Chicken Tortilla Soup {Leftover Chicken Recipe}

Name: Chicken Tortilla Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 onion (diced); 2 cloves of garlic (minced); 1 Tablespoon olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon oregano; 1/2 teaspoon cumin; 1 tablespoon chili powder, ((or more) depending oh how spicy you like it); 2 or 3 stalks of celery (sliced); 2 or 3 sliced carrots; 1 large can (peeled diced tomatoes, with juice (28 oz. can)); 6 cups chicken broth (homemade or canned); 2 cans kidney or pinto beans (drained); 1 or 2 small can diced mild or spicy green chilies; 3 cups frozen corn or fresh corn; 3 cups cooked chicken (breast or thigh meat, shredded or diced (about 2 breasts))

March 18, 2018 by Cynthia 30 Comments

Jump to Recipe

This is one of my favorite leftover chicken recipes! Chicken Tortilla Soup is a great way to stretch leftover chicken, easily feeding your family dinner for a second night!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

(This post contains Amazon affiliate links) About once a month I make my pilgrimage to Costco. I usually have a list and try not to veer from it. But if you’ve ever shopped at Costco, you know that it’s tough to get out of there for under $100 and without buying something you hadn’t actually planned on. I never go without picking up a $5 rotisserie roasted chicken. This is Annabelle’s favorite day of the month.

A girl’s best friend

Her nose wiggles when I walk in the door, anticipation setting in. She knows what’s in store for her. I am a naughty dog mom, making a special bowl of kibble just for her, adding all the juices and gelatin that’s left over in the container.

I’ll be a bit sloppier when it comes to carving the meat off the bird, scraping all of the remaining bits from the bones, and adding it to the bowl. Extra pieces of skin might slip in there as well. This, and perhaps a daily run, might be why she follows me from room to room, staring at me with loving dog eyes. I should have named her Shadow, because that is what she is to me.

We eat a bit more than half of the chicken the first night. Just some meat, a veg, and a starch. The second day, the remaining chicken usually makes it’s way into some sort of soup, that lasts at least 2 nights.

Making chicken tortilla soup guarantees that a $5 chicken will serve us for at least 3 meals.

This is another one of those meals that you can pretty much start preparing around 6 and have it on the table, along with a salad, by 7. Once you’ve sauteed the onions, you just dump everything in a pot and heat it up.

I save chicken carcasses and freeze them. When I have 2 or 3 saved carcasses, I pop them in my slow-cooker with an onion, carrots, celery and a bay leaf and 6-8 hours later, I have chicken broth.

More Fabulous Leftover Chicken Recipes:

Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts.

chicken salad cranberries, walnuts, tart apples and rosemary. Naturally gluten free!

Chicken salad with cranberries, walnuts, tart apples and rosemary.

Chicken Salad with Apricots and Tarragon

Cold Sesame Noodle Chicken Salad

Cold sesame noodles with chicken and cucumbers.

Some of the items used in this post are available here at no additional cost to you!