Creamy Dairy Free Chicken Tortilla Soup
This creamy tortilla soup is warm, filling and dairy free. Serve with your favorite toppings like avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips or black olives.
I’ve been mostly dairy free for several years now. Mostly out of necessity, because it gives me migraines. Currently, I’m nursing a baby with a dairy protein sensitivity and I have to be super careful to avoid all sources of dairy.
I’ve gotten pretty good at finding dairy free substitutes and even just going without it. But I do miss it. Sometimes, even when you’re used to a special diet, you get a strong craving for something you absolutely can not have. I won’t cheat because the price just isn’t worth it. Not only will I likely be in pain for an entire day, but my baby will break out in a painful rash that lasts a couple of weeks. So as much as I lack willpower in other areas regarding food, I can’t afford to be weak here.
If you’re dairy free like me and craving a deliciously creamy soup, my lucky reader, I have you covered!
I can not express to you how excited I am about this recipe. It’s 100% dairy free and ohhhh so satisfyingly creamy and delicious. It was kind of a happy accident. I messed up the texture of the soup so I experimented with the blender and boy, I’m glad I did. Sometimes the stars align and a recipe comes out so perfect on the first try – whether it’s from my mad skills or total happenstance. Whatever, I’ll take it! This Creamy Dairy Free Chicken Tortilla Soup will rock your world! Promise!
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Ingredients
Dairy Free Chicken Stock
You can buy chicken stock in a carton, which can get a bit pricey. You also will rarely use the whole carton so some of it might go to waste. I hate wasting food so I use Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base.
Here’s the thing. If you buy this in a regular grocery store, it’s not dairy free. However, they make an organic version that is! It’s more expensive and you might have to order it online, unless you get it at Costco. I stock up at Costco so I never run out. I’ve loved this stuff for years and when I figured out it had dairy in it and I had to find something else, I was so sad. But then I discovered the organic one is dairy free. Hooray!
Just make it according to the directions on the jar and you’re good to go.
Tip: you don’t have to mix up the entire amount of stock before adding to a recipe. You can add water to the recipe and then mix the amount of bouillon you need into a small amount of warm water, then add that too. It will all come together the same way in the end.
Garlic
I heart garlic. I use it in almost everything, in some form. When I discovered Costco for the first time, I had never given much thought to buying things in bulk before. We have a small family so I thought I didn’t need to. I assumed it would be wasteful. Boy, was I wrong. I have a post coming soon about how to buy in bulk for a small family, so make sure you’re subscribed and won’t miss it!
I bought a giant jar of minced garlic from Costco and I use it all the time. It’s such a time saver too. There are plenty of fiddly things I don’t mind doing in the kitchen, but peeling garlic is not my favorite. I’d much rather skip that step if I can.
Bell Pepper
I’ve made this soup two ways. The first was with a whole, fresh bell pepper. The second was with about 1/3 cup roasted red bell pepper from a jar. The flavor was pretty close either way, so you can just use whatever you prefer. Fresh ingredients are always better for you, but sometimes a little added convenience is nice.
Making the Soup
You’ll need a crockpot and a blender for this recipe. Here’s my two favorites.
How to Serve
There’s several toppings you can use on this soup. Just use whatever sounds good! Some of my favorites are:
- avocado
- black olives
- crushed tortilla chips
- fresh cilantro
- chopped red onion
- dairy free sour cream
- dairy free shredded cheese
- fresh diced tomato
Creamy Dairy Free Chicken Tortilla Soup
Equipment
- Crockpot
- Blender
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves - minced or pressed
- 1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 14.5oz can Rotel fire roasted tomatoes and green chilies
- 2 15oz cans pinto beans - drained, rinsed and separated
- 3 cups frozen corn - divided in half
- 1 red bell pepper - seeded and chopped
- 3 green onions - including white bulb, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- ½ to 2 tsp chili powder - depending on how spicy you want the soup to be
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
Optional toppings
- avocado
- black olives
- tortilla chips
- cilantro
- dairy free sour cream
Instructions
- Pour chicken stock into crockpot.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Sauté garlic and green onion, just a little bit until the garlic is fragrant and starting to brown slightly.
- To the crockpot, add garlic and green onions, Rotel, diced tomatoes, bell pepper and one half of the pinto beans.
- Add cumin, chili powder, paprika and black pepper to the crockpot. Give everything a good stir.
- Add chicken breasts and nestle them down to cover them as much as possible.
- Cook on low for 5 hours.
- Remove chicken breasts and set aside on a cutting board.
- Working in small batches, ladle remaining soup into blender and blend until smooth.
- Add the blended soup to a large bowl as you finish each batch. Once you finish blending, add the soup back to the crockpot.
- Add in remaining corn and pinto beans.
- Shred chicken with a fork and add it back to the crockpot.
- Cook on low for 1 more hour.
- Taste the soup and add salt if needed.
- Garnish with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
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That sounds wonderful!
You really should give it a try!