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Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup can be thrown together in a pinch and is ready to eat in about 30 minutes. Spicy and hearty, a big hit for your family!
Table of Contents
- Ingredients in Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Adding Cream Cheese to the Instant Pot
- No Instant Pot? No Problem!
- Additional Toppings
- Make it Gluten Free
- Frequently Asked Questions about Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- More Yummy Instant Pot Recipes
- How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe
The more I use my Instant Pot, the more I love it. It is perfect for those nights when you are in a rush to get something on the table. For this Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup, I literally dumped everything in the Instant Pot, set the timer, and let the machine do its thing. I served it with some shredded cheese and tortilla chips and It turned out perfectly! This enchilada soup is creamy, cheesy, a little spicy, and absolutely scrumptious.
Ingredients in Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
This creamy chicken enchilada soup recipe has a lot of little spices and ingredients, so many flavors that simmer and pressure cook together in the instant pot. The end taste is spicy, creamy, delicious! Here’s what you need:
- Olive oil – two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or whatever you have on hand.
- Onion – one whole yellow or white onion, diced.
- Red bell pepper – diced. You can use red, green orange, yellow, or any bell pepper you like.
- Red enchilada sauce – use your favorite brand of canned sauce, or make your own! This soup is especially good with our Homemade Enchilada Sauce.
- Green enchilada sauce – one can
- Chicken broth – feel free to use low-sodium chicken broth if you like.
- Diced tomatoes – one can, including the juice.
- Black beans – one can of low sodium beans, drained. You can really use any kind of beans that you like for this recipe: pinto beans, red beans, Northern beans, or kidney beans.
- Chili beans – one 15-ounce can, NOT drained
- Corn – one can, drained. You can also use a cup of frozen corn or fire-roasted corn kernels.
- Diced green chiles – one can, four ounces.
- Cream cheese – one package
- Chicken breasts – three boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded. You can use chicken thighs or rotisserie chicken.
- Taco seasoning – this seasoning has it all: cumin, chili powder, garlic, etc. all in one spice.
- Cheese – cheddar cheese, Colby jack, Pepper jack, any kind of cheese you like!
- Tortilla chips – for serving
- Cilantro – for garnish
- Fresh lime juice – optional
Adding Cream Cheese to the Instant Pot
If you were reading over the recipe and wondering if it was okay to add the cream cheese to the Instant Pot, let me assure you, it is totally fine! The cream cheese won’t separate. It may need to be stirred in at the end but that’s it. Sour cream is a different story. Try not to add sour cream to the Instant Pot before cooking or it may separate and get a weird texture. If you want to add sour cream, it would probably be best to add it at the end in the individual bowls.
No Instant Pot? No Problem!
If you don’t have an actual “Instant Pot”, don’t fret. This simple recipe can be made EXACTLY the same in a pressure cooker. If your pressure cooker doesn’t have a “sauté” function you can just sauté the vegetables in a pan on the stove before adding everything to the pressure cooker.
You can also make this soup in the crock pot! Cook the chicken breasts in the enchilada sauce in the slow cooker, then use a couple of forks to shred the meat, then add the rest of the ingredients. Let it cook for about six hours on medium heat and serve.
Additional Toppings
There’s literally no end to the toppings you can use for this yummy soup. Pile the soup high with avocado or guacamole, fresh diced tomatoes, tortilla crisps, cilantro, or salsa. Be creative and make it however your family will like it best!
Make it Gluten Free
To make this chicken enchilada soup recipe gluten-free, you need to keep your eye on a couple of things.
- First, the taco seasoning. Most taco seasonings contain gluten so make SURE that you are using GF taco seasoning.
- Also, you need to check your enchilada sauces. Many enchilada sauces have gluten in them so check your labels. Keep an eye on those two things and you are good to go!
Frequently Asked Questions about Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
This soup thickens nicely with the cream cheese, but if it’s still too thin, mix a tablespoon of flour with cold water add it to the soup, and let it cook for a few minutes.
Serve this soup over tortilla chips or alongside a crispy green salad and cornbread.
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Remove from the fridge and heat on medium heat on the stovetop until it’s not and ready.
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How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 10 ounces red enchilada sauce It is especially good with our Homemade Enchilada Sauce
- 10 ounces green enchilada sauce
- 16 ounces chicken broth
- 15 ounces diced tomatoes
- 15 ounces black beans drained
- 15 ounces chili beans NOT drained
- 15 ounces corn drained
- 4 ounces diced green chiles
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 3 chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 2 cups cheese shredded
- tortilla chips (optional)
- cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- Press the “sauté” function on the Instant Pot. Add oil, onions, and peppers.
- Saute until onions become soft and transparent.
- Add enchilada sauces, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, and chiles to the Instant Pot and stir until well mixed.
- Add cream cheese in spoonfuls into the Instant Pot. Add chicken breasts and sprinkle taco seasoning over top.
- Place lid on the Instant Pot and move tab to “sealing”. Set Instant Pot to “manual” and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Allow to natural release for 10 minutes before doing a quick release.
- Remove lid from Instant Pot, shred chicken, and serve.
- Top individual servings with cheese, tortilla chips and cilantro.
Notes
- Instant Pot Note: We use a 6-quart Instant Pot brand pressure cooker that we bought in 2016. Different or newer versions may be more sensitive to the “BURN” notice. If you are concerned about the burn notice read this article: “What Does Burn Mean on my Instant Pot?”
- If you don’t have an actual “Instant Pot”, don’t fret. This simple recipe can be made EXACTLY the same in a pressure cooker. If your pressure cooker doesn’t have a “sauté” function you can just sauté the vegetables in a pan on the stove before adding everything to the pressure cooker.
- You can also make this soup in the crock pot! Cook the chicken breasts in the enchilada sauce in the slow cooker, then use a couple of forks to shred the meat, then add the rest of the ingredients. Let it cook for about six hours on medium heat and serve.
Can you use a can of coconut milk instead of cream cheese?
We haven’t tried this particular substitution, so I can’t say if it will work. The soup will definitely be thinner with the milk instead of cream cheese.
Amazing……I added some lime on top of the avacados……this soup is amazing.
I made this for a church soup supper for a vespers service. This is a really tasty and easy recipe. I did bring the cream cheese to room temperature while I was cooking the other ingredients and it turned out just perfect. Vespers is tomorrow evening and I predict that everyone is going to love it. Thanks for sharing it.
I make this enchilada soup about once a month and it always turns out great!! It is so yummy!! It makes so much soup that we have it for at least 3 meals!!
My family loves this recipe! One issue I have however is that my cream cheese clumps. I put it in spoonfuls but it just stays like that in the soup. Any suggestions?
I am glad you guys like it! One thing you can try is leaving the cream cheese on the counter for an hour to let it soften before adding it. That should help it incorporate better. Plus adding it by the spoonful should help as well after it is soft.
I buy whipped cream cheese and it seems to solve the clumping problem.
Fabulous! I find the Las Palmas canned enchilada sauces are better than the El Paso sauces in this recipe. I also used one bag of frozen white corn instead of canned. I make a batch and then freeze it so I can have homemade soup at lunch! Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Do you cook the chicken first or are they raw?
The chicken goes in raw!
Do I have to use canned beans ? I have bagged beans but no soaked :/
You would need to soak the dried beans first.
Recipe looks delicious. It’s late and I’m being super lazy. Can I use a rotisserie chicken and pull meat off instead of chicken breasts?
Absolutely! I love using rotisserie chickens in recipes when I’m running short on time or energy!
I have made this several times and everyone loves it. It’s easy to make, hearty and delicious. It’s also great to freeze and eat another day.
Is it possible to freeze the left over soup?
Absolutely!
This is my new favorite soup to make! I love the chicken enchilada soup from chili’s and this tastes exactly like it! So delicious and so easy to make. Thank you!!!!
This is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE recipe for this soup. Thank you so much for sharing with us!!!!
Hello there! I’m tried making this dish and kept getting the “burn notice.” I scraped the bottom of the pot each time and the third time added another cup of stock in case that was the problem- but still got the notice. Any advice?
Thanks!
I’ve noticed that some of the newer instant pots are more prone to the burn notice. I would try taking out the cream cheese and adding it in at the end. Or make sure that the sauce is totally covering the bottom under your chicken. Hope this helps!
Not only is this a great Instant Pot recipe, it’s also low calorie! Yes.. I cannot wait to make this
Thank you, Bee! Such a HUGE compliment coming from you! We love Rasa Malaysia– you have so many wonderful recipes, and gorgeous pictures!
Is the calorie count above for the whole pot of soup?
Thank you for asking! We had the serving count wrong on this recipe. The recipe provides about 12 servings of soup at 301 calories per serving. This calorie count does not include optional toppings of cheese, tortilla strips, sour cream, etc.
When do you add the shredder cheese? Or am i missing it>?
It is the very last line in the recipe. You will actually add the shredded cheese to the individual bowls when serving. Hope this helps!
Does the chicken have to be put on the rack or trivet? I got burn
message once
We don’t usually put it on the rack, but if you are getting the burn message you can definitely try it that way!
Love this recipe! I always put the tomatoes on top of the chicken breasts and don’t stir. I never get a burn notice.
Is the cooking time set for thawed chicken breasts or frozen chicken breasts?
It is for thawed. If you do frozen, try adding 5 minutes. Hope this helps!
Can you make this in a crock pot?
Yes, this is the slow cooker version: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/our-version-of-cafe-zupas-chicken-enchilada-chili/
Love this! I did use hot Rotel instead of green chili’s and diced tomatoes. So good.
Do you add both black beans and chili beans your instructions only say black beans.
Whoops, yes, both kinds of beans 🙂 I will fix it in the recipe. Thanks for the catch!
This sounds like it would go good with some rice in the soup. How would some one go about trying that out?
My favorite way to add rice to soup is to just have some cooked rice in each individual bowl and then pour the soup over the rice to cover. That way you know the rice is perfectly cooked. Hope this helps!
Can I use beef broth instead of chicken?
Sure!