This Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup is the perfect combination of homemade and store-bought dinner time magic, saving you time in the kitchen without sacrificing any of the flavor!
With tasty sautéd veggies, delicious seasoning, juicy pulled chicken, and a little time in the crockpot, it's a family favorite guaranteed to satiate all your Tex-Mex cravings! Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup is as simple to make as it is tasty to eat. No need to worry about fancy kitchen gadgets or hard-to-find ingredients, this perfect combination of flavors will have you feeling like a dinner-time hero before the kids are even out of school!
Looking for more awesome chicken recipes to try? Bookmark Chicken Ranchero Bake in your internet browser for next time!
HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN TACO SOUP
This chicken taco soup is an easy slow cooker recipe that comes together with a minimal amount of prep time, and it's all thanks to a simple combination of fresh veggies, taco seasoning, and chili beans.
Below, you'll find a quick recipe overview:
- Sauté onions and jalapeños.
- Add chicken, seasoning, beans, corn, tomatoes, and broth to your slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours.
- Shred the chicken, add it back to the crockpot with lime and cilantro, and serve with your favorite toppings!
1. SAUTE THE VEGGIES
The recipe begins on the stovetop, with fresh chopped onions and jalapeños.
Cooking the onions and jalapeños in a sauté pan equipped with avocado or olive oil over medium-high heat prior to adding them to the slow cooker ensures two things:
- The onions and jalapeños are softened come serving time
- The overall flavor of the soup is enhanced!
2. ADD INGREDIENTS TO THE SLOW COOKER
After your veggies are softened, add the onion and jalapeño to your slow cooker, along with 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast, one package of taco seasoning, salt, chili beans, corn, black beans, chopped Roma tomatoes, and chicken broth.
ABOUT THE BEANS
Chili beans are canned beans that come suspended in a savory, chili seasoned gravy. The spices in a chili-style sauce typically consist of onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin. As you can imagine, this is a beautiful match for taco-flavored anything and the perfect addition to your soup base!
So, take care to add the chili beans to the slow cooker with sauce intact, but as for the black beans, you'll want to drain the can and rinse the beans before adding them to the slow cooker.
3. STIR AND COOK
Stir the ingredients together, cover the crockpot and cook for 2 hours on the high setting or 4 hours on the low setting.
Once your chicken is properly cooked, remove it from the crockpot, and set it aside until it is cool enough to handle.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOUR CHICKEN IS DONE
Your chicken is fully cooked once the internal temperature registers 165°F. You can also tell if your chicken is cooked through by the coloring. Cooked chicken will be completely white, no pink showing whatsoever.
4. SHRED THE CHICKEN AND SERVE
To shred the chicken, you can either hand-pull it, place it on a work surface and shred the chicken with two forks, or shred it by adding the breasts directly to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and letting it whir on a low speed for a minute or two!
Add your shredded chicken back to the crockpot, along with the juice of half a lime and chopped cilantro. Lastly, give it a stir, and serve with your favorite toppings!
CHICKEN TACO SOUP TOPPING IDEAS
You can top off your slow cooker chicken taco soup with just about anything you would use to top a taco! Here are a few of our favorite topping ideas:
- Shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack
- Sour Cream, Greek Yogurt, or Crema
- Fresh Chopped Cilantro
- Fresh Sliced Jalapenos
- Fresh Diced Tomatoes
- Sliced Radishes
- Guacamole or Diced Avocado
- Tortilla Strips or Crushed Tortilla Chips\
CHICKEN TACO SOUP RECIPE VARIATIONS
This chicken taco soup recipe is extremely versatile and can be used in a number of different ways, with a variety of proteins and ingredients! If there's an ingredient on the list that you don't care for, simply leave it out. If there's an ingredient you just can't get enough of, feel free to add more of it!
For example, deseeded jalapeños will not make your chicken taco soup spicy, but if you are extremely sensitive to heat feel free to sub in one green bell pepper for the jalapeños in this recipe!
This is also a great recipe for using up leftover chicken you have hanging around in the fridge or even a package of ground beef that needs to be used!
Below you'll find lots of deliciously different ways to change up this soup. If you are on the hunt for more soups and stews to try, Check out our Soup and Stew Recipes!
FOR CREAMY CHICKEN TACO SOUP
If you like your soups rich and creamy, turn this bad boy into creamy chicken taco soup by adding ⅓ of a cup of heavy whipping cream to the slow cooker when you add the shredded chicken back into the vessel.
GOT LEFTOVER CHICKEN?
For this recipe, you will need 2 to 3 chicken breasts, which amounts to about 3 cups of shredded chicken. If you have leftover baked chicken breasts or a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, use it in this Chicken Taco Soup recipe!
Rather than adding uncooked chicken breast to the slow cooker at the start of the recipe, you will add in your leftover chicken toward the end of the cooking time! Just shred your chicken and add it to the crockpot when there are only 30 minutes left of cook time.
SUBBING IN GROUND BEEF
Just like with leftover chicken, if you've got ground beef in the fridge that needs using up, this recipe is a great place to do it!
To sub in ground beef for the chicken in this recipe, you would start with the ground beef on the stovetop instead of the veggies! Cook the ground beef over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes until it is fully cooked through. Then, remove it from the heat with a slotted spoon.
Once the ground beef is out of the pan, cook your diced onion and jalapeño in the grease drippings left behind and proceed with the recipe as directed from there!
6 MORE TEX-MEX RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Brisket Tacos
- Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Flautas
- Mexican Stuffed Shells
- Crockpot Chicken Tacos
- Pico de Gallo
Flautas de Pollo (Chicken Flautas Recipe)
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Brisket Tacos Recipe
Homemade Pico de Gallo
Crock-Pot Chicken Enchiladas
Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos
Chicken Taco Soup
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons avocado or canola oil
- 1 white onion diced
- 3 jalapeños stemmed, seeded and diced
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (uncooked)
- 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 (16-ounce) can chili beans (do not drain sauce)
- 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
- 3 Roma tomatoes, seeded, pulp removed and diced
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- Juice of half a lime
Optional Toppings:
- Freshly grated cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
- Diced avocado
- Sliced radishes
Instructions
- Add the oil to a sauté pan over medium-high heat and allow to come to temperature. Add the onion and jalapeños and sauté 4-6 minutes, until softened. Remove from the heat and transfer to a 4-6 quart slow cooker.
- Add the chicken breasts, taco seasoning, salt, beans, corn, tomatoes, and chicken broth to the crockpot as well. Stir to combine and cover with the lid. Cook for 2 hours on high, or 4 hours on low, until the chicken is fully cooked through.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and shred. Return to the crockpot, and add in the juice of half a lime and chopped cilantro. Stir once more. Add desired toppings, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
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