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Table of Contents
  1. Ingredients in Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
  2. Ingredients Swaps
  3. How to Make Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
  4. Vegetarian Tortilla Soup Toppings
  5. Common Questions
  6. Batch Cooking Tortilla Soup
  7. More Healthy Soup Recipes
  8. Vegetarian Tortilla Soup Recipe

Tacos are my favorite food, so when my friend Amanda mentioned I should expand my horizons with a vegetarian tortilla soup, I was up for the challenge. Between the rich spice blend, slight kick from the peppers, and variety of toppings, I knew this new healthy soup creation was gonna be a winner.

ingredients for vegetarian tortilla soup recipe including yellow onion, cilantro, bell pepper, spices, tortilla soup, tomatoes and vegetable stock.

Ingredients in Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

This flavorful soup is made with a rainbow of vegetables seasoned to perfection, my favorite kind of meal! Let’s highlight a few of these rawesome ingredients:

  • Avocado oil: Healthy fats can easily be added to soups when using them to sautรฉ veggies. Avocado or olive oil are great choices for this recipe.
  • Tortilla chips: Since this tortilla soup is vegan, the tortilla chips have a unique purpose. They are actually softened in the soup, then blended all together to become a delightfully creamy meal. You can also use them as a crunchy topping when serving.
  • Yellow onion: I love the pop of flavor in yellow onions and use them in most of my cooking.
  • Poblano + Jalapeรฑo peppers: I use one of each in this healthy tortilla soup recipe because poblanos bring just a bit of heat but an earthy, smoky flavor while jalapeรฑos do pack a spicy punch. If you are sensitive to spice then omit the jalapeรฑo altogether.
  • Vegetable stock: Once I learned how to save my vegetable scraps and turn them into homemade stock, I no longer buy it from the store. If using store-bought, make sure it doesn’t have any additives and check the amount of sodium.
  • Cilantro: Fresh herbs are naturally medicinal as well as provide excellent flavors. If cilantro isn’t your favorite herb then swap it with parsley.
  • Bay leaves: These unique leaves add a lovely floral and thyme flavor to foods, yet you don’t eat them. Just toss in 1-2 leaves to a soup pot then remove before serving (or in this case, remove before blending).

Ingredients Swaps

  • If onions aren’t your thing, then swap the onion out for 1 cup of leeks.
  • If you don’t want any spicy peppers, swap the 2 peppers out for 1/2 red or orange bell pepper.
  • You can also cut back on the spices as you taste test, to find the perfect amount of spice for you. I roll with the spice train, so I often add a bit more than this vegetarian tortilla soup recipe recommends, yet you can add less too!
  • If you don’t want the corn tortilla chips or need to cut back on the sodium they bring, opt for a salt-free chip, or a good plantain chip. Trader Joe’s has a wide variety of plantain chips that I’ve been working through, and they’re all good!
Delicious vegetarian tortilla soup in a white bowl with tortilla chips, fresh jalapeรฑos, avocados, corn and cilantro on top.

How to Make Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

  1. In a large stock pot, heat avocado oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, poblano pepper, and jalapeno pepper, and cook for five minutes. Sautรฉing the onion, garlic and peppers is so important to the depth of the flavors in this soup.
  2. Add spices and cook for five more minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, cilantro leaves, and tortilla strips. Bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, remove bay leaves. The tortilla chips help turn this vegetable soup into a creamy dish. Adding them during the cooking stage helps them soften before blending.
  3. Puree the soup with an immersion blender. If you want your soup to be thicker, add more tortilla strips.
  4. Drain corn. Ladle soup into bowls and add toppings.
steps on how to make healthy tortilla soup including sautรฉing vegetables and spices in a blue stock pot.

How to increase protein

Try adding black beans, cashew cream (or a ground turkey or shredded chicken option if you aren’t vegetarian). This will increase the protein without affecting the flavor.

Stirring ingredients like tomatoes, vegetable stock and tortilla chips into a blue stock pot.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup Toppings

One reason soup makes a great family meal is that it’s super easy to customize with toppings. If you’ve got a kid who needs cheese on everything, then use this soup as the base and let ’em go wild! This soup is perfect for the chip lover too, just grab your favorite chips and dip away. Here are some recommended toppings for my vegetarian tortilla soup recipe:

  • Freshly squeezed lime juice
  • Diced jalepeรฑos or hot sauce
  • Cashew cream or sour cream
  • Crumbled tortilla chips
  • Cilantro
  • Diced avocados
  • Sweet corn
  • Cooked, drained black beans

Really, the possibilities are endless. If you like it on tacos then you’ll probably like it in this tortilla soup.

Healthy vegetarian tortilla soup in aqua stock pot with bowls of toppings surrounding it.

Common Questions

How do you make vegetarian tortilla soup?

Use vegetable stock and skip the meat to make a vegetarian tortilla soup. Traditional tortilla soup uses chicken broth and shredded chicken breast. You can also skip the cheese and sour cream if you’re vegan and use a cashew cream.

How do you thicken tortilla soup?

I love a creamy soup, and this one is no different. After sautรฉing the vegetables and simmering on the stove with tortilla chips, I use an immersion blender to puree the contents of the soup pot. The tortilla chips help thicken the soup nicely, without having to add any dairy products.

What are the best toppings for tortilla soup?

Depending on whether you like your soup spicy or on the sweeter side, there are a variety of great toppings for this soup. I use fresh chopped jalapeรฑos, sweet corn, cashew cream, cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Batch Cooking Tortilla Soup

Because soup often takes a lot of ingredients and time to make, I almost always make extra. I then freeze the leftovers in single-serving containers (usually Souper Cubes). This way, I can easily reheat and have a nutritious, hot lunch in the days and weeks to come.

Depending on your family size, double or triple this tortilla soup recipe. Your future self will thank you for the pre-prepped meal!

Vegetarian tortilla soup topped with corn, jalapeรฑos, avocado, cilantro and tortilla chips.

More Healthy Soup Recipes

I love soup, and chilly nights have me whipping up loads of different recipes. Soup doesn’t have to be boring, and it doesn’t need meat to be flavorful! Here are some more soup recipes:

Seriously, it’s hard for me to find a soup I don’t love. What is your favorite soup recipe? I’d love for you to leave a comment to let me know. Don’t forget to rate this healthy vegetarian tortilla soup recipe after you’ve tried it!

4.52 from 132 votes

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Dive into this warmly spiced vegetarian tortilla soup made with a rich vegetable broth, peppers, corn, avocado, and tomatoes, all simmered together for depth of flavor. Top with crispy tortilla strips, fresh avocado and cilantro for a hearty and satisfying meal.
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
Author: Jen Hansard
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired, Plant-Based
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients  

  • 1 cups tortilla chips
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 1 poblano pepper diced
  • ยฝ jalapeรฑo pepper
  • 3 garlic cloves crushed and chopped
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin ground
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes canned
  • 1 bay leaves
  • ยผ cup fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Toppings

  • ยพ cup corn canned
  • 1 avocado diced
  • 2 cups tortilla chips
  • ยผ cup fresh cilantro leaves only

Instructions 

  • In a large stock pot, heat avocado oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, poblano pepper, and jalapeno pepper, and cook for five minutes.
  • Add spices and cook for five more minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, cilantro leaves, and tortilla strips. Bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, remove bay leaves.
  • Puree the soup with an immersion blender. If you want your soup to be thicker, add more tortilla strips.
  • Drain corn. Ladle soup into bowls and add toppings.
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Notes

  • You can also use a regular blender, and carefully puree in batches.
  • To tone down the spice, omit the jalapeรฑo.
  • Make a day ahead for an even better flavor.

Nutrition

Calories: 386kcal, Carbohydrates: 57g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 1718mg, Potassium: 794mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 1734IU, Vitamin C: 47mg, Calcium: 129mg, Iron: 3mg
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Rating




Comments

  1. 4 stars
    Milder than I thought Which is how I planned it. I liked the taste, nice flavor. But would not be my first choice to make.

  2. 5 stars
    Yum!!!
    This is our favorite. So flavorful. Some may find it spicy, but we used fresh peppers from our garden and could adjust the spice level to our taste by using a variety of them. One Serrano was enough for us.

  3. 5 stars
    The soups get better everyday! I used the whole jalapeรฑo and added lime juice, corn and black beans. I recommend adding just the spices at first to the sautรฉed veggies. Cooking the spices dry with the veggies, just a little, really wakes up the flavor.

  4. 5 stars
    After the 4 alarm Thai soup, I expected this one to be really hot and spicy too. I was pleasantly surprised. The peppers even cooked into a nice flavor. I enjoyed it without pureeing. I will try it that way tomorrow. This was the first soup I made using my first ever homemade vegetable stock. It turned out pretty good.
    I look forward to trying chicken or tofu in some of my left over soups.

  5. 3 stars
    Not too bad, but felt like something was missing. Left chunky instead of blended. Next time will use less paprika, more cumin and some oregano and let simmer longer than 30 min.

  6. 4 stars
    I really love that this soup has a little spice and a lot of flavor. The chips add a great texture and this soup is really delicious.

  7. Fantastic! Iโ€™ve never had a blended version of tortilla soup but Iโ€™ll do it again. Added chips, corn and more cilantro when serving, great mix of flavors.

  8. 4 stars
    I have never made tortilla soup, I gave it a try and actually it was good, a little bit spicy; but good. I will make this one again. I am enjoying cooking all these new soup recipes.

  9. 5 stars
    This Vegetarian Tortilla Soup is amazing, lots of flavor, the right amount of heat from the spices, it is easy to make, and has a unique fresh flavor from the mixture of vegetables!
    Try it!! Itโ€™s a keeper!!

  10. 5 stars
    Holy Moly I loved this soup! It seemed light but was actually quite filling. I thought the paprika was going to be a bit much but nope – just perfect.

  11. 5 stars
    Yet another great soup. Though I might not blend this soup next time. Also might try adding some black beans for more fiber and protein the next time. I did roast the corn before using as a topping. The left over cashew cream was a pleasant addition as well.