I was chatting with my friend Tonya on facebook book the other day. I asked if she’d made anything great in her Instant Pot and she gave me this recipe, Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup. This soup saved my life! Thanks, Tonya for sharing!

Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup

See, a while back I had hurt my left shoulder then pretty much lost the use of my right hand. A few days of Advil, ice and splinting and my hand was improving but still isn’t back to normal. And neither is my shoulder. It’s so frustrating, isn’t it, when things go awry? But I was able to manage this easy & marvelous Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup. It took me through several days of meals & then I ladled the rest into serving size containers and froze it. It’s the perfect thing to make during the busy holiday season and have on hand for lunches or maybe a dinner or two. Tonya suggests serving it with Jalapeno Cornbread and oh, look. I have a recipe for Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread on my site!

About Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup:

You can make Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup on the stovetop, too, but I do have to say that I love making it in the Instant Pot. And you know what I liked most about making it in the IP? The liner, the part you cook in, is a very efficient size I didn’t have to manage to get out and deal with a pot and lid. Even pulling a pot out of the cupboard was too much, let alone washing it. I just dumped the ingredients in the IP and pressed the buttons.

But let’s talk about this soup. I’ve never met a chicken tortilla or chicken taco soup I didn’t like, but the soup goes to a whole new level. Step back from that kind of familiar chili flavor, though, when you think about this soup.

While there are some of the standard flavors, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and cumin, the primary backbone of the flavor comes from the deep, rich, earthy and yes, hot, Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce. Then that flavor is punctuated by the brighter green chiles and the sharper jalapeno. It’s a beautiful thing. And you can add a little or a lot of the chipotle peppers depending if you want the soup hot or mild. But don’t forget the lime at the end. You could go without lime in a pinch, but that bit of lime juice at the end is a game-changer.

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Making Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup:

I mentioned this is an easy soup. For one thing, in the Instant Pot, sauteeing the veggies is really an optional step. The IP just cooks everything through beautifully. I think everyone is used to sauteeing veggies first for soup, partly because it gives them a head start cooking and partly because it is supposed to add to the flavor. Honestly, unless the vegetables are cooked to the point of browning or caramelizing, sauteeing them in a tablespoon of oil doesn’t add any more flavor than cooking them in a pot of ingredients that has a tablespoon of oil. So there, now you are free from that step if you have an Instant Pot. You can saute them if you want (and Tonya I changed the order up just a little) but you don’t have to.

The other great thing about cooking this in the IP is that you can just dump your frozen chicken right in with the rest of the ingredients. It’s harder to do that and make sure it’s cooked through on the stovetop; it takes a good amount of time, stirring and babysitting to get your frozen chicken cooked through in a pot of soup on the stove.

But that brings us to the stovetop directions. Use a big pan or Dutch oven. Thaw your chicken breast if it’s frozen, then proceed with the rest of the recipe. Once your vegetables are sauteed and the spices are in, and you’ve added all your ingredients, bring your pot of soup up to a boil, reduce the heat, cover it and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes or so after it comes to a boil will probably do it. It depends on the size of the chicken breasts. Then shred the chicken and you’re done.

Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup

Saving Money on Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup:

I’ve talked so much about saving money on chicken on this blog, I’m just going to say know your high and low prices, buy at a low and repackage in sizes that your family will use. Why pay $4.35 a pound when it usually drops to a low of anywhere from 99 cents a pound to a $1.19, usually once a quarter.

Chicken stock is pricey. If you can make your own, great, but if not stock up on holiday sales. It’s never lower than in the fall starting with pre-Thanksgiving sales all the way up to New Year’s. Same goes for the cans of tomato products and for the corn, either frozen or canned. And you won’t be able to tell the difference between the frozen or canned in this recipe. I try to buy bell peppers when they are on sale, they last for a week or two.

If you have a Mexican market check there for the Mexican type ingredients, if not check your bulk or produce aisle for the spices.

Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup

Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup

Print Recipe

This might look like a lot of ingredients (a lot of them are canned) but this is pretty much a dump it and cook it IP recipe. There’s very little chopping involved. You can saute the veggies (optional) or just dump everything in the IP and push the button.

• Author: tonya
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 8 to 10 1x
• Category: Soups
• Cuisine: Mexican or Southwestern

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 large jalapeño, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cans (15 ounce) petite diced tomatoes with juice (may use 1 large 29-ounce can)
• 1 small can hominy drained or one 15 ounce can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 cups corn kernels
• 1 can fire roasted green chiles and any juice
• 1 to 3 chipotle chilis from a can of Chipotles in Adobo along with some of the adobo (see note)
• 2 pounds (about) frozen boneless chicken breast (see note)
• 1 48 ounce box Chicken Broth
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• Garnish with fresh cilantro, lime, cheese and sour cream (along with any of your other favorite accompaniments)

Instructions

Add oil to Instant Pot and press the Saute button for medium heat. (see note) When hot add chopped vegetables and saute for several minutes until the onions and peppers begin to soften. Add the garlic. Sauté briefly until fragrant. Add spices and stir to distribute, stirring for just a minute.

Add canned tomatoes, hominy or corn, green chiles, chiles in adobes, broth, and chicken. Cancel Saute mode and set Instant Pot to High Pressure for 10 minutes. Let natural release for 5 minutes. Remove chicken and shred. Add shredded chicken into to Instant Pot and stir in lime juice.

Garnish as desired. Serve with fresh, warm tortillas or Jalapeno Cornbread.

Notes:

• Saute: If you are in a hurry, you can skip the saute of the vegetables.
• Chilis in Adobo: Know your heat level. 1 is pretty mild, 2 medium, 3 a nice hot and if you wish you can go up from there; some people use a whole can!
• Chicken: This recipe calls for frozen chicken which is nice, but works well with fresh, too. The amount of chicken isn’t particular, just a suggested amount.
• This is a large pot of soup and will come right up to the max fill line, maybe even a bit over. If that bothers you, remove some of the broth and add it after the soup is done, stirring in to heat through.
• Timing: The Instant Pot, after using the saute function for the vegetables took about 15 minutes to come up to pressure, then 10 to cook.

Keywords: Bargain Meal of the Week, Bell Peppers, canned green chile, canned tomatoes, Chicken, Chicken Stock, Chipotle, Corn, hominy, Hot Peppers, Instant Pot, Jalapeno, Lime, Mexican or Southwestern, Soup, Tomatoes

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I’ll be sharing this Instant Pot Mexican Chipotle Chicken Soup at Fiesta Friday # 254, co-hosted by Antonia @ Zoale.com and Kat @ Kat’s 9 Lives.