Gimme Some Oven

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

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Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 66 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 2 to 3 cups (about 1 pound) shredded cooked chicken
  • 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) enchilada sauce, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with their juices
  • 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup masa harina
  • 8 ounces freshly-grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
  • optional toppings: tortilla chips/strips, diced avocado, extra shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro, or pico de gallo

Instructions

  1. Sauté the veggies. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
  2. Simmer. Add the chicken stock, cooked chicken, enchilada sauce, black beans, tomatoes, green chiles, cumin and stir to combine. Continue cooking the soup until it reaches a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer.
  3. Mix in the masa harina. Ladle out 2 cups of the hot broth into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup. Add the masa harina and whisk until combined. Add the mixture back to the hot soup and stir until combined.
  4. Add the cheeses. Add the cheeses and stir until melted and evenly combined. Taste and season the soup with salt and pepper as needed.
  5. Serve. Serve warm, garnished with lots of your favorite toppings.

Notes

Source: Recipe inspired by the amazing chicken enchilada soup from Chili’s.

Update: Recipe updated slightly in 2022.

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321 comments on “Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup”

  1. Made this tonight and enjoyed it very much!  Needed a bit more kick for me so added a bit of ground up chipotles to my bowl!  Definitely a great meal to warm you up during colder times!

  2. I ADORE Tex-Mex foods, so I am LOVING (and drooling!) looking at all these recipes! Thanks! I’m quite a ways north, we don’t have a huge Mexican population here, therefore not much for authentic ingredients (99% of people here just use Old El Paso mixes & whatnot, lol). I’m going to try making your Enchilada Sauce (I bet it would be delicious seasoning for ground beef tacos!), and a few of the other recipes here …. I have made a Mexican-style Chicken soup, I hated to call it Chicken Fajita soup, because I didn’t like it with the strips of tortillas as the recipe called for. I’ve made it the totally from-scratch way, then I did it SUPER-lazy once too — I bought precut & precooked chicken breast from Coscto, threw in a drained can of black beans, 2 drained cans of peaches & cream corn, the chicken, 3 cans chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes & 2-3 cups mild salsa, a can of diced green chilis,diced onions, then some cumin, chili powder & salt & pepper & let it cook for 3-4 hours on high… OMG to die for just like that! To serve, though I placed some chopped sweet bell peppers in the bowl first then topped with the soup, (to keep the peppers nice & crisp, I hate soggy peppers) topped that with shredded cheddar, then a dollop of sour cream & salsa. Served with rainbow-corn taco chips, to scoop out melty bits of cheese, salsa & sour cream along with some of the soup… no polite way to eat it, LOL. I made an assembly line on my counter with tupperware bowls to freeze it in individual portions. It is SO yummy! I’m not a fan of cilantro, so I just omit it.
    I’m going to go drool over more of your pictures now hahaha GREAT BLOG!

    • Thanks for your sweet words Erin, we’re so happy you’re digging the blog! And your chicken fajita soup sounds SO yummy!! :D

  3. Thank you for this AMAZING recipe! This is such a great copycat recipe! I used store bought enchilada sauce, I added the chili powder (1/2 tsp) as suggested, was missing that “zing” for us, so I also added roughly a 1/2 tsp of tacos seasoning. Worked like a charm! Appreciate all of your delicious recipes. Happy 2016…. keep the greatness coming! 

    • You’re so welcome Kendall, we’re happy you enjoyed this! Happy 2016 to you as well! :D

  4. Hello, I appreciate this might not be a normal question, but do you know how long this keeps in the fridge? I know that flavours usually deepen and get richer over time, so I assume it won’t be a bad thing to have left over? In my house we are likely to hev leftovers however, so how do you reccomend storing this? And for how long?

    • Hey Ellie! We think this should keep best in the fridge, in some tupperware (cheesy things don’t fare as well in the freezer). We think it’ll probably be good for 5-7 days. We hope you enjoy!

  5. I made this last week, using your enchilada sauce recipe.  I used 2 T Simply Organic brand chili powder, and the enchilada sauce was dark brown which in turn made the soup look like brown sludge, to be honest.  Nothing like the appetizing orangey-red in your photo.  Fortunately, it tasted better than it looked   If I I made this again, I think I’d leave out the cheese and just top each individual bowl with either that, or a generous spoonful of sour cream.  I might add some frozen corn, too.

    I used unsalted chicken broth, and added 1/2 tsp of salt and it was almost too salty for my taste so I would encourage everyone to watch how much they add.  I probably won’t be making this again because of the unappetizing color, but I would not discourage anyone else from trying it themselves.   

    • Thanks for taking the time to share this with us Mari. The sauce tends to turn out that color for us most of the time too (it’s more red in the photos because of the lighting and the way it was shot). Also, some chili powders are more red and some are more brown. If you still like the taste but are just off the color, some people like to add tomato sauce and/or paste to this, and have had great results (taste and color-wise). We hope you’ll find this helpful!

  6. Hilary, can I use corn flour instead of masa harina?

  7. Awesome soup!! Followed exactly, with homemade enchilada sauce, tasted amazing!

  8. Do you have any other gluten free flour suggestions for this recipe.  It looks wonderful!

    • Hi Kathy! If you use pure masa marina, it’s gluten-free. If you’re using another type of corn flour, just make sure it’s gf, same with your stock. Otherwise, you should be good! We hope this helps and that you enjoy!

  9. Tried this out yesterday with leftover rotisserie chicken. Glad you had the enchilada sauce recipe linked because I forgot to grab some from the store. Used Rotel tomatoes with green chiles and added a small can of corn that the roommate had laying around. The flavor wasn’t quite what I was looking for until I added a small can of tomato sauce – then it was perfect. Thanks for the recipe!

  10. I LOVE this soup!  The homemade enchilada sauce is so good.  MUCH better than store-bought.  This soup has great flavor and textures.  Thanks so much for sharing it.  It’s definitely one I make again and again.  

  11. Made this today with mild green Chiles and my family loved it. My 10 year old helped mix and prep everything and my 4 year old and 3 year old helped too. And they all ate it! Including my picky husband. Thank you for the recipe it is a keeper!! Will add it to my collection. 
    Do you know if it freezes well? 

    • We’re so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed this Cala! We think you could try and freeze this soup, but it’s not ideal because of the cheese.

  12. Can I sub anything for the corn flour? We have an allergy in my family?

  13. This soup is SOO good!!  My kids and I loved it!  Only thing I added to original  recipe is a can of drained Mexican corn. Thank you for a great recipe :)

  14. If using arrowroot as a substitute, as mentioned earlier due to an allergy, should I use the same amount of recommended for Masa Harina, 1/2 C?

  15. This looks so amazing! My husband and I absolutely love Chili’s and we always get bottomless chips and salsa and queso and their chicken enchilada soup is my absolute favorite. I can’t wait to try this out!

  16. Is there some alternative for Masa Harina?

    • You could try chickpea flour or cornmeal (both will thicken, but the flavor won’t be quite the same).

  17. Can I use chickpea flour instead?

    • Hi Muzna! We haven’t tried chickpea flour in this, but we think you could give it a try!

  18. This soup is DELICIOUS!! ?.  I’ve made this many times!  I often make a double recipe of Oven Baked Fajitas for dinner one night then a few days later use the leftovers to make this soup!  Today I ran out of enchilada sauce so… I’ve got your homemade  Enchilada Sauce simmering on the stove!  Can’t wait to try it!  Thanks for great recipes!

    • Thanks Lisa — we’re so glad to hear you love it! We hope you enjoy the enchilada sauce as well! :)

  19. This looks delicious! I have some leftover home-made enchilada sauce, so I was looking for ways to use it up. I have a mainly vegetarian diet. Any suggestions for veggie alternatives to the chicken?

    • Thank you Fin — we hope you enjoy it! And hmmm, we would suggest adding more beans (maybe another can of black beans, or a can of pinto beans), and/or you could add some roasted sweet potato. We hope that helps!

  20. I have looked at countless stores in my city, but I cannot find masa harina. What would you recommend I substitute it for?

    • Hi Jennifer! You could try chickpea flour or cornmeal (both will thicken, but the flavor won’t be quite the same). We hope that helps!

  21. Boy this looks good!!!!!!will have to try it before I pin it .thanks

  22. HI Ali,

    Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!  I made it tonight and it was out of this world.  I’m pregnant and this hit all the right notes for me and my hubby loved it too.  I made the homemade enchilada sauce and it was so easy and wonderful.  

    Thank you!

    • We’re so happy you and your husband enjoyed this Betsy! Thanks for your sweet comment, and congrats on your pregnancy! :)

  23. OH MY GOD I literally just got done eating this soup not 10 minutes ago it is amazing ! I left out the onions, beans, tomatoes, chilies to make it more like the classic chilies soup ( and I used your enchilada sauce recipe I don’t think the soup would taste right with out it to be honest I also used your sauce to make enchiladas the other day and it’s the first time my mom has actually like my enchiladas since she hate the sauce I usually use lol ) mine didn’t come out the same color as yours but it was still as far as I can remember since they don’t have chilies in Oregon exactly like the soup. I was so afraid it would be another one of those copycats that wasn’t really the same but you seriously nailed it ! I might use a little bit more masa harina since mine didn’t come out as thick as I like it but wow A++ recipe !! Thank you so much for sharing !

    • Thanks for your sweet comment Sierra — we’re happy you loved this and we’re glad you enjoyed the enchilada sauce as well! All chili powders are a bit different, and the lighting we used when we shot that recipe made it look more red than it was, so as long as it tasted good, we wouldn’t worry! :)

  24. I just tried this recipe for the first time and it was SO delicious!  I used a rotisserie chicken and it made the prep time a whole lot quicker too. This is definitely going to be one of my favorite Fall/Winter go-to recipes!! Thanks so much, Gimme Some Oven! 

  25. If I left out the cheese (to add later), do you think I could freeze this soup? Love the recipe and looking for foods to freeze in preparation of our new baby’s arrival. 

    • Hi Sarah! Since you left out the cheese, we think this should be fine to freeze — we hope you enjoy, and congrats on your new baby! :)

  26. Made this tonight and it was delicious and very filling. It’s just me and my husband and we had enough leftovers for another meal. Also, I added corn to mine. I used regular diced tomatoes and mild green chilies and there was barely any spice. My husband can’t do spicy but I love it so next time I might up the spiciness!

  27. This was seriously delicious!!! I even made the homemade enchilada sauce. It really does taste like the soup that Chili’s makes….it’s a taste of America for us ex-pats living overseas. Thank you for both of the recipes.

  28. This is my favorite soup I’ve ever made. And I’ve never written a review/comment. Sig other took a bite and said “Woah.” Very quick and easy to make. Only thing I did differently was sautéed diced red pepper with the onion to add more veggies. I threw everything in a crock pot to keep warm until we were ready and melted the cheese in at the end. Great recipe!!

    • Wow, thank you so much for your sweet comment, Ashley! We’re thrilled that you loved this! :)

  29. Hi.  I am having a party and am makes my three different soups in slow cookers.  I think your 20 min chicken enchilada soup looks amazing, , but do you think it would be okay to make per directions and then put on warm in crock pot for serving?

    I like the cheesy version.

    Thank you,  

    Chelcey

  30. Hi.  Me, again.

    Would it also work to make your 20 min version in the crock pot and just add cheese closer to party.  I am not sure how the masa harina will work but n a crock pot.

    Thanks,

    Chelcey

    • Hi Chelcey! We haven’t tried this particular recipe in the crockpot, so we can’t say for sure, but we think it should work!

  31. Sounds so good and easy to make.

  32. I saw someone mention that the macros and calories were listed, but I don’t see those anywhere. Would you mind providing those?

    • HI Kelly! We’re sorry but we are unsure of the nutrition facts/amount of calories in this recipe. We currently don’t publish nutrition facts on the site, as the nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. We’re also not familiar with macros. However, a lot of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. We hope that helps!

  33. This was seriously such a good recipe!! It was spicy, warm, and delicious. I actually didn’t put cheese in it (forgot to buy it) and it is still really delicious! Great recipe, will be making it again soon!

  34. So so yummy and easy! Very impressive.

  35. Wow! I love your soups. They looks taste well. Yummy!!!

  36. This is soup is one of the top 10 best things I’ve ever made…..and top 10 easiest!

  37. We just had this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for such a quick and tasty recipe!

  38. I made this today and it was YUMMY.  I didn’t add cheese today but will tomorrow.   Thanks for sharing.

  39. Made this a few months ago and it was delicious! However, I froze half of it and now trying to figure out the best way to add a little more liquid once defrosted (its much more of a stew at this point, after some of the ingredients soaked up the liquid). Any suggestions?

    • We’re so happy you enjoyed it, Amanda! :) Once defrosted, we would just add some chicken stock and/or water to whatever pot you reheat this in (to whatever your desired consistency is). We hope this helps!

  40. Can this be done in the slow cooker? If so, how would you recommend preparing it? Thanks in advance!!

    • Hi Alessandra! We actually have a slow cooker enchilada soup recipe here: We hope you enjoy! :)

  41. OMG I made this the other night and it was so yummy my husband loved it !! Will defennitly make it agin I did double the recipe just because I was not sure and we had a bunch left over. So I will know next time not to double. But it was so yummy thank you for sharing 

    • Thanks for sharing, Nikki — we’re so glad you and your husband enjoyed this!

  42. Great recipe! I didn’t use masa harina but 1 tbsp wheat flour instead. I also made enchilada souce and it’s  good. I will try other your soup recipes! 

  43. This soup is amazing!! I made it in my crockpot. I just chopped my onion and threw it in. I added the masa and cheese about thirty minutes before serving. I added a couple more cups of chicken stock. I think I can skip Chili’s next time now ?






  44. You have listed 1/2 cup of masa harina in the recipe but the directions don’t say what to do with it. Where does it go?

  45. This looks great and super easy to make. However, my son is a very picky water and won’t eat anything that has tomato pieces in it (sauce is ok). Is there a way to make this without the diced tomatoes?

  46. Made this recipe tonight, used regular corn flour. It was delicious! My boyfriend really liked it as well!

  47. One of my top favorite soup recipes—definitely make the sauce yourself!






  48. Can’t get enough. So good it has become a favorite and it is considered a treat when I prepare this. Thank you for such a great recipe!!!!






  49. This soup is so amazing. I absolutely love it and plan on making it again when it gets colder.






  50. I am thinking of adding a can of Mexicorn, any thoughts?