This homemade version of McAlister’s Chicken Tortilla Soup may look a little intimidating because of the long ingredients list, but don’t let that fool you! It only adds to the taste, not the difficulty. It really is simple to whip up this delicious soup at home, you can even change INTO your pajamas for this meal. Creamy, thick, and full of flavor, it’s a meal that can stand on its own.
I was probably a bit heavy handed with the whipping cream in this version of their soup but I think the creaminess puts this dish over the top as an amazing comfort food. Makes a great recipe to freeze and pop in a pan on low to reheat for a quick midweek meal with a fresh made flavor.
To cook chicken: I like to season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt and bake or cook in your slow cooker. Toss chicken into the KitchenAid Mixer Bowl with the flat beater attachment and let it spin for around a minute to get perfectly shredded chicken.
In a large pot melt butter over medium high heat, stir in chopped onions, and saute until onions begin to brown, add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in flour and cook for another minute.
Pour in chicken broth and half and half, bring to a boil, reduce heat and then simmer for 5 minutes allowing mixture to thicken.
Add salsa, creamed corn, fajita seasoning mix, cumin, and shredded chicken.
Allow soup to simmer for 20 minutes over low.
Ladle soup into soup bowls, top with shredded monterey jack cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and fresh cilantro. Serve.
Copycat McAlister’s Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 1–32 oz. box of chicken broth
- 1–10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken
- 4 cups half and half
- 3–4 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
- 1 cup salsa
- 1–15 oz. Can creamed corn
- 1 packet fajita seasoning mix
- 2 tsp. Cumin
- shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- crushed tortilla chips
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- To cook chicken -I like to season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt and make it on my counter top grill. Then I toss hot chicken into my KitchenAid mixer bowl with the flat beater attachment and let it spin for about a minute, I get perfectly even, shredded chicken every time.
- In a large pot melt butter over medium high heat, stir in chopped onions, and saute until onions begin to brown, add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in flour and cook for another minute.
- Pour in chicken broth and half and half, bring to a boil, reduce heat and then simmer for 5 minutes allowing mixture to thicken.
- Add salsa, cream of chicken, creamed corn, fajita seasoning mix, cumin, and shredded chicken.
- Allow soup to simmer for 20 minutes over low.
- Ladle soup into soup bowls, top with shredded monterey jack cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and fresh cilantro.
- Serve.
The soup would be perfect served in these bowls!
View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.
Would like to know how many does it serve and serving size
I made this chicken tortilla soup for our super bowl party and it was a hit, so delicious! It had excellent flavor and I don’t think anything needs to be changed, the ingredients were perfect! I will make this again.
★★★★★
Was delicious. I agree that there was way way too much milk. I added chives & skipped the fajita seasoning. I also used canned tomato with jalapeno in it. Was very good. Thank you!
I meant to put 5 stars. I can’t fix it….
Mcallister’s has something that this was missing, I made it but it wasn’t quite right. I put a lot less cream in, (like maybe a cup or two) I think next time I will do zero cream or not even a half cup. can really taste the half/half.. But I’m pretty sure what it’s lacking is lime. I added some lime juice and ground chipotle, and it was perfect, very close to McCallister’s. Thanks!
★★★★
Made this tonight, it was delicious! A bit too much milk for us, but even with that it was a keeper!
★★★★★
Well I fixed the soup and my family loved it ! Thanks
Thanks for letting us know!!!
Oh–your picture has a can of cream of chicken but it’s not listed in the recipe or instructions.
Thanks for this! My current tortilla soup recipe uses Velveeta which creeps me out.