Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe | ~ Texas Homesteader ~ (2024)

by Texas Homesteader ~

Got leftover chicken and wondering how to use it? I use Planned Leftovers cooking!

Turn leftover chicken, a few dried out corn tortillas and a few cans of veggies into delicious, hot & satisfying Chicken Tortilla Soup FAST!

Jump to Recipe

Planning Your Meals For Leftovers

We had company coming for a visit so I plopped a whole chicken and some spices into the slow cooker to cook a whole chicken.

My Sticky Chicken recipe includes lots of savory spices.

Heck if you’re gonna have company you might as well make something delicious that requires precious little time in the kitchen #amiright??

Saving Leftover Cooked Chicken

After that chicken was enjoyed that night I pulled the remaining meat from the bones & then turned that carcass into plenty of Homemade Chicken Stock. (I add a secret ingredient to leach more calcium out of those bones!)

That leftover chicken meat & broth will come in handy for today’s soup.

Now I typically have lots of options for remaking these chicken leftovers. I’ve written about 6 ways I’m able to make meals from a single chicken.

But today’s cold and rainy, a perfect day for a Spicy Chicken Tortilla SOUP!

Assembling Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup

Making homemade chicken tortilla soup is easy. The simple ingredients for the soup are:

2 cups Leftover shredded chicken

1.5 cups Homemade Unsalted Broth

2 cans of mild Rotel diced tomatoes – juice & all.

1 drained can black beans

1 drained can of corn. (I used my Home-Canned Corn

Minced garlic

Chopped onions

Season with cumin, salt & pepper

Dump it all into the slow cooker, give it a stir and add the lid. I set the dial to low and let the flavors all blend for about 3-4 hours.

(I used this Homestead Hack to make my slow cooker more efficient:)

How To Add Tortillas To Chicken Tortilla Soup

Then right before serving I took the last 2 dried-out corn tortillas that were left in the fridge from our Homemade Taco Shells a few nights ago.

I sliced those tortillas into about 1/4″ strips that were 2-3″ long and stirred them into the hot soup.

Some people like to lightly fry these corn tortilla strips to give them a little extra crunch before placing them atop the soup.

Sometimes I do that too, but typically I’ll just add the tortilla strips as they are. In & out of the kitchen FAST with fewer dishes to clean is my jam, y’all.

Add Fast Homemade Cornbread To Soup Meal

But what should I make to go with it? I decided to bake up a skillet of Spicy Jalapeno Cornbread, what a perfect accompaniment!

Finally our meal was ready to be served. I ladled out hearty bowls of soup, sprinkling a little cheese on top.

Aaaahhhh – sure hits the spot on a cold rainy day! And there’s enough left over for us to enjoy for lunch tomorrow too!

Planned Leftovers Reduces Food Waste

By utilizing planned leftovers cooking I’m able to incorporate leftovers from several different meals into this one delicious soup. Oh yeah, reducing food waste is my secret super power!

The corn tortillas were leftover from our carnitas tacos the other night, leftover chicken & broth from my slow cooker sticky chicken meal and I used some home-canned corn from the pantry.

The beauty of this soup is that you can use whatever you’ve got. Want your soup meatier? Feel free to add more chicken. Don’t like black beans? Add canned pintos instead or leave them out completely.

The world is your oyster, make it the way you & your family like it.

But by cooking this way I’m able to make sure no leftover food is left to go bad, and our grocery budget stays tiny – yet we eat very well.

Leftovers can be delicious!

Did you make this Chicken Tortilla Soup? Please rate the recipein your comment below!

~TxH!

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Our Favorite Tex-Mex Recipes

Homemade Seasoning Mixes & Sauces

• MYO Taco Seasoning
• MYO Pinto Bean Seasoning Mix
• Creamy Hatch Chile Sauce

Entrees & Casseroles

• Homemade Pork Tamales (w/Instant Pot Shortcut Option)
• Quick Southwest Quesadillas
• Sheet Pan Jumbo Beef Quesadillas
• Cheesy Stacked Chile Relleno Casserole
• SW Chicken w/Herbed Rice
• Pulled-Pork Enchiladas
• Crispy Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls
• Simple Carnitas Tacos
• Enchilada Casserole
• Lazy Cook’s Chile Relleno Cups
• Cheesy Chile-Chicken Casserole

Rice

• Texas-Style Spanish Rice
• Cilantro Lime Rice
• Garlic Sage Buttered Rice
• Batch-Cooking Rice In An Instant Pot

Soups

• Chicken Tortilla Soup

Bread & Tortillas

• Spicy Jalapeno Cornbread
• Mix-n-Pour Tortilla Recipe – No Kneading, No Rolling
• Easy Corn Tortillas
• MYO Crispy Taco Shells

Our Favorite Soups

Soup Tips

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• Faster, EASIER Homemade Broth In An Instant Pot
• (Pressure Canning Broth)
• 10 Delicious Quick Soup Ideas
• Beef Stew Dry Seasoning Mix

Beef Soups

• Planned Leftovers: Beef Stew w/Leftover Pot Roast
• Taco Soup: A Quick Meal For ‘Those Days’

Chicken Soups

• MYO Cream Of Chicken Soup In A SNAP!
• Easy Chicken Broth
• Planned Leftovers: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Vegetable Soups

• Potato Soup – A Bone-Warming Meal On A Cold Day
• Lazy-Cooks Italian Soup

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