Quick, Easy, and Healthy White Chicken Enchilada Soup
on Jan 12, 2014, Updated Aug 22, 2024
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Made with chicken, beans & corn, you can make this delicious soup in the oven, in a slow cooker, or in an Instant Pot! It is so easy to make on a busy day because there’s very little hands-on time.
The best part about this soup is that you can throw everything in a pan and bake it. Yes, a baked soup! There’s no need to stand over a stove stirring when the oven can do all the work for you. Just be sure to use an oven-safe pan!
This soup is awesome with a pieces of the best cornbread or a homemade buttermilk biscuit and a chef salad. You can also top this soup with a few extra ingredients, like avocado, green onions, or sour cream, to make it a bit more refreshing.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s quick and easy to make, especially on a busy weeknight. It’s the kind of recipe where you can dump everything in the pan and let it do most of the work for you.
- With chicken, beans, and corn, this soup is packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients. It’s a healthy and satisfying meal the whole family will enjoy.
- Customize this soup by adding toppings like sour cream, avocado, green onions, shredded cheese, jalapeños, salsa, or hot sauce to make it your own.
- By using canned or frozen ingredients, it’s easy to have everything on-hand for a last-minute dinner idea.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken: boneless skinless breasts or thighs work best
- Canned beans: small white, white kidney, and pinto beans are all good options
- Corn
- Onion
- Canned Hatch green chiles: these come in a range of spiciness so you can customize the level of heat in your soup
- Chicken broth
- Seasonings: you need some garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, and salt
- Toppings (optional): sour cream, avocado, sliced green onions, shredded cheese, jalapeños, salsa, hot sauce, corn chips
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Popular Substitutions
- Corn: This recipe calls for frozen corn but you could use 2 cans of corn or 2 cups of fresh sweet corn sliced off of a cob.
- Canned Hatch green chiles: If you don’t have Hatch chiles or can’t find them, you could use canned jalapeños or Anaheim chiles (also called California chiles).
- Chicken broth: You could substitute chicken stock or vegetable broth if needed.
How to Make White Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Step #1. Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Step #2. Add the chicken and all the other ingredients except the toppings into a Dutch oven.
- Step #3. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees or until chicken is fully cooked.
- Step #4. Serve hot garnished with toppings.
Recipe FAQs
Yep, but it may be a more time-consuming route because you have to break down the chicken. Also, I would add the chicken for the last 20 minutes of baking time because it only needs to be warmed up, not cooked.
You could use the hot Hatch green chiles, add a pinch or two of ground cayenne, or add some hot sauce. You could also serve the soup with a variety of hot sauces on the side so everyone can customize to their preferred heat level.
To make this soup vegetarian and vegan, leave out the chicken and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. You can also add an extra can of beans for extra protein and fiber.
Yep! As long as you check that all the ingredients you use are gluten-free. This recipe does not call for any flour, grains or anything that typically has gluten in it.
Freeze soup in a covered air-tight container or heavy-duty freezer bag. Properly stored, it will maintain best quality for about 4-6 months. Just thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat before serving.
Expert Tips
- This soup works great in a slow cooker! Throw everything in and cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Feel free to use any kind of beans that you like or have on hand.
- This soup freezes really well. Move it from the freezer to the refrigerator a couple days before and warm it up on a busy weeknight.
How I make white chicken enchilada soup in an Instant Pot?
Throw all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes (the chicken breasts or thighs can go in whole). You can do a quick pressure release or let it sit in the pot and do a natural pressure release, both work great. Then, remove the chicken from the pot once cooked and chop it up, add it back to the soup, and adjust your seasonings to taste before serving.
Side Dishes to Serve
- Sour Cream Cornbread
- Jumbo Dinner Rolls
- Skillet Cornbread
- Super Simple No-Knead Bread
- Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
- Chef Salad
More Soup Recipes to Consider
Soups, Stews & Chowders
White Chicken Chili
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Slow Cooker Veggie Beef Soup
15-Minute Recipes
Cornbread Waffles with Chili – 15 Minute Dinner Idea
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Texas Chili Recipe
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Quick, Easy, and Healthy White Chicken Enchilada Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cans beans, small white, white kidney, or pinto, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 can diced Hatch green chiles
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Optional toppings: sour cream, avocado, sliced green onions, shredded cheese, jalapeño slices, salsa, hot sauce, tortilla chips or strips
Instructions
- In a medium-sized, oven-safe pot or dutch oven with lid, add all the ingredients except the optional toppings and stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the dutch oven or pot and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve hot with optional toppings.
Notes
- This recipe works great with any kind of beans you like or have on-hand.
- Make this soup in your slow cooker by throwing everything into the cooker except the optional toppings and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- To cook this soup in an Instant Pot, put all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Then, you can either use a quick pressure release or let it sit in the pot and do a natural pressure release.
- This soup is best when served hot with cornbread or buttermilk biscuits.
We just got us a little dutch and this was the first recipe we made. It was so easy and so Yummy! Loved the recipe and the whole idea! Thanks Melissa!
Gosh, I wish the white chicken chili I made the other day looked 1/2 as good as your soup! This says comfort all the way!
This looks so delicious! I love how easy it is, thanks for sharing your recipe!
Baked soup?! Yum! I’m definitely trying this
Trying this one for dinner tomorrow 🙂 I’m going to try it with our leftover grilled chicken!
I cannot believe this is made in the oven! Genius, I tell ya.
Awww…thanks for the kind words Melissa! 🙂 But I have to say…baked soup….BRILLIANT! Why have I never thought of this. Thanks for inspiring me and for a delicious recipe.
YUM! I love enchiladas, so I’m sure turning them into a soup is just as amazing!
Ok, Melissa. You may have had me at the word “enchilada” and soup is just so high on my comfort food list right now so this is just a “win win”. But then you threw in the avocado?? I die. Pinning and so happy to be a part of this awesome series with you!