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Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup is made with chicken breasts, corn, green chiles and diced tomatoes in a creamy red enchilada sauce. Your whole family will love this delicious and easy chicken soup recipe made in the electric pressure cooker!
If you’re looking for a kicked-up version of your usual chicken soup recipe, you need to check out this über flavorful chicken enchilada soup. It has all of the flavors of chicken enchiladas in soup form!
I absolutely love making soup in the Instant Pot! You just throw everything in the electric pressure cooker, and in a few minutes, dinner is ready! I usually make a big old pot of Instant Pot chicken soup at least once a week. We have it for dinner one night, and I get to eat the leftover soup for lunch during the week. It’s definitely a win win situation!
Even though I love eating soup, not everyone in the family does. So I decided to change up the usual chicken noodle soup and make some hearty chicken enchilada soup, instead. My family is crazy about Instant Pot chicken enchiladas, and chicken enchilada pasta, so they had no complaints about this soup!
I actually made this Instant Pot soup recipe a few times before I found a version that pleased our entire crew. I tried a plain version, which was kind of boring, and I tried adding a can of RoTel, which ended up being too spicy for some people. The third time, was definitely a charm!
Ingredients
You only need a few simple ingredients for this chicken enchilada soup recipe. They can usually be found in your local grocery store. You can sub taco seasoning for the spices:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Corn
- Sea salt
- Garlic powder
- Ground cumin
- Pepper
- Can diced green chiles, drained
- Can diced tomatoes no salt added
- Low sodium organic chicken broth
- Can mild red enchilada sauce
- Heavy cream
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
First, I like to cook the corn and onions on the saute setting for a few minutes.
You could definitely throw everything in the Instant Pot and call it a day, but I think pan roasting the onions and corn really adds a ton of extra flavor.
Just be sure to deglaze the pot before adding the chicken. Otherwise, you’ll get the dreaded burn notice!
Just add a little broth to the pot after browning the corn. Then, scrape up all the brown bits with a spoon.
Place the chicken breasts on top of the onions and corn. Next, add the rest of the ingredients, and you’re good to go.
Cooking Time
Just pop the lid on, wait for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, and let it work its magic. The soup takes only 10 minutes to cook on high pressure, and I like to do a slow natural release for 5 minutes before opening the valve all the way and doing a quick release.
When the pin drops, just remove the chicken, shred it, and add the shredded chicken back to the soup.
You could stop here, but I add a little heavy cream to further tone down the heat from the enchilada sauce. It makes the enchilada soup rich and creamy, and perfect!
Serve this tasty Instant Pot chicken enchilada soup with shredded cheese, corn chips and a little sour cream, and you’ve got enchiladas in a bowl. So good! You can also add avocado slices or guacamole — yum!
Variations
Add your favorite toppings to customize your chicken enchilada soup! We love sprinkling crushed-up tortilla chips or tortilla strips to the top of the soup for an extra crunch.
For a little more kick, add chili powder, cayenne pepper, red or green chilies, bell pepper, or Sriracha sauce.
On the other end, if spicy food really isn’t your thing, a dollop of sour cream or cream cheese, shredded Mexican or cheddar cheese, and avocado will cool down your bowl of soup.
You don’t need to use chicken breasts. Chicken thighs will work as well, just make sure that they’re boneless. If you want to use frozen chicken, it will have the same cook time as non-frozen ones, unless the frozen breasts are super thick or stuck together.
One of my favorite things to add to enchilada soup is beans. Black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans will pair best with this flavor profile.
To make this recipe even easier, use rotisserie chicken. Just add the chicken in after you’ve pressure cooked the soup.
For a thicker, more creamy chicken enchilada soup, add in some masa.
How to Store and Reheat
Store any leftover chicken enchilada soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator, where it’ll keep for 4 to 5 days.
For longer storage, freeze it in a freezer safe container. This is a great recipe for meal prep during the colder months, and it’s a family favorite over here!
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Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup corn
- 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 7-ounce can diced green chiles, drained
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes no salt added undrained
- 1 32-ounce carton low sodium organic chicken broth
- 1 10-ounce can mild red enchilada sauce
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to SAUTE setting, and when display reads HOT, add the olive oil, onions and corn, and cook until slightly brown
- Hit CANCEL to turn heat off, and pour in a little chicken broth, and stir bottom of pot to deglaze and remove any brown bits
- Place chicken breasts in bottom of pot. Season with sea salt, garlic, cumin and pepper
- Add green chiles, diced tomatoes, remaining chicken broth and enchilada sauce
- Place lid on Instant Pot, turn knob to sealing position, and hit PRESSURE COOK, or manual, for 10 minutes
- After 10 minutes, allow a 5 minute natural release, then turn knob to venting for a quick release. After pin drops, open lid, and remove chicken to shred
- Return chicken to soup, stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream, and serve immediately
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My family loves this easy Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup. My picky soup-hating middle child even had a second helping! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Don’t forget to comment and leave a star rating!
Recipe first published in 2018 and updated in 2022.
If you enjoy this delicious Instant Pot enchilada soup, leave a comment and a rating! For more Instant Pot recipes, easy recipe ideas, and easy soup recipes, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter and follow me on social media!
This was really good! I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and green chilly, and finished the soup with a splash of lime juice and some chopped cilantro. Definitely adding it to my weeknight rotation.
So glad you liked the soup, Val. Thank you for the wonderful review!
Can you saute the onions and corn in a pan then do this in a crock pot?
Yes, you can. If you want, you can skip that step — it just adds a little extra flavor, but I sometimes throw everything into the pot, and it tastes just fine. 🙂
Why not? It’ll just take longer.
It worked for me. Some may want a bit more seasoning. But it is good for us as we like it mild.
That’s the way my family likes it, too. 🙂