30-Minute Chicken Tortilla Soup - Max and Erma's Copycat Recipe (2024)

Recipes forHome » soup

November 7, 2020 By Leah 9 Comments

Disclosure: *This post may include amazon links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

30-minute chicken tortilla soup is by far one of my family's favorite chicken soups and is the copycat recipe of the restaurant Max and Erma's chicken tortilla soup. This chicken tortilla soup is made with lots of cheese including velveeta, grilled chicken, and has lots of flavor from onions, garlic, green chilis and fire roasted tomatoes. Topping it off with some air fried tortilla strips and cheese just makes this soup so over the top. But my favorite part is really the fact that I can make it in 30 minutes.

The chicken tortilla soup is velvety in texture with lots of smoky flavors and a hint of heat. This soup will definitely be a regular weeknight meal option for us.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Ingredients

There are many variations and versions to this recipe. A lot of recipes I looked at use 6 cans of cream of something soup. I decided I could figure out how to make this without so much premade soups. The recipe creation worked like a dream.

Here are the ingredients I used for my Max copycat recipe of chicken tortilla soup:

Diced cooked chicken
Onion
Garlic
Butter
Flour
Chicken Base
Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
Green Chilis
Cumin
Chipotle Powder
Adobo Seasoning
Smoked Paprika
Velveeta
Cream of Chicken Soup
Milk
Water

How to Make 30-Minute Chicken Tortilla Soup

Begin making this soup by dicing onions and garlic and adding them to your favorite soup pot or Dutch oven with butter. Saute for several minutes until they start to soften. Then add the chicken base to the onions and butter to the mix. Next, add the flour to the pot to make a roux.

Stir to form the roux and then start adding the water and milk to the roux to make the base for the soup. Alternate between the water and milk.

When the liquid is all added and it begins to boil, stir in the cubed cooked chicken. Then follow that with the tomatoes, chilis, cream of cheddar soup, and seasonings.

Stir to completely combine and then drop the cubed or shredded velveeta into the soup. Continue stirring until the cheese is completely melted.

The finished product of this 30-minute chicken tortilla soup is just like a queso soup. It is spectacularly delicious. But to take it up a notch, I totally recommend making some tortilla strips.

How to Make Crispy Tortilla Strips in the Air Fryer

I have found the low-carb tortillas get crispier for this. And we like crispy tortilla strips. Start by using a pizza cutter to cut the tortillas into strips.

Then melt butter to drench the tortilla strips in before dropping into the air fryer.

Then air fry them on 400° for 5 minutes or until crispy to your liking.

Then you have the most amazing crispy tortilla soup toppings.

Low-Carb Soup Recipes

If you are looking for a low-carb version, I have perfected thisCrock Pot Low-Carb Chicken Tortilla Soup or the Crock Pot Low-Carb Taco Soup.

Easy Soup Recipes

Meaty Tomato Ravioli Soup

📖 Recipe

Max and Erma's Tortilla Soup Copycat Recipe

30-minute chicken tortilla soup is by far one of my family's favorite chicken soups and is the copycat recipe of the restaurant Max and Erma's chicken tortilla soup. This chicken tortilla soup is made with lots of cheese including velveeta, grilled chicken, and has lots of flavor from onions, garlic, green chilis and fire roasted tomatoes.

4.27 from 15 votes

Print Rate

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Copycat Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 520kcal

Author: Leah @ Beyer Beware

Ingredients

1 onion
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
2 tablespoons chicken base
2 cups water
2 cups milk
3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 can cream of cheddar soup
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
4 ounces green chilis
1 teaspoon chipotle pwder
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
8 ounces velveeta cheese

Tortilla Strips

4 tortillas
2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Start by sauteing the onions and garlic in butter. After it has cooked for several minutes and the onions have softened, stir in the flour.
Next stir in the chicken base. Then slowly add the water and milk.
To the mixture stir in the cooked and diced chicken into the base. Next, add the canned ingredients of soup, tomatoes, and green chilis.
See Also
Old-Fashioned Creamed Peas Recipe - These Old Cookbooks
Stir the seasonings and velveeta into the mix. Cubed or shred the velveeta. Stir until melted.
While the soup simmers, cut the tortillas into strips.
Dip the cut strips into the melted two tablespoons of butter and air fry on 400° for five minutes.
Serve the soup with shredded cheese, tortilla strips, and cilantro.

Nutrition

Shared on Weekend Potluck

Author
Recent Posts

Follow Me

Leah

A working mom of two very active teenagers. My husband and I gave up running the 80-cow dairy farm that also included a couple of hundred acres of corn and soybeans to both work to support the agricultural industry. We still have about 20 head of dairy heifers and cows to help my kids appreciate the effort it takes to raise livestock. I consider myself a foodie as I love cooking and experimenting with recipes. My family just wishes I would make the same thing twice. Find my other blog, FarmWifeDrinks.com for all things co*cktails.