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This easy Whole30 chicken tortilla-less soup is so full of incredible flavor, you won’t even mind the lack of tortillas! It’s quick and easy to make, and delightfully perfect for chilly evenings. Hearty, creamy, and made with your ideal amount of heat, not to mention Whole30-compliant, paleo-friendly, and naturally low carb. Both Instant Pot and slow cooker versions included!
For Our Non-Whole30 Readers
Looking for a more-traditional chicken tortilla soup, without any special ingredients or dietary considerations? Check out our recipe for Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup!
🍲 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- It’s crazy easy – throw (almost) everything in the Instant Pot, cook for about 18 minutes, dice your chicken, then add the remaining ingredients. You’ll have a complete meal on the table in no time, and with very little effort!
- It’s creamy, filling, and spicy, making it a great one-dish meal and perfect for cold weather. You can even meal prep this Mexican soup ahead of a busy week! I love having access to this delicious soup for a quick lunch.
- It’s also low carb and keto-friendly, with only 8 grams of net carbs per serving! This Whole30 Instant Pot chicken tortilla-less soup fits a variety of diets. It’s just about as healthy as a soup can get!
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- If not on a Whole30, feel free to add some shredded cheese in there if you’d like! You can also enjoy this with a side of tortilla chips for a tasty crunch.
- Get creative with this recipe and make it your own! Stir in some spinach, kale, or chard for extra greens. You can even replace the chicken with about a pound of browned and drained ground beef!
- If you have a coconut allergy, replace the coconut milk with cashew cream. To do this, blend 1 cup of raw cashews with ¾ cup water in a high-speed blender until smooth. This coconut-free option is also Whole30 compliant!
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
🥘 Other Recipes You’ll Love
- Mexican Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (Instant Pot, Whole30, Paleo)
- Whole30 Breakfast Tacos
- Healthy Zuppa Toscana (Whole30, Paleo, Dairy Free)
- Paleo Lime Bars (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
- Instant Pot Bone Broth That Gels (Whole30 Bone Broth)
- 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken
- Whole30 White Chicken Chili
- Easy Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy (Whole30, Paleo, Low Carb)
- Healthy Chicken Tostadas
- Whole30 Tzatziki (Paleo, Keto, Dairy Free)
- Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole with Eggs and Sausage (Whole30, Dairy Free, Gluten Free)
- Paleo Carbonara with Palmini
- Instant Pot Chicken Carnitas
- Whole30 Gyro Meatballs
Whole30 Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla-Less Soup (Paleo, Low Carb)
This Whole30 Instant Pot chicken tortilla-less soup is full of flavor and so easy to make! Super quick and filling, this Mexican soup is creamy, spicy, healthy, and low carb.
servings
Equipment
- Large plate
- Instant Pot
- Large wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- Tongs
- Cutting board
- large chef's knife or 2 forks, to shred chicken
Ingredients
For the Chicken Tortilla-less Soup
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts equally thick, approximately 8-10 ounces each
- salt to taste
- 2 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 1 14.5-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup chopped onion approximately 1 medium onion; any color
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1-3 teaspoons chipotle pepper powder see Notes
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 medium zucchini approximately 6-8 ounces each; chopped or cut into ½-inch half moons
- 1 14-ounce can unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk whisked until smooth, see Notes
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- fresh avocado slices
- thinly sliced red onions
- chopped fresh cilantro
- fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Place 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts on large plate. Sprinkle salt over both sides of each chicken breast, then place chicken breasts in Instant Pot insert.
- Add 2 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles, 1 14.5-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth, 1 cup chopped onion, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1-3 teaspoons chipotle pepper powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoons dried oregano, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and 2 medium zucchini to Instant Pot and gently stir to incorporate ingredients.
- Secure lid on Instant Pot with valve in Sealing position. Set Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure for 18 minutes. Instant Pot will pressurize, then cook time will begin.
- When cook time ends, Natural Release pressure for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately and carefully Quick Release remaining pressure and remove lid from Instant Pot.
- Transfer chicken breasts to cutting board and set aside.
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add 1 14-ounce can unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk to Instant Pot and stir to incorporate.
- Dice chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, or shred chicken breasts to small pieces. Once all chicken has been diced or shredded, return chicken to Instant Pot and stir to incorporate.
- Portion soup into serving bowls. If desired, top each serving with fresh avocado slices, thinly sliced red onions, chopped fresh cilantro, and fresh lime juice, then serve hot.
Video
- Chipotle Pepper Powder: The amount you use will affect the overall heat of the soup. Use 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder for a mild soup, up to 3 teaspoons for a hot soup.
- Coconut Milk: If you don’t like or can’t use coconut milk, replace it with cashew cream to maintain the creamy consistency of the soup.
To Make This Soup in the Slow Cooker
- Add all ingredients except coconut milk to slow cooker in the order listed above. Stir to incorporate.
- Set slow cooker to LOW heat for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH heat for 4 hours.
- After 6 hours on LOW or 3 hours on HIGH, check chicken doneness with internal meat thermometer. When chicken reaches 160° Fahrenheit internally, remove chicken from slow cooker and set aside 5 minutes.
- Add coconut milk to slow cooker and stir to incorporate.
- Dice or shred chicken, then return chicken to slow cooker. Stir to incorporate, then portion soup into serving bowls.
- Garnish soup as desired and serve hot.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Serving Size: 1 serving without garnishCalories: 453calProtein: 34gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 22gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 444mgPotassium: 1431mgTotal Carbs: 21gFiber: 6gSugar: 11gNet Carbs: 15gVitamin A: 1081IUVitamin C: 36mgCalcium: 115mgIron: 5mg
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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I’ve made this soup three times already on my Whole30! It’s smazing!!! One of my favorite recipes.
It’s a snow day here, and I don’t think I have coconut milk… could I add more chicken broth? If so, how much? I’m guessing roughly the equivalent of the can of coconut milk but I wanted to check. This sounds delicious. Thank you!
Do you have almond milk? You could try replacing the coconut milk with that – maybe using 1/4-1/2 cup less since it’s much thinner. It won’t be quite as creamy but still a bit more than just plain chicken broth. Plain chicken broth would work, too, though! Again, I’d use 1/4-1/2 cup less
OK, thank you! I do have almond milk, but – hah – it’s vanilla unsweetened, so not sure how the vanilla would do… it looks like extra chicken broth for me. Thanks!
This is an excellent recipe! Instead of using boneless, skinless chicken breast, I doubled all the ingredients and I used a whole chicken. It worked so well. I had never used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I bought a can of whole peppers in adobo sauce and just dumped the whole can in. I broke up the peppers in the soup before I ate them. Yum!
Sounds so delicious, Jill! I adore chipotle peppers but they can be so hot! Was the soup not too spicy with that many peppers? Sounds so smoky and rich!
What Whole 30 compliant chipotles in Adobo did you find and use? I have checked like a dozen brands and they ALL have something non-compliant in them (either sugar or soybean oil usually). I have a few recipes I would LOVE to make for Whole 30 that use them (including this one!) but can’t find them anywhere!
It can be SO hard to find compliant chipotle peppers in adobo. I’ve seen some at Whole Foods but nowhere else. Try there! Otherwise you’ll have to stick with chipotle pepper powder ? someone needs to make a readily available brand!!
How many servings does this make?
It makes approximately 4-6 servings, depending on the bowl
I made this tonight for the first time and it was delicious !!!! Hubby loved it, too!! Thamks for sharing!!
I’m sooo glad you liked it!
I was googling paleo soups and found this , sounds awesome. i bought everything and just printed out the recipe and just noticed it says to use an instant pot. ugh lol i missed that totally. do you think i could prepare stove top with similar results? any suggestions would be appreciated. cant believe i missed that part.
thanks so much
Here’s what I would do: bake the chicken ahead of time and then cut it into bite-sized pieces. Combine everything on the stovetop and simmer until zucchini is cooked through. That should be all you need to do!
What is adobe sauce? Is it the same thing as the adobo sauce the chipotle peppers are in? Thanks!
Yes! Keep in mind though that if you’re on a whole30, you’ll have to try and find a compliant brand. Otherwise follow the note with chipotle powder ?
I found the exact brand you linked to at my local Walmart. I did notice the sugar but I think it’s minute enough where it won’t matter. Just my personal opinion. I making this tomorrow and I can’t wait! Thanks for the fast reply! 🙂
This soup is delicious! I forgot to add the coconut milk and it was still great. We’re not doing the Paleo/Whole 30 diet so we added a bit of sour cream, shredded cheddar and tortilla chips.
I’m soo glad you liked it!
This soup is amazing! It’s the first thing I ever made in my Instant Pot last week. So tasty and super easy to make. My dad who despises coconut actually ate it and enjoyed it a lot! However, I’m making it again today for some family friends, one of which is a pretty fussy eater and will not eat it if he knows there’s coconut in it. Is it okay to substitute it with heavy cream? Also, I have a 6 quart and since I’m feeding it to more people this time, do you think doubling the recipe be okay? I’m worried my pot might be too small for that.
I’m SO glad you all have liked it! You could definitely substitute heavy cream for the coconut milk, and I do think it’ll all fit in the 6QT. I’m not 100% sure but I think it will, at least from how high up I remember it going otherwise 🙂 You could always transfer everything to a regular pot after cooking before adding in the cream, but since you’re not sealing things back up, you don’t have to worry about going higher than the max level after adding the cream 🙂