Healthy recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla soup! Using lean chicken breast, black beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, green chiles, jalapeño, corn, and more. Best served with fresh toppings - like sour cream + avocado + crisped tortilla strips!
SAUTÉ ONION: Turn your instant pot onto the sauté function, and sauté the onion in avocado oil until it has begun to soften. Then hit the “Cancel” button to turn it off. Move quickly to next step to avoid burning the onions.
FILL UP POT: Add all remaining ingredients to the pot (except the chicken breasts and the frozen corn, if using) and stir until well combined. Add in the chicken breasts, one at a time, being careful not to go over the ⅔ fill line marking on the side of the pot. Only add in as much as will fit under that line. If using the corn, you may only be able to fit 2 large chicken breasts or 3 small. If you really want to do both the corn AND 4 chicken breasts, just leave the corn out for now - let the corn thaw while the soup cooks and add it at the very end. The heat from the soup will thaw it completely, but it’s very important to not overfill the pot during the pressure cooking process.
TURN ON TO PRESSURE COOK: Secure the lid into place and make sure the steam release handle is in the Sealing position. Press “Pressure Cook” and use the + and – buttons to set it to 5 minutes. It can take 35+ minutes to reach pressure. When you hear the notification that it has reached temperature and then the notification that it has finished its 5 min cook time, click “cancel” to turn it off (or unplug it completely). Natural release (leave the pot alone) for 10-15 minutes before quick releasing the remaining pressure.
CUT + SHRED THE CHICKEN: When the pressure has fully released, remove the lid and take the chicken breasts out of the pot. Move them to a cutting board and run your knife once lengthwise down the chicken breast. Then, using two forks, shred it into large chunks and return chicken to the pot. Stir until well combined.
ADD TOPPINGS + SERVE: Serve with your choice of toppings – our favorite are toaster-oven crisped tortilla strips, a dollop of Greek yogurt, and a dash of Cholula hot sauce. Store in lidded containers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
*depending on size and how many chicken breasts you are using, I can usually fit four chicken breasts and three medium sized bell peppers before hitting the max fill line. And if I want to use the frozen corn in addition to the full amount of chicken and other vegetables, I will add it in at the very end after the rest has cooked.HOW TO MAKE CRISPY TORTILLA STRIPS: I cut mine with a knife or a pair of scissors into 1" wide strips that are about 2-3" long, then I lay them out directly onto the rack in a toaster oven and toast them until golden and crisped. Stay close by while you toast these, since they are so small they can go from toasted to burnt very quickly (especially the smaller pieces).CHOPPED VS. SHREDDED CHICKEN: I have just shredded it before but the pieces are often the entire width of the chicken breast. Meaning they don’t sit nicely or fit onto a spoon-sized bite. If you chop them into pieces (which if you like a chunkier, meatier soup texture you could) and then shred them, the chicken shreds will fit easily onto your spoon. Making for less messy, and (more importantly) quicker eating.LEFTOVERS TIP: The chicken tends to absorb the broth throughout the week, while this doesn’t affect the texture of the chicken (quite the opposite, it actually helps keep the chicken moist and tender) it can affect the broth to chunky ingredients ratio towards the end of the week. So to combat this, if I notice towards the end of the week that the broth amount has started thinning I will add a splash of chicken broth to add volume back to the soup. A little pinch of salt and dash of Cholula (or if you don’t like spice then a squeeze of lime or lemon) will restore any flavor imbalances from the added liquid.