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Chicken Taco Soup is a simple recipe bursting with savory spices and taco flavor. A perfect soup supper for any night of the week!
Featured with this Recipe:
This chicken taco soup recipe is a year-round favorite at our house. The spicy southwest flavors simmer together to create a flavorful, hearty soup that’s perfect to serve with chips, guacamole, sour cream, and lots of cheese. My husband likes to eat it as a dip, dipping one tortilla chip in at a time.
Make a huge batch in the crock pot, then freeze the leftovers in individual freezer-safe containers. It keeps in the freezer for a couple of months! A perfect supper to whip up on a busy evening when you just can’t think about what to make. It uses a lot of pantry staples, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to have everything on hand to make it. Enjoy!
Ingredients in Chicken Taco Soup
This is a dump-and-go taco soup that is everyone’s favorite soup! Stir this taco soup together in a large soup pot and create an easy soup recipe in a matter of minutes. It is savory, warm, and comforting in every bite. This is always a popular soup that everyone loves!
- Chicken breasts – Cook this chicken in a slow cooker with the hot sauce until it is tender and juicy. Once it is cooked, shred the chicken breast and add the rest of the ingredients.
- Valentina hot sauce – Use as little or as much as your family and friends will enjoy! This can come out quickly and be a little warm on the mouth too.
- Chicken broth – Flavor the taco soup with yummy chicken broth. This does double with adding in the liquid to help mix it all together.
- Italian stewed tomatoes – Grab a can of stewed tomatoes and get ready to wow your taste buds with this flavorful can.
- Cilantro – Remove the stems on the cilantro.
- Salt – Just a pinch!
- Black beans – Drain and rinse thoroughly the black beans. Make this simple by using a can.
- Sweet corn – Corn is always a favorite of young and old. Drain and rinse the corn to dump into the taco soup.
Variations to the Ingredients in Taco Soup
This easy taco soup recipe is chock full of shredded chicken, cilantro, meaty black beans, lots of spicy hot sauce, tomatoes, and crisp corn. Most of the ingredients you can find right in your pantry. I like to keep cans of tomatoes, black beans, and corn on hand so it’s easy to make this soup anytime. But here are some variations to fit your needs:
- Swap out the shredded chicken for another protein like ground beef, shredded pork, or ground turkey, You could omit the meat altogether for a delicious veggie recipe.
- No black beans in your pantry? No problem! Use pinto beans, kidney beans, or any kind you like! Or try a combination of all three! You really cannot go wrong with this soup.
- Any kind of canned tomatoes will work. If you have a can of Rotel, use it! Stewed Italian tomatoes work well too. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
- If you’re not a fan of sweet corn, you could replace it with some other veggies like green chiles, bell pepper, or whatever you prefer.
- Toppings are my favorite for this soup! We always have lots of shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream to cool it off, but you could add diced tomatoes, green onions, lime wedges, sliced avocado, tortilla strips, or a big dollop of our Best Guacamole Ever.
Crock Pot or Stove Top?
If I am thinking ahead a few hours, I love to just toss all the taco soup ingredients into the trusty crock pot and let it do all the work while I bustle about my day. A bonus is your house will smell delicious all day and get everyone excited about gathering around the table. Add the chicken first and let it simmer for several hours in the hot sauce. Then, shred it up and put it back in with the rest of the ingredients, and voila! Dinner is completely ready within another hour.
OR If you’re in a hurry, you can make this right on the stove in much less time. Simmer the chicken breasts in the hot sauce and a little chicken broth until they’re done. Then, shred and add back in with the other ingredients and simmer for about twenty minutes until everything is warmed through. For an even quicker meal use rotisserie chicken!
Frequently Asked Questions about Chicken Taco Soup
You can add a little cornstarch slurry to thicken this soup.
Tortilla soup has more of a broth-like consistency with a tomato flavor, while taco soup tends to be more of a chili consistency with beans, meat, and corn. Taco soup recipes also use lots of different seasonings like chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, or even just a taco seasoning mix.
At my house, there are usually some taco soup leftovers after I make it. For storage, I just pour the soup into a large airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator to have for later.
Yes, Definitely. We have a great recipe for Instant Pot Enchilada Soup!
READ NEXT: Crockpot Soup Recipes
What to Serve with Chicken Taco Soup
In addition to lots of tortilla chips, here are some ideas of what to serve alongside a hearty bowl of taco soup:
How to Make Chicken Taco Soup
Chicken Taco Soup
Equipment
- Crock Pot (Slow Cooker)
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- Valentina hot sauce
- 2 cans chicken broth
- 3 cans italian stewed tomatoes
- 1 bunch cilantro with the stems removed
- salt to taste
- 2 cans black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cans sweet corn drained and rinsed
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in a crock pot and smother them with Valentina hot sauce.
- Cook on high for 3 hours. Shred with two forks and return to the crock pot.
- Add chicken broth. In a blender, blend the stewed tomatoes until smooth. Add the cilantro and pulse a few times. Add the tomato mixture to the crock pot, then the corn and black beans, and salt. Let cook for about 1 more hour.
- Serve in individual bowls. Top with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.
Notes
Recipe Tips:
- Swap out the shredded chicken for ground beef, shredded pork, or ground turkey, You could omit the meat altogether for a delicious veggie recipe.
- No black beans in your pantry? No problem! Use pinto beans, kidney beans, any kind you like! Or try a combination of all three! You really cannot go wrong with this soup.
- Any kind of canned tomatoes will work. If you have a can of Rotel, use it! Stewed Italian tomatoes work well too. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
- Toppings are my favorite for this soup! We always have lots of shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream to cool it off, but you could add diced tomatoes, green onions, sliced avocado, tortilla chips, or a big dollop of our Best Guacamole Ever.
What is the amount of hot sauce to cook the chicken in?
Just enough to cover the chicken breasts!
Love this recipe – it had great flavor and so delicious!
This is definitely my new favorite southwest soup! Super easy and everyone loved it!
This was crazy delicious!! I topped it with sliced avocado and sour cream!
We love taco soup here at the house! My husband loves it! I can’t wait to make this again soon!
I love taco soup. This recipe is so flavorful and super easy to make. Yum, yum!
Yes this was a perfect weeknight dinner. Most of the ingredients were already in my pantry! It came together quickly and was delicious.
Do you have the nutritional info for this taco soup recipe?
I’m sorry we don’t. There are several websites that offer nutrition information for recipes. I really like caloriecount.com and myfitnesspal.com. Thank you for asking!
Since I can’t sleep when I should, I’m making good use of my time gathering tried and true recipes. Thank you!!
good call! You can’t go wrong with gathering good recipes!
OMG this is amazingly good! I had some pulled chicken in bbq sauce left over so that was my starting point. Everything else was the same except I added 1 tsp each of cumin and chili powder and I also add about 5 or 6 jalapeno pepper slices (chopped of course). I can’t stop eating it! I just made a new batch today. My husband took last weeks left over to work. He obviously liked it too. Thanks Emil 🙂
We make this all the time. It is a definite favorite around here. So glad you liked it!
I just wanted to say that this is my favorite recipe from this website, we’ve made it 4 times in the last year. Our grocery store didn’t carry Valentina’s but we made it with Lawry’s Santa Fe Chili Marinade (with lime and garlic) and I loved it so much that we’ve used half a bottle each time we make it. It might be less spicy this way but it sure is good! I’m two hours into this recipe right now and enjoying the savory smells. I’m going to try using the tube cilantro this time, because I’m currently very sick of the fresh cilantro from my grocery store being too gritty. I’ll try to post back if that turns out to be a mistake.
I tried the soup last night and it was amazing! I didn’t start on it until later so ended up baking the chicken in the oven, and cooking the remaining ingredients on the stove. But the flavors were great and it was SO easy! Thank you!
Made for dinner tonight. DELICIOUS and so easy!!!
Just made this and it was delicious!!! I added some fire roasted green peppers and some cumin. Thanks for the recipe!
I can’t sleep and my kiddos absolutely love Taco Soup. So, here I am making this delicious & easy recipe at 1:30 in the morning. Thanks for sharing. I’m so glad to have found your website via Pinterest and look forward to trying more of your recipes in the near future.
I used Mexican style corn in mine and then also used 1/2 of the tomatoes regular diced tomatoes (didn't have any stewed) and 1/2 of the tomatoes of fire roasted tomatoes which I had never tried before and they were really good in it too! delicious recipe, thank you for sharing!
I couldn't find Valentina hot sauce at my grocery store so I used Frank's Hot Sauce instead. It was pretty darn tasty. I'm going to look at a different store next time to see if they carry it, or buy it online.
Thanks for another great recipe!
It is usually in the Hispanic food section rather than in the regular salsa or hot sauce aisle.
I found the Valentina hot sauce and made this recipe for my family. They loved it! It's now my go to recipe for Taco Soup.
As long as it was the Valentina brand, it was probably the right stuff. I think they only make the one kind of sauce. I am so glad you liked it!
I made this soup tonight and it was amazing! I did make a few changes. I had a roitissiere chicken so I used that- just let it simmer in the Valentina sauce. I also used mexican style stewed tomatoes. This soup was sooo fast to make and was spicy and very satisifying. One question, I wondered if I used the right sauce. The label said hot sauce in small print, but the larger print said it was Salsa Picante. Couldn't find Valentina that just said hot sauce. Let me know! Thanks for a great blog 🙂
Emily this website is so fun and I seriously am writing menus that is going to include several recipes! This is cute that you do this with your sisters! And I didn't realize you were such a great cook!
Emily this website is so fun and I seriously am writing menus that is going to include several recipes! This is cute that you do this with your sisters! And I didn't realize you were such a great cook!
1. Usually you can find Valentina hot sauce by mexican food in the grocery store. Most grocery stores carry it. 2. By smothering the chicken I would say that I use close to a cup- you can use more or less to taste.
3. I use standard sized cans for everything (about a 14 to 15 oz. can)
I hope that helps!
Does it need to be Valentina? Is there something specific to that brand or can I substitute? I have Tapatio Hot Sauce already.
The Valentina just has a very specific flavor, its different than regular hot sauces. I havent used Tapatio but you could always try it, you just may not want to use as much. I think the Valentina is more mild than most hot sauces.
i am going to make this today, just wondering what size of cans for the tomatoes and black beans??
thanks it looks so yummy!!
Where do I find valentina hot sauce or is there another brand that works just as well? Oh, and smothering the chicken in it ='s how much sauce?
This looks wonderful; and so easy to make. I love that combination.
This sounds delish!