Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe
This creamy chicken enchilada soup is cheesy, comfort food made on the stovetop or in your slow cooker or instant pot for an easy, family-friendly meal the whole crew will love!
Servings:6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1-2 teaspoons salt, to taste
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 15-ounce can mild enchilada sauce
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and lightly rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can corn, drained and lightly rinsed
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- juice of 1 lime
- tortilla strips, sliced avocado, cilantro, shredded cheese or crumbled queso fresco, sliced jalapeno, optional toppings
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large lidded saucepan or Dutch oven set over a medium high heat. Fry the onions until soft but not yet starting to color with a pinch of salt. Stir in the minced garlic. Cook for a further minute, then add the cumin. Cook for a minute more.
- Add the chicken broth, enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, black beans, corn and the cayenne pepper. Stir, then add the chicken breasts. Bring the soup to a simmer, then cook on medium with the lid on for 20 minutes.
- Remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with two forks.
- Whisk in the cream cheese until melted into the soup and return the shredded chicken. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the chicken is heated through.
- Season to taste with fresh lime juice and salt before serving with your choice of toppings.
Notes
For the Slow Cooker: Cook the onions, garlic and cumin as usual, and transfer to the slow cooker. Alternatively, cook these straight in the slow cooker insert if you have a sear-and-stew model or on sauté if you’re using the slow cooker setting of a multi cooker. Add the chicken, only 1 cup of broth, the enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, black beans, corn, cayenne and chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through. Finish the recipe as usual.
For the Instant Pot: Perform step 1 in an Instant Pot set to SAUTE. Add ingredients as in step 2 then cover with lid, turn vent valve to SEALED position and set to pressure cook (or "manual") for 13 minutes. Turn valve to VENT to release pressure, then proceed with shredding the chicken and whisking in cream cheese as written in step 4.
Spice it up: Try it with medium enchilada sauce for a bit more heat.
No tomato sauce: If you are following this recipe where plain canned or jarred tomato sauce is not available 15 oz of passata can be easily substituted.
Veggies: Frozen corn or pre-cooked dried beans can easily be substituted without any changes to the directions.
Leftovers: This recipe doesn't freeze well with the cream cheese, but the leftovers heat up well and will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 219 kcal, Carbohydrates: 5 g, Protein: 12 g, Fat: 17 g, Saturated Fat: 8 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6 g, Trans Fat: 0.01 g, Cholesterol: 62 mg, Sodium: 574 mg, Potassium: 290 mg, Fiber: 0.5 g, Sugar: 2 g, Vitamin A: 534 IU, Vitamin C: 2 mg, Calcium: 57 mg, Iron: 1 mg