Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup

This easy enchilada soup in slow cooker with rotisserie chicken or fresh boneless skinless breasts is a healthy one pot meal we often make as a cheap leftover chicken breast recipe too.

Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup without Cream Cheese

I will focus on how to make this as one of our simple crockpot chicken recipes. BUT if you wanted to use a pot instead on your stove that is just as simple. I just think slow cooking is so much easier as I don’t have to pay attention to it at all during the day. NO worrying about boiling over for this method.

You only need a few things, it is really quite healthy. Need a vegetarian version of this?? NO problem, just use vegetable broth instead and leave out the meat entirely. It is still so good that even my kids rave about it when it’s served with these air fryer garlic rolls.

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Enchilada Soup with Frozen Chicken

Here is how you make this easy chicken enchilada soup. What I usually do is just throw it together in about 5 minutes on busy mornings and it cooks all day by itself. If I find poultry on sale and stock up I’ll use that because Crockpot frozen chicken even works fabulously well!

Ingredient Notes

You are going to want to start off with a few medium sized boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half or use pre cooked chicken like rotisserie or leftovers will work with this.

• Chicken broth is better than water to add more flavor
• 1 can red enchilada sauce red, 10 oz was used. Choose spicy or mild to your liking.
• Canned black beans, drained and rinsed are great for the ultimate Mexican flavor.
• Corn that is canned and drained, or 1 bag of frozen kernels works too to add texture and I always like to add veggies into any meal.
• Can of rotel is best if you like spicy or diced tomatoes work too
• About half of an onion diced is a nice touch but optional

This whole pot will make about 6 bowls of soup if you are serving as a main dish. Stays for several hours on the stay warm function so it’s great for Super Bowl too. Grab a loaf of bread, or make my 3 ingredient beer bread right before it’s done and it is a delicious hearty. Pretty healthy too that all 5 of us love!

Ok so this is the first place I had this, maybe you’re the same. It was incredible, for sure, BUT I looked at it time and time again and thought it would be so easy to make myself. Of course it took me years to stop buying it and just threw in what was in the pantry. Literally it was easier than ever.

What got me going was after I had a bunch of shredded chicken on the stove left over in the fridge. You know how I hate wasting food! Felt like I didn’t really need fresh to make this since everything else is canned and already tender. Totally worked like a charm.

How Long to Cook Enchilada Soup

I have used all three types; with leftover rotisserie chicken, frozen breasts, and fresh meat as well. Believe it or not there isn’t a huge cook time at all. Seriously. I mean with precooked you could enjoy after 4 hours since you’re just warming it up but typically I will leave for 6 anyway. Which is how long you need for the others.

Tips

Let me speak for just a minute though about using frozen meat in any sort of recipe. You can use whole pieces but you really want to have them be boneless and skinless.

The #2 thing to remember is you need them to be separated. If you pull them out of the freezer and they’re in a huge chunk, defrost chicken in microwave to separate.

How do you make enchilada soup creamy?

To make our recipe creamy you can add room temperature 1/2 of a package of cream cheese 30 minutes prior to being done. Cut into smaller chunks so the heat melts it and creates a thicker texture to it. A dollop of sour cream is pretty yummy too.

What should you serve soup with?

Tortilla chips are of course optional but will transform this into a chicken tortilla soup. Larger versions are a fun thing to scoop up what’s inside and on the bottom. That is what we do with this and our spicy chicken noodle soup recipe. Then try our Instant Pot enchiladas and enjoy.

How to save leftovers

Have leftovers?? We have a great way to save leftover soup here. You can use this same method for any variety. Saves in blocks and then you can defrost and enjoy it again another day quite easily. To reheat once thawed you just use a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute, stir, and add another minute.

Other easy Crockpot recipes you’ll love

Wait, we have more though. Once you fall in love with how easy this one was to make check out a few of our other dishes that are dump and go like this one. If you’d rather make another dinner similar to this one using ground beef try our Crockpot enchilada casserole or our 5 ingredient crockpot chili recipe for a classic dish.