Chicken or turkey tortilla soup
This spicy tortilla soup recipe is made with chicken or turkey, cilantro, onions, garlic, jalapeños, tomatoes, spices, poultry stock, and lime juice. This soup is served topped with monterrey jack cheese or queso fresco, tortilla chips, and avocado.
Tortilla soup is usually made with chicken; however it’s very easy to also make it with turkey, and especially during the holiday season it’s a great way to use any Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. My uncle Clarence makes the best chicken tortilla soup. This is his family recipe – which I’ve slightly adapted using leftover cooked turkey or chicken.
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In his original recipe, he has a regular version and a “wild stuff” version of tortilla soup. The “wild stuff” version doubles the amount of cayenne pepper and uses the jalapeños with seeds/membranes included. I’ll let you decide which version you prefer, the regular one is spicy enough to make you feel it, without bringing tears to your eyes. Also, you can always add additional lime juice to help lower the spiciness level.
I used store-bought chicken stock for this recipe, however you can also make turkey stock from the turkey bones if you want extra turkey flavor. The base for this soup is what it gives it flavor: onions, cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, spices and tomatoes.
It’s best if the tomatoes are peeled, this way you won’t end up with pieces of tomato skin in the soup. An easy way to peel the tomatoes for this soup – or for any other recipe where you need peeled tomatoes – is to make a cross cut on the top the tomato.
Bring a pot of water to boil, add the tomatoes to the boiling water, remove them from the hot water as soon as you see the skin start to peel off where you made the cut, and put them in cold water. Then you can easily peel the tomato skin off. Ripe tomatoes will peel very quickly, while the firmer ones might take up to a minute or two in the boiling water before they start peeling.
Must-have garnishes for tortilla soup include grated or shredded monterrey jack cheese (or queso fresco), tortilla chips, and avocado. I also like to add some additional fresh cilantro, green onions and lime.
Chicken or turkey tortilla soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbs oil light olive oil, peanut or sunflower oil
- 1 ½ cup diced white or yellow onion
- 1 bunch of green onions finely chopped
- 1 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
- 2 jalapeños seeds removed (or not if you want the wild stuff version), diced
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tbs paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper double for wild stuff version
- 1 tsp sugar
- 6 roma tomatoes peeled and diced, about 2 cups
- 2 cups of turkey or chicken stock
- 2 cups of tomato juice
- 4 cups of shredded cooked turkey or chicken
- Juice from1 to 2 limes about 1/4 to ½ cup- adjust to taste or just serve with lime on the side
- Salt and pepper to taste
Garnishes:
- Grated monterrey jack cheese or queso fresco tortilla chips, avocado, cilantro, green onions and lime slices
Instructions
- Heat the oil in large pot, add the onions, green onions, cilantro, jalapeños, crushed garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add the turkey or chicken stock, tomato juice and shredded turkey. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the lime juice and remove from the heat.
- Serve garnished with the grated cheese, tortilla chips, avocado, cilantro, green onions and lime slices.
Step by step preparation photos for turkey or chicken tortilla soup
How many does this serve??
~ 6-8 people, more or less depending on the serving size
This soup is so delicious! My family, guests, and I couldn’t believe how wonderful it was. Everyone loved it. I made turkey stock from the carcass then picked off the meat from that and added some more leftover meat. I also made a vegetarian version for one person with the same sofrito and tomato juice but added vegetable broth and chicken-less strips. She loved it, too!
Found this recipe through Pinterest and it is fabulous. Changed the recipe to shredded chicken and it has become a weekly staple! I love this recipe, thanks for sharing!
Shared the leftovers with a co-worker the next day. He threw the spoon down in shock and awe at how good it was. Best chicken tortila soup I have evr have and I live in Southern CA where there is a mexican restaurant on every corner. Killer recipe. Thank you!
Made this for dinner. It was amazing. Great flavor. The avacado makes it. Will definately make again.
The food was smelling so good after the first 11 ingredients, that we just had to try it with a tortilla chip. My family of 4 decided that this needs to be remade for just pico & chips using the first 11 ingredients and the first 2 steps in the instructions. Just add the tomatoes & remove from the heat. Soup is super good and great as leftovers.
Laylita,
I am enjoying this wonderful and delicious soup! Perfect for the cold weather.
Thank you so much for your recipes. They make me and my family happy.
Always wanted to make Tortilla Soup. Made it today with the leftover turkey and wow this recipe was easy and delicious.
Thank you for sharing.
Laylita strikes again! I have been a fan for a while, but this is my first time posting. We literally just finished eating this, and my only regret is that I did not double the recipe so we could all have seconds! I took this recipe a step further and added a dollop of sour cream to my bowl, and, as my husband would say…riquisima! My suegra loved it, too!
My husband is from Guayaquil, and your site is where I go when I want to make him something special. Thanks for all you do and keep up the awesome work!
Hi Tamika – Thanks for the feedback, glad to hear you (and the suegra) liked it!
Very nice easy recipe. Turned out great & very fast & simple to make. I boiled a rotiseree chicken carcass with vegetables & whatever else I could find in the fridge all day to make a stock to add a PUNCH of flavor. Enjoy….