Green chile chicken enchilada soup is savory, mildly spicy and packed with flavor. It's so easy to make in a slow cooker - and so pretty with all the toppings - that you'll want to mix up a batch for a party or just for the family at home.
Can soup work as a toddler food?
In this case, yes! This is one of my grandson’s favorite meals at 16 months old. He is still mostly self-feeding - I mean with fingers, not fork. So foods can’t be too soft or he will reject the texture. He doesn’t always like chicken, either.
He very enthusiastically eats the beans and chunks of chicken from this soup, though. The enchilada sauce or green salsa give lots of flavor without making it too spicy for him. The individual beans are manageable but not mushy. And everybody else in the family just enjoys the meal as a soup with lots of toppings.
The toddler version of the soup is quite simple as you can see below, though we usually serve it to him with less broth.
What is an enchilada, anyway?
According to Wikipedia, an enchilada is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. Clearly this isn't that! Even in my Green-Chile Enchilada Casserole I've gotten too lazy to roll the enchiladas, but layer them instead.
In soup recipes like this one, the filling and sauce have become the soup, and the tortillas have become optional. This recipe is very similar to my delicious tortilla soup, but grain-free. It's naturally gluten-free, thickened by the starch from the black beans.
I want to thank my blogger friend Morgan at Just What We Eat for the inspiration for this recipe. Every recipe she publishes just looks scrumptious and since they are all gluten-free I rarely need to make changes.
I couldn’t resist making a couple of tweaks, of course, which were to:
- Use the Instant Pot rather than my crock pot (because I wanted the saute feature)
- Double the quantity of beans
- Because I forgot Enchilada sauce at the store, use green chile salsa - a great accident! I just happened to have Safeway's salsa but if I'd planned it in advance I would use Frontera Gourmet (see my Amazon links!).
The Instant Pot is perfect for cooking beans
Being able to cook my own beans was one reason I invested in an Instant Pot. I buy my beans in bulk and cook them before adding them to a chosen a recipe. Especially with chickpeas, it's great!
If you haven't tried cooking beans with your Instant Pot, see the note below for simple directions for black beans.
Using the Instant Pot as a slow cooker
Some cooks consider using the Instant Pot as a slow cooker a bit of a waste of technology. However, with the IP you have the saute feature, which means you don't need a separate pan to slightly brown your onions and garlic. Sauteing the onions and garlic for a dish develops so much flavor compared to stirring them into the pot raw!
Once the soup is finished and you have ladled it into bowls, the adults can garnish to their heart's content.
What toppings work best on Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup?
Standard toppings are tomatoes, fresh feta (dairy or non), and avocado at least. I sometimes add the cilantro myself and sometimes place it on the table - I understand it tastes soapy to some people, so I leave it on the side if we are having guests.
And we also enjoyed it with chia-flax corn chips - so not grain-free for those eaters. Yum!
I shared this recipe on the Grand Social Link Party #411 at Grandma's Briefs!
Did you make this recipe? Leave me a comment below and share your impressions!
Please pin for later!!
Beth
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Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup – Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 1 medium red onion chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- 8-10 ounces medium green chile salsa or 1 15-ounce can green Enchilada Sauce
- 2 15- ounce cans black beans or 2 cups dry black beans, cooked, see note
- 1 14- ounce can diced tomatoes
- 4 ounces mild diced green chiles optional if you use the salsa rather than sauce
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 small lime juiced
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ pounds of chicken breast
Instructions
- Using the saute setting, heat the coconut oil in the Instant Pot.
- Add the onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until coated with oil and slightly golden.
- Stir in the garlic and saute briefly, just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients except the chicken and stir to combine.
- Place the chicken breasts gently into the mixture until they are just covered.
- Slow-cook on medium for 5½ hours until chicken is cooked all the way through but still tender.
- Remove chicken to a plate.
- Pull chicken into shreds or chunks with two forks and return it to the soup. Stir and adjust the seasonings.
- We like to heat the soup for ten minutes or so more to let the seasonings "settle" into the soup and check again.
- Then serve with your favorite toppings, such as chopped tomatoes, avocados, feta cheese and cilantro. Include chips for crunch.
Notes
Please pin for later!
Flossie McCowald
OMG this looks delicious! I always keep black beans and a bottle of salsa verde on hand, and we actually have a ton of leftover pico de gallo and guac in the fridge right now (I did a Mexican cooking demonstration for my daughter's classmates yesterday in Spanish class, and we made more than they ate!), and have been tossing around ideas of what to make to help us use up these delish condiments - this sounds like a great idea! And a nice cross between black bean soup and sopa de tortilla (for which I have several recipes, but I think my girls are getting tired of them all LOL!)...
Beth
Flossie, thank you! I'm impressed that you did a cooking demo for your daughter's class - I'll bet they loved it. And yes, this is different enough from my tortilla soup that even though it uses many of the same ingredients, it gets raves.
Lisa Manderino
I love using my instant pot as a slow cooker and making yummy food like this!
Beth
Hi Lisa, yes, the IP is so great as a slow cooker - and it does a perfect job with this soup.
Holly
Great recipe! I love green chili enchiladas so this is a good one for me! Thank you! I pinned it!
Beth
It's such a great soup, Holly, especially with freshly roasted Hatch green chiles.
Sydney Delong
This looks delicious! I can't wait to try it, especially with the cooler weather coming, it's soup season!
Beth
Hi, Sydney, I hope you like it - it's my grandson's favorite!
Jill DeMasi
Thanks for the gluten free recipes! Perfect time of year to make soup!
Beth
Thanks, Jill. I really enjoy making this soup at this time of year when the Hatch chiles are being roasted at roadside stands. So good.
Megan
What a perfect fall dish!
Beth
We so agree with you, Megan, and are about to put another batch together right now!
Brianna
This looks so delicious! I love enchiladas and I love soup so the combination sounds absolutely phenomenal!
Beth
Great, Brianna, I hope you like the soup as much as we do.
Beth Shields
Its that time of year and this looks delicious. Looking forward to trying this. Thanks for the recipe and consider it pinned!
Beth
Thanks, Beth, it's exactly that time of year - looking forward to those freshly roasted chiles - and thanks for the pin!
Ashley Pacheco
Just made something similar last week. I'll have to try this one next!
Beth
Ashley, it's such a classic set of flavors. I'll look for yours.
Audrey
I Abhor cooking but loved reading this and your recipe. This I may surely try.
Beth
Audrey, maybe this one will be pleasant to make!
Leeandra
This looks delicious! I have been looking for new recipes to try!
Beth
Thanks, Leeandra. This a really satisfying and flavorful soup.
Maria Gustafsson
Looks delish! Too bad I don't cook 🙂
Beth
It is delish, and I understand about not cooking!
Debbie
Sounds delicious! Getting to be the perfect time of year for lots of soups.
Beth
Thanks, Debbie, that's certainly true at our house.
Tiffany Smith
Just in time for soup season!
Beth
Tiffany, it's perfect because the chiles are in season now, too.
Alyssa
Yummy!! Looks like a great addition to our weekly rotation.
Beth
Hi Alyssa, I hope you will enjoy this soup as much as we do - and we have it on our rotation, too.
Sabrina DeWalt
I never liked beans until I started cooking them myself. The texture is so much better than canned.
Beth
I totally agree, Sabrina, I hope never to go back to canned beans.
Elaina
Yummy! Looks delicious and easy to make. Especially love that it's gluten free.
Beth
Hi Elaina, this soup is really easy and makes a big batch so it's good for more than one meal at our house.
Ramae Hamrin
This looks amazing! I use my Instant Pot almost daily, and I'm always looking for new gluten- and grain-free recipes. I've never made anything like this, and I think my son and I would LOVE it! Thank you for the recipe. I'm excited to try it!
Beth
Hi Ramae, this is one of my grandson's favorite meals that I make so I hope you and your son will enjoy it as much as we do.
Kristin
This looks like a winner, and I love that it's a GF option for our family.
Beth
Kristin, I'm so glad that a GF option like this works for you.
Barbara
Looks really lovely! Great recipe!
Beth
Thank you so much! We love it.
Chelsea
We just purchased an Instant Pot and I haven't used it for slow cooking yet, but I love that we can saute and slow cook in one pot! And it's getting closer to soup season, so I'll definitely have to try it out!
Beth
Hi Chelsea, what I love about this recipe is that I can cook the beans in the IP, remove them, then saute without even rinsing the pot out, then add all the other ingredients including the beans and then slow-cook. Truly one-pot.
Suzan | It's My Sustainable Life
Definitely a save for me. My daughter will love this and any recipe that can be done in the slow cooker is a win win for me 🙂
Beth
It's one of my grandson's favorites, I hope your daughter really likes it.
April Key C. Rode
Wow, we love Mexican food and especially enchiladas this one look so tasty and I'm sure its delicious. I am forwarding this to my hubby and I hope we can try this one soon. I'm pinning this.
Beth
Thanks for the wonderful comment and pin, April. It's really good!
Kirsten
We love enchiladas, and soup, and Mexican food, so this looks like it's right up our alley. I'll have to try it!
Beth
Kirsten, thanks so much and we hope you enjoy the soup.
Marianne
OMGosh this looks good! And just in time for when we do a weekly soup night! I always struggle not to make the same tired recipes... and the kids are fussy about soups for some reason. I will definitely try this one. I was a little nervous about it being spicy (does not agree with my stomach), but if a toddler can manage... hopefully I can too! LOL
Beth
Marianne, this soup is only as spicy as the salsa you use, so you could start with mild rather than the medium I use - you can always stir in more. The toddler likes it if he gets mostly the solid parts in his bowl so he doesn't have to search through broth for the beans and chicken pieces - maybe your kids would like that too.
Jessica
I need to save this to my recipes to try list - thank you!! I make other similar soups, but not quite this and I think I'd like it.
Beth
Thanks, Jessica, I hope you like it a lot.
Alice
Yum! I have never thought of making a soup out of something like this.
Beth
Thanks, Alice, it's a great variation on all those great flavors.
Cindy Mailhot
What a great soup for a cool fall day!
Beth
You are so right, and it's on our meal rotation for some cool days later this week!
Cindy Moore
Oh I used to love enchilada soup! Vegan now but it looks amazing. Enjoy it!
Beth
Hi, Cindy, I often make half of this soup vegan with extra black beans, and it's great that way. The seasonings really make the flavor!
Dee | Grammy's Grid
Looks so good, my hubby would love it! Thanks so much for linking up with me at #AThemedLinkup 42 for Crock Pot and Instant Pot Recipes, open until February 17. Shared on social media.
Beth
Thanks, Dee, it's still my grandson's favorite soup and one of the only ways he'll eat chicken, so it's got to be good!