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Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 to 3 cups (about 1 pound) shredded cooked chicken
- 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) enchilada sauce, homemade or store-bought
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with their juices
- 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 cup masa harina
- 8 ounces freshly-grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- optional toppings: tortilla chips/strips, diced avocado, extra shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, or pico de gallo
Instructions
- Sauté the veggies. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Simmer. Add the chicken stock, cooked chicken, enchilada sauce, black beans, tomatoes, green chiles, cumin and stir to combine. Continue cooking the soup until it reaches a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer.
- Mix in the masa harina. Ladle out 2 cups of the hot broth into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup. Add the masa harina and whisk until combined. Add the mixture back to the hot soup and stir until combined.
- Add the cheeses. Add the cheeses and stir until melted and evenly combined. Taste and season the soup with salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve. Serve warm, garnished with lots of your favorite toppings.
Notes
Source: Recipe inspired by the amazing chicken enchilada soup from Chili's.
Update: Recipe updated slightly in 2022.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
I LOVE this soup! The homemade enchilada sauce is so good. MUCH better than store-bought. This soup has great flavor and textures. Thanks so much for sharing it. It’s definitely one I make again and again.
Thanks Kristin — we’re so glad to hear that! :)
Tried this out yesterday with leftover rotisserie chicken. Glad you had the enchilada sauce recipe linked because I forgot to grab some from the store. Used Rotel tomatoes with green chiles and added a small can of corn that the roommate had laying around. The flavor wasn’t quite what I was looking for until I added a small can of tomato sauce – then it was perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing — we’re glad you enjoyed this!
Do you have any other gluten free flour suggestions for this recipe. It looks wonderful!
Hi Kathy! If you use pure masa marina, it’s gluten-free. If you’re using another type of corn flour, just make sure it’s gf, same with your stock. Otherwise, you should be good! We hope this helps and that you enjoy!
Awesome soup!! Followed exactly, with homemade enchilada sauce, tasted amazing!
Thanks Lena — we’re so glad you enjoyed it! :)
Hilary, can I use corn flour instead of masa harina?
Hi Brooke, cornmeal is your best substitute, so we would use that if you can!
I made this last week, using your enchilada sauce recipe. I used 2 T Simply Organic brand chili powder, and the enchilada sauce was dark brown which in turn made the soup look like brown sludge, to be honest. Nothing like the appetizing orangey-red in your photo. Fortunately, it tasted better than it looked If I I made this again, I think I’d leave out the cheese and just top each individual bowl with either that, or a generous spoonful of sour cream. I might add some frozen corn, too.
I used unsalted chicken broth, and added 1/2 tsp of salt and it was almost too salty for my taste so I would encourage everyone to watch how much they add. I probably won’t be making this again because of the unappetizing color, but I would not discourage anyone else from trying it themselves.
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us Mari. The sauce tends to turn out that color for us most of the time too (it’s more red in the photos because of the lighting and the way it was shot). Also, some chili powders are more red and some are more brown. If you still like the taste but are just off the color, some people like to add tomato sauce and/or paste to this, and have had great results (taste and color-wise). We hope you’ll find this helpful!
Hello, I appreciate this might not be a normal question, but do you know how long this keeps in the fridge? I know that flavours usually deepen and get richer over time, so I assume it won’t be a bad thing to have left over? In my house we are likely to hev leftovers however, so how do you reccomend storing this? And for how long?
Hey Ellie! We think this should keep best in the fridge, in some tupperware (cheesy things don’t fare as well in the freezer). We think it’ll probably be good for 5-7 days. We hope you enjoy!
Thank you for this AMAZING recipe! This is such a great copycat recipe! I used store bought enchilada sauce, I added the chili powder (1/2 tsp) as suggested, was missing that “zing” for us, so I also added roughly a 1/2 tsp of tacos seasoning. Worked like a charm! Appreciate all of your delicious recipes. Happy 2016…. keep the greatness coming!
You’re so welcome Kendall, we’re happy you enjoyed this! Happy 2016 to you as well! :D
I ADORE Tex-Mex foods, so I am LOVING (and drooling!) looking at all these recipes! Thanks! I’m quite a ways north, we don’t have a huge Mexican population here, therefore not much for authentic ingredients (99% of people here just use Old El Paso mixes & whatnot, lol). I’m going to try making your Enchilada Sauce (I bet it would be delicious seasoning for ground beef tacos!), and a few of the other recipes here …. I have made a Mexican-style Chicken soup, I hated to call it Chicken Fajita soup, because I didn’t like it with the strips of tortillas as the recipe called for. I’ve made it the totally from-scratch way, then I did it SUPER-lazy once too — I bought precut & precooked chicken breast from Coscto, threw in a drained can of black beans, 2 drained cans of peaches & cream corn, the chicken, 3 cans chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes & 2-3 cups mild salsa, a can of diced green chilis,diced onions, then some cumin, chili powder & salt & pepper & let it cook for 3-4 hours on high… OMG to die for just like that! To serve, though I placed some chopped sweet bell peppers in the bowl first then topped with the soup, (to keep the peppers nice & crisp, I hate soggy peppers) topped that with shredded cheddar, then a dollop of sour cream & salsa. Served with rainbow-corn taco chips, to scoop out melty bits of cheese, salsa & sour cream along with some of the soup… no polite way to eat it, LOL. I made an assembly line on my counter with tupperware bowls to freeze it in individual portions. It is SO yummy! I’m not a fan of cilantro, so I just omit it.
I’m going to go drool over more of your pictures now hahaha GREAT BLOG!
Thanks for your sweet words Erin, we’re so happy you’re digging the blog! And your chicken fajita soup sounds SO yummy!! :D
Made this tonight and enjoyed it very much! Needed a bit more kick for me so added a bit of ground up chipotles to my bowl! Definitely a great meal to warm you up during colder times!
Thanks Ray, we’re happy to hear you enjoyed this! :)