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This keto chicken tortilla soup is creamy, rich, a little spicy, and easy to make in about 30 minutes. Loaded with toppings like avocado and shredded cheese, this dish is super low in carbs but you won’t miss them at all – and neither will your family!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- This keto chicken tortilla soup recipe takes everything you love about a classic chicken tortilla soup, drops the tortillas, and makes it completely keto-friendly! If you’re low carb (as opposed to keto) and want that crunch, you can make your own tortilla strips from low carb tortillas and add them to your bowl.
- There is SO much flavor here! Zesty lime, fire-roasted tomatoes, sharp jalapeños, rich cream cheese, fresh onion and garlic. Each spoonful is better than the last.
- It’s already and easy recipe, but you can make it even easier by using shredded rotisserie chicken. Since rotisserie chicken’s already cooked, you can skip the step where you boil the chicken breasts. Just shred the rotisserie chicken and add it to the soup, letting it cook until it’s warmed through.
Key Ingredients
Chicken – No boring, bland boiled chicken here! The chicken in this soup is SUPER flavorful because we cook it in a mixture of onion, garlic, jalapeños, chicken broth, cumin, and tomatoes. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs would also work here, though the cooking time will change a little.
Cream Cheese – The creaminess comes from a block of rich, full-fat cream cheese. When you’re shopping for a cream cheese on keto, you want to avoid any that are high in carbs and any that have added sugars (or sugar alternatives that aren’t keto-friendly). Philadelphia’s original cream cheese is the best one I’ve found that meets all the criteria.
Fire-Roasted Tomatoes – I LOVE the flavor that fire-roasted tomatoes add to a dish. They’re exactly what they sound like – tomatoes that are roasted over a fire before they’re diced and canned. If you want to really cut down on the carbs in this soup, you can leave out the tomatoes, but just know that’ll change the overall flavor!
Chef’s Tips
- Don’t overcook the chicken in step 2! While the food-safe temperature for chicken is 165° Fahrenheit internally, keep in mind that the chicken will continue cooking a little as it rests. I like to remove the chicken when it reads around 160°-162° Fahrenheit so it ends up right where it needs to be.
- Shredding the cooked chicken is so, so easy. Did you know there’s 5 different methods you can use? Oh, yes. I wrote all about them in this post. My go-tos are the 2-forks method and the stand-mixer method.
- If you’re not big on hot flavors, you can adjust the “heat” in this recipe with the jalapeños! Use just one jalapeño and remove the seeds for a very mild flavor. Use 2 jalapeños with the seeds in for a more intense flavor.
- Looking for a more hands-off way to make your keto chicken tortilla soup? Check out the instructions for our Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup! Make sure you use the ingredients in this version, though, to keep it keto-friendly.
Try These Delicious Keto Recipes, Too
- Keto Carbonara
- Keto Stuffed Peppers
- Marry Me Chicken (Chicken in a Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce)
- Keto Chicken Pot Pie
- Baked Keto Empanadas
Keto Chicken Tortilla Soup
Equipment
- 1 Large pot
- shredding method of choice see Notes
- 1 Medium bowl
- 1 ladle
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or other neutral oil
- ½ of one medium white onion diced; or 1 small onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 jalapeños finely diced, see Notes
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened, see Notes
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts approximately 2-3 medium chicken breasts
- 2 limes juiced, plus wedges for garnish
- 1 ½-2 teaspoons salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped
- 1 large avocado optional, for topping; pitted, sliced
- shredded Monterey cheese optional, for topping; see Notes
Instructions
- Heat avocado oil in large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add onion and cook 2 minutes, until softened. After 2 minutes, add minced garlic and diced jalapeños. Cook 1 additional minute.
- Add chicken broth, cumin, and fire-roasted tomatoes to pot. Stir well and bring mixture to boil. When mixture begins to boil, reduce heat to simmer and add uncooked chicken breasts. Let chicken cook 20 to 25 minutes or until just cooked through, being careful not to overcook. Transfer cooked chicken to bowl or cutting board and let rest.
- Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred using method of choice (see Notes). Set aside. Place softened cream cheese in medium bowl. Note: if cream cheese is not already softened, microwave it for roughly 1 minute until softened but not melted or hot. Cream cheese must be softened before next step.
- Ladle a little hot soup over softened cream cheese in medium bowl. Whisk vigorously until mixture is smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pot and add lime juice, salt, black pepper, and fresh cilantro. Return shredded chicken to pot and stir well.
- Ladle soup into serving bowls. Top with avocado slices, cheese, additional jalapeños, sour cream, etc. as desired.
- To make this lower-carb, you can leave out the onions and the fire-roasted diced tomatoes. It will change the overall flavor of the soup, though.
- Jalapeños: For a milder flavor, use just one jalapeño and remove the seeds first. For an intense flavor, use two jalapeños with the seeds in.
- Cream Cheese: Philadelphia original cream cheese has the lowest carb count of any I’ve found. Feel free to use any cream cheese you like best, but be sure to look for one with the fewest carbs.
- Shredding Methods: Use your favorite of my 5 chicken shredding methods. I typically use the 2-forks method or the stand mixer method.
- Cheese: If you’re adding shredded cheese to your soup, use a block of cheese that you shred yourself! Prepackaged shredded cheese contains fillers and anti-clumping agents that add unnecessary carbs.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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Made this with boneless/skinless chicken thighs and a can of Rotel with green chili’s (instead of fire roasted tomatoes and Jalapeños). I put it in the crockpot on slow for 6 hrs and it was delicious! My kids and husband usually hate soup night but they absolutely loved this!!!
Yumm! We’re so glad it was a hit with the whole family! Thanks for sharing, Lisa. 😊
This came out super delicious! I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand, so used 1 cup heavy whipping cream instead which thickened a bit, once I added shredded mozzarella and pepper jack cheese. Juice of 1 lime instead of 2. I also added 1/3 cup green tomatillo salsa for a kick since didn’t have any jalapenos. Excellent, so tasty! Thank you for awesome recipe!!
Ooh, yum! Your additions sound delicious. Thanks for sharing, Gracie!
This recipe was absolutely delicious. I forgot to grab cilantro at the grocery store but it didn’t even need it. It was so flavorful and the jalapeno added the perfect amount of spice. I topped it with cheese, avocado and sour cream. Huge hit!
So glad you enjoyed it, Linisbel! Thanks for sharing!
This was fairly good. There was too much lime flavor for me so I’ll probably cut it to the juice of 1 lime, if I make it again. I feel that it could have used more seasoning, maybe some chili powder or taco seasoning. Without the beans and corn that are usually in chicken tortilla soup, it felt very brothy and like something was missing (because there was to make it keto friendly). I personally don’t follow a keto diet. I am a bariatric patient and while I have to eat high protein and low carb, I also have to eat low fat. The only change I made to make this recipe fit my requirements was to use reduced fat cream cheese.
Be sure to let us know if you try it again with those changes- they sound great! 😊
This was delicious. I used one lime. Also I like lots of veggies so added chayote and Mexican squash. I can eat cilantro so omitted that. Will definitely make again.
Yum- your additions sound delicious! Thanks for sharing, Tracey!
Thank you so much for this yummy recipe! I ended up adding a bag of the Mexican style riced cauliflower from Trader Joe’s to beef it up! Turned out awesome!
Ooh, yum! Thanks for sharing, Colleen!
Loved this soup! Do you think I could make thicker by using less chicken broth?
Sure! I’d reduce the chicken broth by 1 cup max. You could also let the soup simmer longer to reduce more of the liquid, or you could add more cream cheese. Draining the tomatoes before adding them to the soup will also help.
I’m curious, what is the serving size for this soup?
It makes approximately 4-6 servings depending on your preferred portion sizes. A serving would be either 1/4 or 1/6 of the total soup. We don’t provide an exact measurement or weight since soups cook down a little differently each time you make them. If you want to know the weight of one serving, prepare the soup as instructed, then weigh the prepared soup. Divide that amount by 4 or by 6 (depending on the number of servings you get with your preferred portion sizes) and you’ll have the weight of one serving.
Yummy, I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. Served with a salad for us and bread on the side for the kids and they loved it too.
So glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
This is the best soup I’ve ever made!!
We love it hear it! Thanks so much for the review, Paula!!
This was fantastic! We have a tortilla soup recipe that we’ve used for years but my husband is on a keto diet right now and this looked delicious. It was a breeze to make and was so good. Our 2, 4 & 6 year olds kept talking about how good it was during dinner. Thank you for another great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!