I’m not going to beat around the bush here. This easy pressure cooker tortilla soup is a recipe that I make probably about once a week and let me tell you why it’s amazing. It revolves around 2 main ingredients and aside from those it’s very customizable depending on what you have sitting around in your fridge, pantry, and freezer. It involves zero cutting, chopping, or really even measuring. You can toss this stuff, including frozen, unseasoned chicken breasts straight from the freezer, into your Instant Pot and have a great meal in about 30 minutes.
Are you sold already??
the secret ingredients
Okay seriously. Look at these; I didn’t rinse them or anything- straight from the big frozen Costco bag and into the pressure cooker.
This is kind of the secret ingredient. I shared a whole bunch of my go-to Costco purchases on my Instagram recently and I mentioned I buy this Pacific Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup by the case-ful. I use it in SO many things. This isn’t sponsored, I just love it and use it a lot. It easily adapts to transform frozen chicken into a great soup, frozen burritos into enchiladas, and more. It’s thick and creamy, with a great neutral, yet flavorful flavor. If you don’t find it at Costco, look for it in the soup aisle of your grocery store. At my local Kroger/Fred Meyer, it’s stocked in the healthy/organic food section. So I just dump a whole carton over that frozen chicken.
other pantry staples
From here on out you can really customize depending on what you have laying around. I almost always have a can of mild green chilis in my pantry so I usually toss one of those in there.
Another thing I always have in my pantry is fire roasted canned tomatoes. Dump that whole can in there too.
Next is seasonings. I literally never ever measure anything, but I did this time for you! You can skip this whole part and just toss in a packet of taco seasoning instead, I think the quantity would work out just fine. I usually throw in chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and a chicken bullion cube. But feel free to adapt here if you like.
The other thing I love and always have is True Lime. If you’ve been reading this blog for a even a little while you know how much I love and use this (and also the lemon). It’s 100% crystalized lime, real lime. I always have it on hand because then it doesn’t matter if you didn’t grab fresh limes at the grocery store. I just buy it on Amazon in a shaker jar. If you have a fresh lime you can totally use that!
pressure cooker simplicity
That’s it for the pressure cooker. If you don’t have the canned stuff, you can totally just do the soup, chicken, and some seasonings and call it good. Cook it on high pressure (manual) for 15 minutes. If your chicken is thawed, set your timer for just 8 minutes. With frozen chicken it will take longer to come to pressure just because it’s colder in there but it should still be done in about 30 minutes total so that’s a win for me.
After the pressure cooking is done, I remove the lid and add in some frozen corn and canned black beans. You don’t have to simmer it or anything, they just need to be warmed through and that happens pretty fast.
The result is a super flavorful soup that’s hearty, healthy and delicious! I usually buy a few bags of healthier tortilla chips (these ones are by Late-July) and keep them up hidden on the top shelf of our pantry where no one knows about them. That way we always have them for meals like this and they don’t get eaten as snacks. We love it with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or light sour cream and any other toppings you like.
So make this a time or two and get used to adapting the recipe depending on what you have around; it will be a go-to in no time for you, too!
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Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Tortilla Soup
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: About 8 cups soup
Description
A very easy soup that can be made with just a handful of pantry ingredients. No chopping or dicing or anything, just dump and cook! Be sure to read notes for ideas on customizing the recipe depending on what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized chicken breast (frozen or raw)
- 1 carton Pacific Foods Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
- 1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 4 oz or 7oz can mild green chilis
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- couple cracks black pepper
- 1 teaspoon true lime or 1–2 Tablespoons Lime Juice*
- 1 chicken bullion cube
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 can black beans (or any beans) drained and rinsed
Toppings as desired::
- sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- tortilla chips
- crumbled or shredded cheese
- avocado
Instructions
Place all ingredients EXCEPT corn, beans, and lime in pressure cooker. Close pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes if using frozen chicken and for 8 minutes if thawed.
You can do a quick pressure release if you’re in a hurry, or let it naturally release for about 10 and then release the rest. Open pressure cooker and remove chicken and place on cutting board. Add corn and beans and stir to heat through. Shred chicken and then add back into pot. If using fresh lime, add lime juice. Taste and add salt and pepper (or other seasonings) to taste. If for some reason you’ve over-seasoned, just add a little chicken broth, more tomato soup, or water!
Notes
If you are using powdered Lime, add it before cooking, if you are using fresh lime juice, add it in at the very end.
The canned chilis are optional, and even the canned tomatoes are! You can adjust seasonings as you like, or even use a packet of taco seasoning in place of the seasonings. Feel free to add any vegetables or beans you like. When you start with the combination of the chicken and the soup and you know the cooking time, you can customize the soup according to what you have on hand. Just remember to stir in tender veggies like corn and beans at the end that just need to be heated through, and veggies that need to be cooked (like diced onions or peppers) before cooking.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
Questions & Reviews
Had this last night. My wife says it’s the only thing I’ve made in the pressure cooker that turned out great. So that’s a win!
This was so delicious and took about 5 minutes to make! Such a win!
This soup has been on my must-try list for months. I finally picked up some of the Roasted Red Pepper soup and Holy Hannah. So delicious! I can see why you make this so often! Thanks for another awesome recipe!!
I’m not really a soup fan, especially in warm weather, but my husband loves taco soup so I thought I’d try this and see what he thought. I woke up today to chilly, rainy weather and immediately knew what I was making for dinner! HUGE hit! Hubby loved it so much he had three huge bowls! I also loved it and will make this quite often! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Just made this last night and it was amazing!!! I just had leftovers and am sad that it’s almost gone. Started with frozen chicken breasts. Instead of bullion cube, I added about 3/4 of chicken stock, used 2Tbs of taco seasoning, rotel tomatoes with peppers and a can of chopped green chiles. Topped with tortilla chips, avocado, cheese and sour cream. From freezer to bowl in 45 minutes.
Looks amazing! Do you think this could be doubled in a 6 quart pressure cooker, or would it be too much?
I’m really not sure- you’d have to dump it all in there and see haha.
Even though it took longer than expected, everyone loved it and it will be on repeat at our house!
This is so yummy and fast! I don’t have a pressure cooker so I just did it on the stove top and cooked the chicken first and it was delicious. Thanks for this recipe!
Wow! Such a wonderful recipe to try.
I will definitely give a try to it and come with a feedback soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
I have to leave a comment. This soup is amazing!!! I have made it 4 times in the past month. And I finally found the fire toasted tomatoes and it out it over the top. I didn’t think my kids would like it but they ask for seconds every time. Thank you!!!!
SO happy you love it!
I made this tonight and it was perfect! So quick and easy and it kind of tastes like the chicken enchilada from Zupas! And all of my super picky kids ate it! I’m excited to eat leftovers tomorrow! Thank you for another delicious recipe!
I’m so glad it was a hit!
I am an Extension Agent and was planning a Pressure Cooking class and saw this recipe. I used it in my demonstration and it turned out great and everyone loved it. I like that it is fast, healthy and yummy. Thanks for your great recipes!
Yes, yes! I have this kind of soup downstairs, too, and bulk it up with all kinds of things. Spinach, beans, tilapia, mushrooms, cauliflower, etc. I never thought to make it into a whole other kind of soup, though! I’ll have to give this a try soon, since I love chicken tortilla soup. Thanks!
i made this today. It was so easy and so delicious. Hubby wanted it for lunch and supper. thank you!
I made this last night, and it was so good and quick. The whole family loved it. This is going to be an often-repeated meal. Thank you!
Aloha!
Chicken tortilla soup is my FAVORITE!! I zipped to my grocery store to grab some of the pepper tomatoe soup so I could try this recipe. My family tolerates my addiction to Chicken Tortilla Soup. They LOVED this one. Thank you for OBB! You gals have never let me down.
Soup happy in Maui ?
Sadly, I don’t live near a Costco…. Any recommendations for substitutions for the Roasted Pepper and Tomato soup?
It’s not just sold at Costco, find it at Grocery stores as well! At my local grocer it’s in the healthy/organic section, not by the other soups.
I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup. It worked perfectly.
I make homemade salsa a lot, and have used the lime juice in a bottle a couple of times when I was in a pinch, but really didn’t like the taste. Do you think this crystallized lime would do well in salsa?
I don’t recommend bottled lime juice for literally anything but canning. It’s bitter and aweful! If you are canning it’s important for the pH, but if you’re just making fresh salsa, yes- crystallized lime works beautifully.
Made this last night. So good!! My 4 year old couldn’t get enough. Love meals like that! 🙂
awesome!!!
Would this work ok in a slow cooker?
I would use thawed chicken in the slow cooker, but yes you could do that. You could also make it on the stove top and brown your thawed, chopped, chicken first before adding anything else.
I made this recipe tonight and it was so yummy- a huge hit with the kids and easy!! Thank you so much!! Keep the Instant Pot recipes coming!!
How big is that carton of soup??
32 ounces