Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup — The Instant Pot Sunday

Aunt Linda gave Mama an Instant Pot for Christmas, the eight-quart Duo model with the seven-buttons-in-front interface, and Mama had thanked her at the kitchen table on Christmas morning, taken the box out to the garage, and not opened it for six full weeks. The box just sat in the corner of the garage between the laundry hamper and the shoe rack, undisturbed. Mama said she didn’t need a new gadget. Mama is suspicious of new gadgets the way some women are suspicious of new boyfriends.

Tuesday Cody saw the box when he was getting his work boots, asked about it, brought it inside, set it on the kitchen counter next to the toaster, and unpacked it at the table after dinner with the manual spread open in front of him. Cody is a man who reads manuals. He read the entire seventy-two-page manual Tuesday night with a highlighter, made notes in the margins, ran a water test (the introductory two-cups-of-water-on-high-pressure-for-five-minutes test that confirms the seal works) Wednesday after class, and by Friday night he had made a pressure-cooker beef stew that came together in forty-five minutes total — chuck roast, mirepoix, beef broth, red wine, herbs — that tasted like it had been on the stove for four hours. He was a convert before the bowl was empty.

Sunday I made creamy chicken tortilla soup in the Instant Pot — my first Instant Pot recipe ever, picked because Cody had told me Friday after the beef stew that I should make my next soup in the pot and see for myself. The chicken tortilla soup is a recipe I’ve made on the stovetop probably twenty times in my life and could make in my sleep, which made it the right candidate for testing what the pressure cooker actually changed about the workflow.

I diced one yellow onion and four cloves of garlic; hit the sauté function on the Instant Pot at the “more” setting; sweated the onions in olive oil for five minutes until soft and translucent; added the garlic for thirty seconds. Hit cancel on the sauté function. Added a pound and a half of boneless skinless chicken thighs (whole, not cut up — the chicken would fall apart in the pressure cycle), one twenty-eight-ounce can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes with the juice, two cans of black beans drained and rinsed, a can of corn drained, two fire-roasted poblanos from a Walmart frozen bag chopped, a tablespoon of cumin, a tablespoon of dried oregano, one packet of taco seasoning, the juice of a lime, four cups of low-sodium chicken broth, salt, pepper.

Lid on. Sealing valve set to sealing (this is the step the manual emphasizes in three different places because forgetting it means the pressure never builds and the cycle aborts). Pressure-cook on high for fifteen minutes. The pot took about eleven minutes to come to pressure, then ran the fifteen-minute cycle, then I let it natural-release for ten minutes before quick-releasing the rest. Total time on the pot: forty-five minutes from chopping start to lid off. The chicken thighs shredded with two forks straight in the pot. I stirred in eight ounces of softened cream cheese off the heat (off the heat is the rule the cookbook author Adina Steiman shouted in capital letters in her Instant Pot book at the library — cream cheese in any pressure cooker over heat will break and become grainy), and the cream cheese melted smoothly into the soup, turning it the color of a sunset and giving it the rich, slightly tangy body that distinguishes a creamy tortilla soup from a regular one.

Topping bar at the table: crushed tortilla chips, sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, a small bowl of sour cream, a small bowl of grated sharp cheddar, pickled jalapeños from a jar. Cody and Mama both ate three bowls. Cody finished his third bowl, leaned back in his chair, looked at the Instant Pot on the counter, and said, “That’s twenty-three percent of the time and one hundred percent of the flavor.” He’s starting to talk like a culinary student. He’s starting to express ratios out loud, which his instructor apparently does in lecture, and which is now leaking into Cody’s home conversation. The Instant Pot has a permanent home on the counter now between the toaster and the bread box. Mama hasn’t put it back in the garage. She’s used it twice on her own this week.

Cream cheese off the heat — that’s the no-break rule. Here’s the pressure-cycle build.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Rotel)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened and cubed
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 6 small corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for frying tortilla strips)
• 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• Fresh cilantro, for topping
• Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

1. Cook the chicken. Place chicken breasts in a medium pot, cover with water or broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15–18 minutes until cooked through. Remove, let rest 5 minutes, then shred with two forks. Set aside.
2. Sauté aromatics. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook 4–5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
3. Build the soup base. Add chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper to the pot and stir to coat the onions. Pour in chicken broth, fire-roasted tomatoes, and diced tomatoes with green chiles. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Add the fillings. Stir in black beans, corn, and shredded chicken. Simmer 10 minutes over medium-low heat to let the flavors meld.
5. Make it creamy. Reduce heat to low. Add softened cream cheese cubes and stir until fully melted and incorporated. Stir in sour cream until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
6. Fry the tortilla strips. While the soup simmers, heat vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortilla strips in batches and fry 2–3 minutes, turning once, until golden and crispy. Drain on a paper towel and season lightly with salt.
7. Serve. Ladle soup into bowls and top with shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream if desired, crispy tortilla strips, and fresh cilantro. Serve with lime wedges on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 430 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 780mg