Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup tastes like chicken enchiladas – but takes a lot less effort! Sensational slow cooker soup that’s quick to prepare yet loaded with flavour. 10 minutes prep with lots of can opening, and a good amount of spices for a hit of Mexican flavour.
Hearty, chunky, healthy, totally delicious!
Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup
This is a soup that is particularly fantastic to make in the slow cooker. Cooking it low and slow lets the chicken breast cook gently until it’s tender and shreddable, the beans and corn absorb the heavenly spice flavours in the Mexican flavoured soup broth, and the tomatoes break down to thicken the soup.
After tossing the shredded chicken back in, there’s nothing required to be done to finish it off before serving other than grabbing a few toppings. Shredded cheese, dollop of sour cream or yogurt plus a sprinkle of fresh coriander/cilantro at a minimum.
Bonus points if you add avocado and some crunchy corn chips for dunking!
What you need
Here’s what you need for this Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup. Lots of cans and lots of spices you probably already have!
In this particular recipe, chicken breast is the ideal cut. It takes 6 to 8 hours to cook until it’s easily shreddable, the same time the broth requires for the flavours to come together and thicken.
How to make Mexican Chicken Soup
This is a soup that’s ideal for making in the slow cooker. Sauté the garlic, onion and capsicum/bell peppers, then just put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours. The chicken breast will be tender and easily shreddable, the beans will have soaked up all the flavour from the spices, and the soup thickened.
To finish it off, just shred the chicken, toss it back in then serve!
This soup is the chicken version of the popular Beef Taco Soup. Quick and easy, hearty and exploding with Taco flavours!
Mexican Chicken Soup Toppings!
Toppings are not optional – they’re essential! Toppings take a tasty soup over the top to OMG this is so delish!
In my world, the bare minimum is cheese, sour cream, coriander/cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime.
But if you add a little bit of diced avocado and corn chips for dunking, it will catapult this into another stratosphere of deliciousness.
And to think it’s so quick and easy to make!!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , diced (brown, white, yellow)
- 1 red capsicum/bell pepper , large, diced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 3 cups (750ml) chicken broth/stock , low sodium
- 800g / 28 oz canned black beans, drained (2 cans, or other beans, Note 1)
- 800g / 28 oz canned corn, drained (2 cans, or 500g/1lb frozen or fresh corn)
- 800g / 28oz crushed canned tomato OR 700g tomato passata (Note 2)
- 500g / 1 lb chicken breast
Spices
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp paprika powder
- 1 tsp each onion powder and garlic powder (or 2 tsp of one of them)
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, adjust spiciness)
- 1 tsp each salt + black pepper
Toppings
- Shredded cheese (recommended)
- Sour cream or yogurt (recommended)
- Coriander/cilantro (recommended)
- Lime wedges (recommended)
- Avocado, diced
- Corn chips or tortillas , for dunking
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet and sauté the onion, capsicum/bell pepper and garlic for 5 minutes until translucent.
- Add a splash of chicken broth, bring to simmer then tip it all into the slow cooker. (Instant Pot: Do Step 1 & 2 on saute function).
- Add remaining chicken broth, Spices, corn, bean and tomato. Give it a good stir, then add chicken and push down to submerge.
- Slow cook for 6 to 8 hours on LOW. (Or pressure cooker 25 minutes on high, see Note for stove).
- Remove chicken onto plate, shred with 2 forks. Return into slow cooker, give it a good stir. Check if it needs more salt or pepper.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with Toppings of choice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2014. Updated January 2019 with new photos and new recipe video!
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Life of Dozer
Dozer’s discovered his favourite room in our new home…the PANTRY! Lots of ideas for redesigning this storage space but Dozer doesn’t care – he’s just excited to be in such close proximity to so much FOOD.
(Actually, he is strictly prohibited from entering the pantry, I just let him in for a peek 😂)
I’ve made this several times and it’s delicious!! I just saw it as part of your 5 meals prep ahead post (which is brilliant by the way, thank you!), where it says you can make a freezer bag version of it to defrost and then cook in the slow cooker. It says to see note 3, but I guess this recipe has been changed since then. To make a freezer bag version for cooking at a later date, would you follow the same steps, i.e. steps 1-3 but just put all into a ziplock bag instead of into the slow cooker? Or is it best to cook it first and then freeze? Thanks!
I made this into a dump bag for my in-laws after they had a baby. You can either sauté then pop it all into the bag to freeze or skip the sauté completely and pop into the bag. I’ve never noticed a huge difference sautéing vs not. I also omitted the stock when freezing as it would have been too much to freeze and it’s so easy to add later I just noted it on the bag. Defrost completely, dump in slow cooker and cook as per instructions. Top tip freeze the bag flat as it’ll defrost easier and I also double bag just in case. I actually didn’t realise Nagi had made dump bag instructions this is just what I did knowing the basics of a dump bag. 🙂
So easy to get the slow cooker going and come home to this fabulous meal. We had cheese, corn chips and a bit of yoghurt. Just so good!
The soup was delicious. Definitely added chopped avocado, tortilla chips, sour cream and shredded cheese toppings. Will make again.
This soup is so yummy and fun. I love the combination of flavours and textures. I made this for dinner tonight and after fighting over seconds my kids told me I need to make this on a regular basis. I did halve the cayenne pepper as I’ve had issues with too much cayenne before. It was the perfect amount of spice for us. Thanks Nagi x
Very tasty recipe
This is mouth-wateringly good. Yum!
Hi, I’m going to try making your wonderful Mexican Chicken Soup in a pressure cooker for the first time. Your recipe recommends 25 minutes on high, but a similar recipe I see on another site (I didn’t realize you had the recommended time in yours and was trying to convert it on my own) recommends only 8-12 minutes (depending on size of the breasts) and recommends the 25 minutes for thighs. Just want to confirm that it should be 25 for breasts. Thanks!! 😋
I was looking through comments for whether to quick, natural or timed release. FYI, I quick released, all good. Thought slow cooker was better, but not by much. Hope this helps!
I had just finished simmering and tasting this recipe and was looking on the phone at the instructions when an Ad popped up… advertising canned soup. These guys have no idea who they are competing against.
Nagi 100: Canned soup 0.
HA!
I tried this in our new slow cooker last night. It was great for a cold night. My 12 year old daughter found it a little spicy (although I love spicy!!) so I will reduce the cayenne pepper next time.
I actually cooked this on timer overnight so we brought this for our school and work lunch. My daughter had it with wrap (already in our pantry) while my husband and I had it with Dorito chips. Yum!! Thank you.
Sounds yummy! Does the calorie count include the toppings at all or is it just for the soup?
No the calorie count excludes the toppings but I substitute for sour cream with either the light version or natural yoghurt (which I actually prefer). Hope this helps 🙂
Wow! Talk about easy and so yummy! Thx Nagi!
Woo hoo!! I am glad that you enjoyed it John! N x
This was such a delicious and relatively easy soup to make! I made it on the stove top because it was too late in the day to make it in a slow cooker and that worked amazingly. I wasn’t sure if I should’ve left it uncovered or covered to simmer (I opted for covered in the end). It was a bit watery for the first day, but after a night in the fridge it was the perfect consistency. We ate it with just corn chips and that was perfection! (My avocado wasn’t ripe enough 🙁 ). Also, I halved the cayenne pepper because I’m a chilli wuss but it was the perfect amount of spice without hurting my belly 😛 thanks for another winner recipe! Your website is my go-to for tasty everything xxx
That’s good to know Nella! I am glad that you liked it! N x
I’ve been on a recipe tin eats cooking binge lately and I made this for dinner the other day when hubby said he wanted something Mexican for dinner.
it was easy to make, delicious and even the kids even went back for seconds and thirds!! And they can be so fussy.
perfect dinner especially for those colder nights. Thank you Nagi!!
That’s great Michelle!! Enjoy! N x
This recipe was such a good find, particularly at a moment’s notice when everything fell into line. There is something about coming home to the smell of soup, especially if it is wafting from the slow cooker. By no means was it the most ideal soup weather, but in Australia we don’t really know that – it is a matter of fact.
Props as well to suggesting to submerge the pieces of meat during the cooking process. This might be the first time I have seen someone take an active suggestion to do that for a slow cooker meal. It gave the chicken time to both mariante and steam, therefore falling apart slowly and absorbing the delicious Mexican flavours.
I can’t remember if I put in a jalapeno or not, but you are talking to a spice fiend. It could always be that little mark spicier. But on top of the spice, ti was the interaction between the base flavours, and how the cheese infused itself into the broth, plus the sheer amount of chicken to spread out through the broth.
Sometimes what has to happen is to allow things to just be, and to occur through inertia. A lot of my life has been like that over the past years, and cooking much reflects how I go about it.
To quote the late, great Scot Hall: One more, for the good guys.
Made this and it was delicious! One small change I made: at grocery stores here in Texas dried ancho chilies are plentiful. I bought a few and used my blender and some of the chicken stock to make a paste and added it into the soup. Even more delicious 🙂
I do like the flavour from anchos although they are harder to find here in Australia! N x
First time tonight – made exactly according to recipe and used all toppings except I didn’t have a lime. Frito scoops and Tostitos on the side. Delicious!!!
Just found this recipe today, made it and tried it with my 16 y.o. son. I have to say that it’s fantastic! I used close to 2 lbs. chicken breast and it took 6.5 hours to reach fork tender with the crockpot set on low. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly and I’d say the spiciness level is 6.5/10. Added fresh squeezed lime juice, shredded cheddar, cilantro and crumbled yellow corn chips to each bowl. Yum!
Made this for the first time tonight. Have to say it is life altering. Absolutely delicious. Will be making a lot of this in my future. Love your recipes. They make me look like a great cook!!
Thanks Nagi, appreciate all your hard work. Oh, and a shout out to Dozer. You missed out buddy.
Damn delicious! I made half the amount but used 2 chicken breasts and 2 cups of stock. I also made it the pressure cooker, so dinner done in 25 mins plus prep time, about 10 minutes.
Hi Vanessa, how long did you leave it in the pressure cooker? I’d like to cook it the same way.
25 mi s
This recipe is delicious. I use Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream, add jalapeños and use fresh corn. I also use a packet of taco or burrito spice mix instead of all the spices. I still add cumin and garlic powder. The flavours are out of this world.