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Easy Chickenless Tortilla Soup

Courtney Crary

Easy Chickenless Tortilla Soup

This quick and easy protein-packed, plant-based tortilla soup is sure to be a new family favorite. Let the stove do all the work to make this vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free soup in 40 min or less. Filled with beans, crunchy corn, slightly spicy green chiles, fragrant cumin, and topped with cilantro, jalapeno slices, crispy tortilla chips, and creamy avocado. Keep reading beneath the recipe card for info on how to make this recipe in your slow cooker!

Easy Chickenless Tortilla Soup

Easy Chickenless Tortilla Soup

Yield: 4
Author:
prep time: 10 Mcook time: 30 Mtotal time: 40 M
This quick and easy protein-packed, plant-based tortilla soup is sure to be a new family favorite. Let the stove do all the work to make this vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free soup in 40 min or less. Filled with beans, crunchy corn, slightly spicy green chiles, fragrant cumin, and topped with cilantro, jalapeno slices, crispy tortilla chips, and creamy avocado. Keep reading beneath the recipe card for info on how to make this recipe in your slow cooker!

ingredients:

For the Soup
  • 2 15oz cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 4oz cans diced green chiles
  • 2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
  • 34oz low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 large red onion, diced
  • 7 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1 large lime, juice of
  • 1 Tbsp cumin
  • 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • salt and pepper, to taste
For the Garnishes (all are optional)
  • cilantro
  • jalapeno, thinly sliced
  • vegan sour cream or plain yogurt 
  • tortilla chips
  • lime wedges
  • radishes, thinly sliced

instructions:

How to cook Easy Chickenless Tortilla Soup

  1. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until they become translucent.
  2. Add the cumin and garlic. Saute for a few more minutes, until garlic is fragrant. Use about 1/4 cup vegetable broth to deglaze the pan (use the liquid to scrape off any charred bits stuck to the bottom of the pan).
  3. Add the beans, tomatoes, diced chiles, corn, and vegetable broth. Stir to combine.
  4. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered, for 20-30 minutes.
  5. Add the fresh lime juice and nutritional yeast. Stir to combine, then add salt to taste.
  6. Serve with your choice of garnishes and enjoy!

NOTES:

To keep this whole food, plant-based, use homemade tortilla chips and plain vegan yogurt as a garnish (I make my own in my Instant Pot).

Calories

453.12

Fat (grams)

6.31

Sat. Fat (grams)

1.98

Carbs (grams)

82.63

Fiber (grams)

8.53

Net carbs

74.10

Sugar (grams)

17.28

Protein (grams)

25.05

Sodium (milligrams)

973.88

Cholesterol (grams)

2.63
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About the recipe:

My grandparents used to own a home on the beach in Baja, Mexico.  We spent many winter weeks throughout the years enjoying the warm weather, life-filled oceans, and desert scenery outside their front door.  My grandmother picked up this recipe from their neighbors and it quickly became a family favorite. It was our cold-weather staple and was always served on Christmas Eve as an easy post-church meal.  

Her version is chicken based (hence the title) and LOADED with cubed cheese, then topped with sour cream. After I went WFPB, I knew I needed to find a way to keep her recipe in my life. To veganize it, I swapped out the chicken for a mild-flavored bean, traded the chicken broth for vegetable stock, and subbed my homemade vegan sour cream (which is just Instant Pot-made soy yogurt that’s been strained) for the dairy products.  The result is a soup that is vegan, lower in sodium and fat, but is still creamy, rich in flavor, and potently nostalgic. This recipe continues to be one of our family staples, keeping us warm and cozy through the winter.

This soup is healthiest when you make the tortilla chips from scratch, since store bought chips always come loaded with oil and salt. Vegan sour cream makes this soup even more decadent, but again, it’s best to make it at home so you don’t end up with a weird, oil-filled vegan “food product". Alternatively, you can use a plain, unsweetened vegan yogurt.

This is one of those soups that depends on its garnishes for texture and flavor, so go crazy!

RECIPE NOTES:

Ready to snuggle up with your own bowl? Great! Let’s talk recipe notes.

  1. Because we’ve eliminated the chicken, you can safely eat this soup as soon as it’s hot! However, it’s best if you simmer it for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together.

  2. Want to make this in a Crock-Pot? No problem! Just saute your onions, cumin, and garlic in a pan on the stove (remember to deglaze the pan to get all those delicious caramelized flavors off the pan and into the pot!), then add them to your Crock-pot along with the broth, corn, chiles, beans, and tomatoes. Set on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours and head out the door. Add the lime juice and nutritional yeast when you get back, stir, serve, and garnish!

  3. You may be tempted to skip the garnishes to save some time. STOP AND RECONSIDER!! Sure, the soup will still taste good. But I want you to have the full experience of crunch, tang, spice, and creaminess that comes from the garnishes. So put in the extra 5 minutes to wash your cilantro, cut up and avocado, and sliver a jalapeno. I promise you won’t regret it!

  4. This soup (without the garnishes) will keep for up to a week in the fridge. It will also freeze well.

That’s all folks! I encourage you to gather your family around the table on one of these deep, dark, cold winter nights for this tradition-making soup.

Did you make this recipe?? I want to know! Tag me on Instagram @notlikemama. I love to see your versions of my recipes!

Happy Cooking,

✌️Courtney

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