Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Published February 8, 2012. Updated January 3, 2024

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You need this Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup in your weeknight dinner rotation. Tender chicken protein, warm and melty cheese, and jam-packed with veggies, this dinner is fast, easy, and budget-friendly. It also feeds a crowd—double it for your winter gatherings and they’ll lick the bowl clean!

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup topped with cheese and sour cream

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

No matter their age, every single one of my family members LOVES this simple Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup. Everyone can customize their soup (more cheese! Tortilla strips! Hot sauce!) to get it exactly how they want it. It definitely hits all those cravings for Mexican food without the hassle of takeout or rolling your own enchiladas. I love being able to throw this soup together in my slow cooker before the day gets crazy, and then a delicious dinner is magically ready in the evening. We use Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup a lot during the busy fall and winter months, when we may not get a chance to sit down for dinner together between school and practice and other obligations. Everyone can fix their own bowl of soup when they’re ready (and they’re eating veggies to boot!).

The real star of this Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup is the Italian dressing. You may not think of Italian dressing when you think of enchiladas, but the tangy dressing makes this soup stand out from all the others that only use broth and spices. You can use the packets, but I usually keep Italian dressing in the fridge since it’s the perfect marinade and sauce for so many things.

Customizing Your Crockpot Enchilada Soup

There are so many ways to remix this soup for your taste. Here are a few ideas that I’ve tried or seen other chefs do:

  • Speed things up with rotisserie chicken added towards the end of cooking.
  • Try different types of salsa—like Mango Habanero!
  • Swap the Italian dressing for actual canned enchilada sauce (green is our favorite, but red is delicious if you like more heat!).
  • Use lightly browned ground beef if you prefer red meat to poultry.
  • Melt cheese over chips and dip into the soup!
  • Meal prep this Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup by mixing the chicken, liquids, and spices in a Tupperware or Ziploc, then freezing. Pull the mixture out to thaw the night before, then throw in your Crockpot with the canned ingredients in the morning.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

The easiest Enchilada soup! It's brimming with flavor and so deliciously satisfying!
Servings: 8
Prep15 minutes
Cook6 hours
Ready in: 6 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

For Serving (all optional, but I'd say sour cream is a must):

Instructions

  • Place chicken in a slow cooker. Pour chicken broth, tomato sauce, salsa and Zesty Italian Dressing over chicken. Sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, onion powder and garlic powder. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 6 hours.
  • Once cooked, remove chicken from slow cooker and set aside. Prepare a roux in a saucepan by heating olive oil over medium heat then stirring in Masa Harina (mixture will be thick), slowly pour in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick and it reaches a gentle boil (it should be like the consistency of a porridge). Pour mixture into slow cooker and whisk until smooth. 
  • Add in corn, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Cheddar Cheese and Monterrey Jack Cheese. Shred chicken and stir into soup. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any salt at all I didn't think it needed it just pepper). Allow to cook about 10 minutes until all ingredients are heated through. Serve warm garnished with additional shredded cheese, diced avocados, sour cream, cilantro, green onions and tortilla chips.