Love a chicken soup bursting with earthy spicy flavor? Then this Chipotle Instant Pot Chicken Soup is for you! You’ll love how easy it is to make this hearty chicken and rice soup with smoky chipotle flavor!
Why settle for an ordinary chicken soup?
This Instant Pot Mexican Chicken Soup with rice is the perfect easy recipe for a chilly day.
Full of smoldering spice and smoky flavor to turn up the heat!
Spicy Mexican Chicken Soup
Let’s get one thing straight from the start: this chicken soup is SPICY!
If you love Mexican flavors with some heat, this Instant Pot Chicken Soup is a dream come true.
A combination of jalapeno and ground chipotle peppers give the soup a mouthwatering kick that warms the insides.
More reasons you’ll love this soup!
Another reason to love this soup? It is HEARTY!
The broth is loaded with shredded chicken and veggies. Every bite is full of satisfying texture.
This not your average brothy chicken and rice soup. Cooked rice is added at the end as an option.
You can customize it to your own taste. Just add beans, other vegetables or different kinds of peppers.
Best of all, you can make this Chipotle Chicken Soup in the Instant Pot!
There’s very little prep time and the results are unbeatable.
Easy, cozy and spicy chicken soup in no time!
Recipe Ingredients + Notes
Red Onion.
Jalapeno pepper. We recommend removing seeds and membranes to keep the heat from being overwhelming. If you prefer extra spice, you can leave themin!
Garlic.
Fire roasted tomatoes. Use either canned whole or diced tomatoes, whichever you prefer. Fire roasting gives a flavor perfect for this soup.
Ground chipotle peppers. Though regular chili powder can be substituted using ground Chipotle peppers gives a signature smoky flavor to the soup. It’s earthy, spicy and delicious. This is chili powder just made with chipotle chilies and is available at most grocery stores.
Smoked Paprika. Use regular smoked paprika. It also gives a smoky flavor. Hot smoked paprika will be too spicy with the other ingredients. Regular paprika won’t deliver much flavor.
Cumin. This classic earthy spice is in most Mexican recipes for a reason. It adds wonderful depth of flavor.
Chicken Breasts. Use boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Chicken stock. We recommend low-sodium.
Lime juice. Adds a little acid to pump up the flavors in the soup.
Cilantro. Stirred in at the end the fresh cilantro adds color, classic flavor and texture.
Topping Ideas
This soup was made for toppings. Anything you love on a taco will be perfect. Try:
- prepared rice. This can be stirred in to make a Mexican chicken and rice soup, or used as a topping.
- crushed tortilla chips
- sour cream
- shredded cheese
- sliced or diced avocado
- torn fresh cilantro
- lime wedges for squeezing on this soup.
Add toppings to individual bowls immediately before serving. Or set out a toppings bar to let everyone customize the soup to their liking.
Variations
- For a less spicy Mexican soup. Leave out or reduce the jalapeno. Reduce the chipotle chili powder to one teaspoon or less.
- Beans and corn. Stir in 1 can each of black beans and sweet corn after cooking to fill out the soup even more.
- Red peppers. Sliced red bell peppers add color and a touch of sweetness to instant pot soup.
- Serrano pepper. Using a serrano pepper instead of jalapeno gives the soup an even spicier flavor rush. Roast the serrano pepper to add smokiness!
- Turkey breast. Swap out the chicken breasts in the recipe for turkey.
How to Make it – Step-by-Step
STEP 1. Add ingredients to Instant Pot
Put the tomatoes, garlic, onion, peppers, chicken and spices in the Instant Pot (photos 1 – 3).
Pour chicken stock on top and stir (photo 4).
STEP 2. Pressure Cook
Close the lid, seal the valve and select HIGH PRESSURE for a cook time of 7 minutes.
When cook time ends, manually release the steam. Open the valve and lid.
STEP 3. Shred chicken
Remove the chicken (photo 5) from the Instant Pot.
Use two forks to shred the chicken and add back to the Instant Pot (photo 6).
Stir in the torn cilantro and lime juice.
STEP 4. Serve
Ladle the chipotle chicken soup into bowls. Add cooked rice to each bowl of soup if using. Sprinkle the soup toppings on top, as desired!
Pro Tips
Use some dairy products to beat the heat. The one thing that can dampen spicy heat is dairy products. Add some sour cream, Mexican crema, grated cheese or Greek yogurt to the soup toppings to tone it down.
Wash hands well when handling chilies. The liquid from jalapenos and other hot chilies, capsaicin oil, can stay on your fingers. If you scratch your eye or nose you’ll know it’s there! Wearing food safe gloves or washing hands well and avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth is advised.
Open the lid away from your face. With all Instant Pot Soup recipes, make sure to open the lid of the pot carefully. The contents will be hot and you don’t want a face full of steam!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use frozen chicken breasts in this spicy chicken soup recipe. Add 5 minutes of additional cooking time if using frozen chicken.
No, do not add rice to the Instant Pot before cooking with this recipe. Cook the rice separately according to package directions. Then serve the chicken soup with rice added to each bowl.
This Mexican soup tastes amazing with brown rice, white, long grain, wild rice–you name it. You can use any rice you like in this soup! Because it’s added to the cooked soup, you don’t have to worry about adjusting cook time. This recipe is also a wonderful way to use any leftover rice hanging out in your fridge.
No, I created and tested this recipe using the “High Pressure” setting on the Instant Pot. It will not work the same on other settings.
If you won’t be serving the Chipotle Chicken Soup immediately, you can leave it in the pot on the “WARM” setting. Enjoy or serve within 3 hours. Ideal for serving soup at a party!
Storing Leftovers
Transfer leftover cooled Chipotle Chicken Soup to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Instant Pot Chicken Soup freezes well too! Freeze soup before adding the rice or other toppings for best results.
Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave or on the stove top before serving.
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Recipe
Chipotle Instant Pot Chicken Soup
Ingredients
For the Chicken Soup
- 1 medium Red onion chopped
- 1 medium Jalapeño seeds removed and diced
- 3 Garlic cloves minced
- 1 15-ounce can Fire roasted tomatoes whole or diced
- 1.5-2 teaspoons ground Chipotle Peppers
- 1.5 teaspoons smoked paprika regular NOT hot smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3 cups low sodium chicken stock
- Juice from 2 limes
- ½ cup fresh cilantro chopped
For serving (options):
- 2 cups prepared rice
- 1 Avocado diced
- ¼ cup red onion chopped
- ½ Jalapeño thinly chopped
- crushed Tortilla chips
- sour cream or Greek yogurt
- shredded cheese
Instructions
To make the soup
- Place all the chicken ingredients into the Instant Pot and stir to combine. Close the lid and valve and set on high pressure for 7 minutes.
- Manually release steam and open the valve and lid.
- With the help of 2 forks, roughly shred the chicken.
- Add the lime juice and half the chopped cilantro and stir to incorporate.
Serving
- Serve into bowls. Top with rice, avocado, red onion, jalapeño, fresh cilantro, sour cream grated cheese and/or tortilla chips.
Notes
- leave out the jalapeno or use a partial jalapeno
- use 1 teaspoon of the chipotle chili powder
- add dairy sour cream or cheese when serving
Nutrition
We can’t get enough easy Instant Pot Soup recipes! No matter the temperature outside, soup is always a good idea.
Catalina says
This soup is so hearty! It’s so great to make it in the Instant Pot!
Sharon says
We love spicy food and are freezing in Texas at the moment. This was a welcome warm up especially with the spicy flavors we love.
Sandra says
This is really ahh-mazing!!! So flavorful and delicious!! Really easy to make, too!
Allyson Zea says
This soup was absolutely delicious and so easy! Thank you!