Chicken Tomatillo Soup is a healthy Mexican soup made with chicken breast, canned whole tomatillos and beans simmered until thick and hearty in just 45 minutes.
Simple, flavorful Soup Recipes like Taco Soup are easy, delicious and made with common pantry ingredients you have on hand. This milder Chicken Tomatillo Soup is a tasty, light dinner ready in only 30 minutes.
CHICKEN TOMATILLO SOUP
If you love Southwestern flavors like tomatillos, green chiles, and cilantro, this is sure to be your newest favorite recipe. This easy Chicken Tomatillo Soup has a thick chili verde broth, creamy white beans, and tender chicken in every bite. Served with warm tortillas, this is a fast, one pot meal perfect for busy weeknights.
Chicken Tomatillo Soup uses fresh boneless chicken breasts and common pantry items like canned beans and green chiles. You could make your own tomatillo sauce from scratch, but it’s much easier to use a can of salsa verde. Canned salsa verde comes in different heat (spiciness) levels and can be roasted or not, giving you a variety of options for your soup.
You can make Chicken Tomatillo Soup ahead of time and store it for freezer crockpot meals, which are lifesaver on busy weeks. Make the soup as normal, cool and transfer to a freezer safe bag. Freeze the soup in a bag for up to 3 months. To reheat, just pop the frozen soup into your crockpot and cook on low or high until hot (about 3-6 hours).
Serve your Chicken Tomatillo Soup for a light weeknight dinner with a side of corn tortillas, Dinner Rolls, or Cornbread, and a simple salad. This soup is also a perfect side dish for Mexican main dishes like Chicken Enchiladas and Taco Salad. This recipe is about 8 servings as a dinner so it’s a great potluck side dish too!
OTHER HEARTY AND DELICIOUS SOUPS
Vegetable Soup
Cabbage Soup
Chicken Taco Soup
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup
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VARIATIONS ON CHICKEN TOMATILLO SOUP
- Pork: Make Pork Tomatillo Soup by using 2 pounds boneless pork loin or pork shoulder cut into 3 inch chunks. You could also use beef stew meat instead of chicken breasts.
- Beans: Use any canned whole beans in this recipe like pinto beans, black beans, chili beans, or garbanzo beans. Always make sure to rinse and drain canned beans when adding to soup.
- Veggies: Some veggies that would taste delicious in this soup are canned corn, diced green peppers, quartered fresh tomatillos, and frozen cauliflower rice (thawed).
- Hominy: Hominy is a large whole kernel that is almost like a rice or potato substitute for soups. Add a can of hominy (rinsed and drained) to the Chicken Tomatillo Soup to make it heartier.
- Spicy: Make a spicy Chicken Tomatillo Soup by adding fresh Serrano or jalapeño peppers. Finely mince fresh peppers, without seeds, and add to your pan after the onions are softened, cooking for 1 minute.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tomatillo Soup
- In a skillet over medium heat sauté the onion and garlic until softened and then transfer to the slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, until chicken is completely cooked.
- Garnish with toppings like sour cream, avocado, thinly sliced jalapeños, and tortilla strips.
MORE MEXICAN SOUP RECIPES
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Slow Cooker Taco Soup
Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Creamy Chicken Poblano Pepper Soup
HOW TO STORE CHICKEN TOMATILLO SOUP
- Serve: Chicken Tomatillo Soup can stay out at room temperature for up to 2 hours before it needs to be stored. Cool completely before transferring to storage containers.
- Store: This soup can be refrigerated for up to 4 days in an airtight container. For best taste, reheat on stovetop.
- Freeze: Freeze Chicken Tomatillo Soup in a freezer bag or sealed container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator for stove top reheating or reheat from frozen in crockpot.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into about ½ inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 28 ounces canned tomatillos , quartered
- 4 ounces green chiles
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 30 ounces canned white beans , drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Heat the canola oil in a large dutch oven on medium heat.
- Cook the chicken and onions in the pot, stirring regularly, until the chicken is browned on both sides through, about 5 minutes then remove from the pot onto a plate.
- Add the tomatillos, green chiles and cook on high heat to char the tomatillos a bit in the oil.
- Add the chicken and onions back into the pot with the garlic, chicken broth, white beans, cumin, salt, pepper and oregano and mix well (this will break apart the tomatillos even more).
- Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a medium low and cook for 25 minutes until the soup has thickened and most of the tomatillos have broken down.
Nutrition
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Do you drain the canned tomatillos?
Yes, drain them 🙂
Sabrina have you ever made Shepard’s pie? It’s really good!
I’ll add it to my list of recipes to test. Thanks for the suggestion.
I seriously love this! Such an amazing soup for my family!
So glad you all enjoyed it, Toni. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Delicious! It’s been chilly out and this was the perfect way to warm up. We loved all the great flavors in this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
You’re welcome, Kristin.
This was proper comfort food. Absolutely delicious
Thanks, Sisley. So glad you enjoyed it.
Looks so cozy and yummy! Definitely trying this soon ?
This must be so yummy! Love the option of adding more veggies, as we are vegetarian. We love beans but sometimes don´t know any good recipes, this will be really useful!
This sounds delicious! I have access to fresh tomatillos so I will use those. Also, I think it would be amazing with some roasted poblano peppers.
Yes, that sounds amazing!