve this by frying to tortilla strips right at the end and adding them to the bottom of the bowl right before pouring in the soup.
Although there are different ways to make this soup, almost every version starts with a similar base of fresh ingredients and that is why it is one of my favorite recipes!
You start out by roasting the tomatoes on a hot stove, along with the onion and cloves of garlic. Next, you blend it together with ancho chilies and chicken stock.
I always get excited when I see tortilla soup on a menu at restaurants here in the United States. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any that have that authentic Mexican taste, which is why I usually end up making my own version at home. 
The last step after making the soup is to fry the tortilla strips and add all of the toppings. I am positive that you will love this version and I hope that you will try it soon!
Check Out These Other Great Authentic Mexican Dishes
- Authentic Mexican Birria Recipe (3 Methods)
- Mexican Pozole Recipe
- Authentic Tacos de Canasta Recipe (Mexican Basket Tacos)
- Authentic Mole De Olla Recipe (Mexican Beef Soup)
- Barbacoa Tacos
Authentic Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 4 Roma Tomatoes roasted
- 2 Cloves of Garlic roasted
- 1/4 Onion roasted
- 1 Large Ancho Chili boiled and de-seeded.
- 5 Cups of Chicken Stock
- Cilantro
- Salt and Pepper
Garnishments
- Avocado cubed
- 1-2 Chicken Breast depending on how much chicken you want in the soup
- Freshly fried tortilla strips
- Lime
- Queso Fresco or other type of cheese
- Crema Table cream
Instructions
- Boil the chicken, then shred it and set aside the water to use as the chicken stock (you can use canned chicken stock if you prefer).
- Blend together the roasted tomatoes, garlic cloves, onion and ancho chili.
- Add the above mixture to the chicken stock with a small amount of olive oil and bring to a boil.
- Let simmer for 25 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, fry the tortilla strips and set aside.
- Add the tortilla strips and the shredded chicken to the bowl and then add the soup.
- Garnish with the avocado, crema, cheese, chopped cilantro, and lime.
I’ve gathered everything I need to make this, I’m excited to try it! A couple of questions – when you say to blend the tomatos, onion and garlic, do you mean to blend smooth, in a blender? And when roasting them, if you don’t have a cast iron pan, what would be the best way to do this? c
Thank you!
Hi Lori, to answer your first question, yes, they should be blended until smooth in a blender.
For the second question, you can use just a regular frying pan with a little bit of oil, or you could also put them under the broiler in your oven for a couple of minutes and they should be just fine. Hope that helps! Good luck 🙂
I have been making this recipe for a while now and my husband loves it! But I always come across an issue. Well more than 1 (I am not a good cook but I can follow instructions very well lol) when I am buying the ingredient I can never find just plain ancho Chile. I always end up getting the pasilla ancho Chile. Is it the same thing? Secondly when I blend all the ingredients together, and pour it into the chicken stock, there’s always like these little hmm for lack of a better word little stick looking things floating and I always have to drain the soup of them. What am I doing wrong? Please help this adds soo much more work to what should be a fairly easy recipe…I still love it tho lol
Hi Naomi! I’m so glad that you and your husband enjoy this recipe. The pasilla ancho chile should be fine, and may just be another name for the same thing :). With respect to the pieces that you have to drain out, I am having a hard time figuring out what that may be. My only guess would be that it is possibly the stems from the ancho chiles. When you remove the seeds, make sure that you remove the stems as well. It could also be larger pieces of the ancho chiles that weren’t blended down enough. Make sure that you boil them for long enough so that they are very soft and hopefully those two tips should help. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I had the same issue with the “red sticks” I’m thinking they are tomato peels, next time I’m gonna peel them after I broil them, hope this helps:)
The pasilla chile and the ancho chile are two different chiles. The pasilla is hotter and fruitier. They are both dried and you should have no problem finding anchos at any Mexican or Latino grocery store.
Those are the skins from the roasted tomatoes. They curl up like little cinnamon sticks! After you roast your tomatoes and let them cool for a little bit, if you peel that skin off (should be easy) then when you blend them it should be smooth and not have any of those little rolls of skin.
Those little sticks is the skin of the Roma tomatoes ,after blending real well always strain this into the chicken broth don’t just pour it,in from the blender!Ive been cooking here in Mexico for 40:years and owned restaurants when younger ,believe me when I say strain into broth .
Love this recipe! Is a favorite with all my kids! I did notice my mix is green and my soup is slightly green as well, from the chili but recipe pictures look on the red side. Might have to do with the chili? But either way this recipe is amazing! I made it twice in one week! Thanks so much for sharing!
That seems odd since there is nothing green in the recipe. Anchos are red.
We would go to Acapulco yearly and stay at the Grand Mayan resort. They made the best tortilla soup. Is there any way you could get that recipe for me.
Thank you
Mary Ann S.
I loved this the first time I made it using brown sugar but tonight I made it with Stevia not realizing that the ratios are so different. A word to the wise, if using a substitute use a LOT less. We had to throw the whole thing away!
There is no sugar in this recipe, I’m confused.
Doing the Keto diet and trying to figure out where the 8 gms of sugar is coming from in your recipe and the 24 carbs… understand there are carbs in the tortilla – but if I left that out I am thinking carbs drop a whole lot. Any input/info is welcomed as I love chicken tortilla soup!
Deb, the sugar is naturally occurring in the tomatoes. 🙂
Great for a cold winter night!
The red sticks in the soup you are getting are more than likely the skins of the tomatoes.
Charbel, do you ever put the cheese in the bowl and then pour the soup over top?
Hi Dougy, I don’t personally do that, but I think it would be a good idea!
I am ready to make this but am very sensitive to spicy peppers.
What would be the least Spicy while still being flavorful ?
I always love Chicken Soup. Recipe has been given in great detail. Would love to have it as soon as possible.
This is a great recipe, and I love how simple it is! A lot of other recipes I looked at called for canned tomatoes, but you just can’t beat the taste of fresh ones, like this recipe calls for. Thank you for sharing! This one is a keeper.
Very yummy, but I added a few things. Added caldo de pollo, caldo de tomato, a couple of Wylers chicken bouillon cubes since I only had 32oz of chicken stock and added water, and then I also added chunks off zucchini and squash, garnished with mozzarella cheese . I was going to make and add rice or cauliflower rice since I’m currently doing keto, but I forgot lol, next time.
How much chicken does the recipe call for?
Hi Sade, I usually cook 1 chicken breast and then shred it, but you can use more if you prefer more chicken. I will update the recipe. Thanks!
Delicious and relatively easy to make.
Thank you!
So delicious! I’m in Germany, so I had to substitute the ancho for a different dried pepper, but all worked out. Definitely the best tortilla soup recipe I’ve found. Roasting the ingredients made all the difference. Thank you!
Should the skin be removed from the ancho chili along with the seeds before it’s added to the soup? Thank you.
The recipe is great and loved it! Thank you! I would recommend a small edit for clarification. Calling for an ancho Chile is a little vague since an ancho is a dried plablano. I would edit to say either a “dried ancho” and give info on how to rehydrate and use or stick with roasting a fresh, green plablano.