This Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup is an easy soup recipe loaded with bold flavor, tender chunks of meat, and lots of melty cheese. Made with chicken breasts, enchilada sauce, Masa Harina (corn flour), black beans, corn, cheese, and diced green chili’s. Better than any soup you will get at a restaurant, and perfect for loading up with your favorite toppings.
Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup is made with so much flavor! I guarantee it’s so much better than any restaurant and definitely better than any store-bought version. It’s simple to make and takes only 35 minutes from start to finish. Enchiladas are one of my all-time favorite Mexican foods. The flavor of the corn tortilla, tender chicken, cheddar cheese, smothered in enchilada sauce and topped with my favorite toppings. Chicken tortilla soup tastes just like your favorite restaurant-style chicken enchiladas, but takes half the time to make!! I am all about simplifying my favorite recipes, and this is one of them. A big thank you to one of my best friends for sharing her mom’s recipe with me. I made a few additions for my family, and everyone scarfed it up. If you like this soup recipe, you are going to love our White Chicken Chili and Taco Soup recipes.
Ingredients for Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil work well.
- Onion: This recipe calls for one medium onion, diced.
- Minced Garlic: I like minced garlic in a jar. It’s easy to use and you always have it on hand.
- Chicken Broth: You can substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth if that’s what you prefer.
- Water: Warm water is used to mix the Masa Harina (corn flour) before adding it to the soup.
- Masa Harina: Masa Harina is cornflour and can be found down the Hispanic food aisle of your local grocery store. Maseca is the most common brand and the one I used.
- Enchilada Sauce: Any brand of red enchilada sauce will work well.
- Cheddar Cheese Dip: I used Frito brand cheese dip, but Tostitos and Mission are also a good brand. You can also use Velveeta cheese as a substitute.
- Salt: Add more or less for your taste.
- Cumin: Cumin adds a nice flavor to this enchilada soup.
- Chili Powder: Add more or less for your taste.
- Shredded Chicken: Fully cook and shred your chicken breasts before adding them to the soup. Rotisserie chickens work well to save time in the kitchen.
- Corn: I use can corn, but frozen corn works well.
- Black Beans: Drain and rinse black beans before adding them to the soup.
- Diced Green Chili’s: Green chilies will add a little spice to this soup. If your not a fan of spice, you can omit the green chili’s
How to make Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- In a large soup pot heat oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot add diced onion and sauté for about 4 minutes or until onions become translucent.
- Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
- Pour chicken broth into the pot.
- In a medium-size mixing bowl add water and Masa Harina, whisk together until fully combined. Add to pot and stir to combine.
- Next pour enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese dip, salt, cumin, and chili powder into the pot. Stir to combine ingredients well.
- Bring soup to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
- Once the soup has come to a boil, reduce heat to low.
- Add cooked shredded chicken, corn, black beans, and diced green chili’s.
- Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve immediately with sour cream, Pico de Gallo, avocado, and shredded cheddar cheese. Enjoy!
Favorite Chicken Enchilada Soup Toppings
- Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Tortilla Strips
- Sour Cream
- Pico De Gallo
- Lime Juice
What is Masa Harina?
Masa Harina is corn flour that is used to make tortillas. Dried corn gets soaked in calcium hydroxide and then is ground very fine, which makes a dough that they then flatten into corn tortillas. If you take that dough and dehydrate it, you get Masa Harina, also called corn flour. When you add water to Masa Harina you can make your own homemade corn tortillas, or you can use it to make delicious chicken enchilada soup. Most enchilada soups focus on the flavors found inside of the enchilada, but using Masa Harina incorporates the corn tortilla flavor as well.
Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 cup Masa Harina (corn flour)
- 1 10 oz. can red enchilada sauce
- 16 oz. cheddar cheese dip, or Velveeta cheese
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
- 1 cup corn
- 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 7 oz. can diced green chilis
Instructions
- In a large soup pot heat oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot add diced onion and sauté for about 4 minutes or until onions become translucent.
- Add minced garlic and and sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
- Pour chicken broth into pot.
- In a medium size mixing bowl add water and Masa Harina, whisk together until fully combined. Add to pot and stir to combine.
- Next pour enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese dip, salt, cumin and chili powder to pot. Stir to combine ingredients well.
- Bring soup to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
- Once soup has come to a boil, reduce heat to low.
- Add cooked shredded chicken, corn, black beans, and diced green chili’s.
- Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve immediately with sour cream, Pico de Gallo, avocado, and shredded cheddar cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience. Getting feedback from you helps me and other readers too!
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Now this looks like a super comforting soup. I love all the flavours going on.
Thank you! This is one of our favorite soups because of the flavors.
One of the best flavor for soup and perfect for weather here. Thanks for sharing
I hope you enjoy it! I love soup weather!
This is calling my name! Looks so delicious and mouth watering! Putting the ingredients on my list now. So excited!
Let me know what you think when you try it!!
My roommates and I have been really into soup these days, so I think I’ll have to add this one to the list. Looks so delicious, and I love the inclusion of Masa Harina for that tortilla flavor in the soup!
I think it is what makes the soup so good.
My daughter absolutely loves this type of soup with Mexican influences! Bookmarking to make for her!
I hope that she loves it.
I made this today, and it’s really good. I had to make a couple of minor substitutions, but I stuck to the measurements and everything else as written. I used the queso blanco Velveeta instead of regular because that’s what I had. I also didn’t have fresh garlic, so I used 1/2 tsp of garlic powder. The soup wasn’t as thick as I thought it would be, and it didn’t taste like Chili’s version, which I hoped it would. However, it was very easy to make and tasted really good. You have to chop and sautee the onion and shred the chicken, but other than that, you just dump everything in and let it cook. I’ll definitely make it again. I might add bell pepper the next time. Oh! I lied. I didn’t add the beans or corn, so I guess I really didn’t follow the recipe as is. I think those items would taste lovely in this recipe. I just wanted a lighter soup.
So glad you liked it, and I love the addition of the queso blanco Velveeta. Sounds delicious.