77 Reviews of The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup

From: Hey Jude

On Apr 19, 2004

If I could, this would get a thousand stars. This was SO good, my family went nuts over it and demanded it goes on our Mexican favorites list. I made this as is, the only thing I did different was to use a store-bought rotisserie chicken in place of the 4 cooked chicken breast halves. If you like Southwest/Mexican food, you must try this, it's awesome. Thanks so much LorenLou for the new addition to my family!

From: ratherbeswimmin'

On Jun 30, 2004

I have looked high and low for a tortilla soup recipe that lights my fire. This is the one. The best of the best as far as I'm concerned. I also used rotisserie chicken mainly because I was short on time. The seasonings are awesome. My husband and I tossed a coin to see who gets to take the left-overs for lunch tomorrow. I won. Thanks LorenLou.

From: nelbel

On Apr 13, 2007

Wonderful recipe — I especially like that this one doesn't use already canned soups in order to make... a soup! I had all these ingredients in my pantry. My alterations: I only used one bay leaf, and instead of chile powder, I tossed in one dried chile, cut in half (I fished it out before I served it). One thing that I didn't realize before making tortilla soup is that the corn tortillas do not actually STAY whole — they are meant to be a thickeners. You can essentially adjust the thickness of the soup to your liking by adding or removing the amount of tortillas (I sliced them before tossing them in). You can go up to about 3 tablespoons of cumin before it gets to be too much. A can of drained, rinsed black or pinto beans would be a great addition as well. The longer you let the cook simmer, the more intense the flavors. This soup is excellent the next day. I made little corn quesadillas to eat along with this soup. Delicious.

From: H2O

On Jan 24, 2005

What a wonderfully filling soup for a cold, snowy day! I had some leftover chicken breast cutlets that had been grilled with garlic and rosemary, and used them in the soup. I was a little concerned about the rosemary flavor, but it worked just fine with all the other great flavors. I also added a small can of corn kernels, and two small, chopped, sauteed green and red bell peppers. I found a package of chipotle flavored crispy tortillas to crumble over the top, melted the monterrey jack cheese over that, and added a dollop of sour cream. I placed slices of avocado on the side. It was like having a one-bowl fiesta! Thanks, Loren Lou!

From: beckas

On Sep 26, 2005

This was hearty and fabulous. I made a few changes to suit our tastes. I omitted the bay leaves and I added 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1 tsp worcestershire sauce. I also added corn and black beans per a couple of the other reviewers suggestions. The best compliment of all was that my teenage daughter went back for seconds. She doesn't do that very often! The only change that I will make in the future is to add the shredded chicken breasts at the beginning of the cooking time and let the meat simmer in the soup. I think that the meat would be more tender that way.

From: esm4877

On Dec 28, 2005

I followed the recipe exactly, and it was awesome! Very flavourful and just the right amount of kick. I made Junebug's Seasoned Tortilla Strips (#100646) and sprinkled them over top as well, delicious!

From: Zobeed

On Jan 11, 2006

This is, indeed, the best tortilla soup! I made this last night with homemade chicken stock, added some corn, and crockpot chicken taco meat (#4957) to produce the most incredible soup. YUM! My DH couldn't stop eating this!

From: brianl

On Feb 18, 2005

I never realized that I had never really had tortilla soup until I tried this recipe. We were going to make some sort of chicken something or other, but my wife said she didn't really feel like making it. I had seen this recipe scroll by in my zaar RSS feed, so I suggested we make it together. We had all the ingredients except cilantro on hand (and the soup suffered as a result), but oh, was this good. We miscalculated on the size of the pan we would need and had to leave out 2 cups of broth, which made us worry that we would have to figure out a way to dilute the soup after it was done. Our concerns were misplaced - this soup is delicious even if you mess it up like we did. The true test of a good soup is how well it does when reheated. This soup has raised the bar.

From: Caryn Dalton

On Jul 15, 2005

This was very good and we made it exactly as stated EXCEPT I made a mistake and used flour tortillas instead of corn which lended a very mushy slimy texture in every bite that contained flour tortillas. Don't do that! Read the label of your product! The only thing I might change is not using quick as much garlic next time because my breath was really 'kickin' the whole night after eating this soup. Never mind, though. Bad breath or not as a result, this one is going in my 'tried and true' folder. Thanks for submitting.

From: Chef #263089

On Jan 13, 2006

Very Good! My mother has bragged to everyone and now they want me to make it for them too. I added a can of corn only by my father's request and it didn't hurt a bit. Great Job!