Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup
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If you enjoy the flavors of green chilies, chicken, and cheese, you will love this Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup.
Bonus: this recipe can be made in either the pressure cooker or slow cooker!
Green Chile Enchilada Soup
One of my family’s all-time favorite dishes is this Slow Cooker Green Chile Enchilada Soup Recipe. Since we’ve reduced the number of carbs from our diet (mostly in the form of bread, pasta, white rice, and added sugar) I have not made this soup recipe in over two years!
The Chicken Verde Tacos is actually what inspired this recipe.
True story: my hubby would come home from work and instead of making himself a taco, he would drink the excess cooking liquid from the tacos. (Which was a mixture of the leftover broth, green chiles, and cream cheese.)
I figured if the cooking liquid was that good, I should probably come up with some sort of soup recipe using the same ingredients…
Even though we are doing low carb, we still get our spicy Green Chile Chicken fix.
Instead of the soup, I’ll often cook chicken breasts or thighs in either the slow cooker or pressure cooker, mix in cream cheese and salsa and serve the chicken in a salad or on low carb tortillas.
As I was planning our meals last week and adding ingredients to the grocery list. (All online btw, oh how I love grocery delivery!) I decided it was time to make this recipe over into a low-carb version. (All I did was omit the corn, rice, and cornstarch, not sure why I hadn’t done this before.)
I had totally forgotten how delicious this soup is!
You definitely need to add this Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup to your menu this week!
Low carb or the not low carb version, it’s amazing either way! Since I’ve been using my pressure cooker so much lately, I included cooking instructions for both the slow cooker and the pressure cooker in the recipe card.
Recipe Tips:
- Thighs are amazing in this Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup recipe, but you’ll want to remove as much fat from the thigh as you can prior to cooking.
- Spice measurements are to taste, I’ve had one person tell me they thought it was too spicy, but hundreds who have said they like it as is, so use judgment.
- The recipe calls for 1 can of diced green chiles, but I actually use 2 for even more flavor
- For best results, don’t use store brand cream cheese, I have found certain brands won’t dissolve/mix in all the way!!!
Products used and recommended in this post:
- Hamilton Beach Set it and Forget it Slow Cooker
- Soup Ladle (Love that this has the oz labeled in the ladle)
- Herdez Salsa Verde (Best green salsa ever!)
Pressure Cooker Recommendations:
Don’t have a pressure cooker, but been thinking about getting one? I suggest looking at these:
- Cuisinart 6 quart pressure cooker
- Fagor 8 qt pressure cooker
- Instant Pot 6 quart,
- Instant Pot 8 quart (If I didn’t already have one I would get the 8qt one in a heartbeat- I want that yogurt function!!
- Pressure Cooker Meals: Recipes, Tips, and Explanations
I have a few more delicious low carb recipes here => Low Carb recipes. (You definitely don’t want to miss that chili dog casserole recipe!)
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Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Total Time: varies based on cooking method
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: slow cooker or pressure cooker
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Description
If you enjoy the flavors of green chilies, chicken and cheese, you will love this Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup. Bonus: this recipe can be made in either the pressure cooker or slow cooker!
Ingredients
- 32 oz chicken broth
- 24 oz boneless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 15 oz jar of Herdez Salsa (You can substitute 2 cans of green enchilada sauce)
- 4 oz can of diced green chilies
- 3/4 cup of water
- 2 tbsp of ground cumin
- 1 tbsp of chili powder
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 8 oz block of softened cream cheese (cut up into a few pieces)
- salt and pepper to taste (depending on the sodium level of your broth, you may need more salt.)
- optional: shredded cheese, avocado and/or sour cream for garnish
Instructions
Pressure Cooker Instructions:
- Place chicken in the bottom of the pressure cooker insert.
- Add the broth, salsa, green chilies, water, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin to pot, mixing everything together.
- Set pressure cooker to high for 15 minutes. Do a 10-minute natural pressure release, though if you used thighs, I’ve found a quick release works fine.
- Remove chicken from pot, shred and return to pot.
- Add cream cheese to chicken mixture. Set pressure cooker to soup/simmer for 2 minutes and do a quick release.
- Mix soup with cream cheese, making sure cream cheese in thoroughly dissolved into broth. (If the cc doesn’t dissolve all the way, it’s ok, the soup will still be delicious!)
- Top with your favorite garnishes and serve.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- In your slow cooker, mix together the broth, salsa, green chilies, water, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin.
- Add the chicken breasts to the crock pot and cook on low for 7 hours.
- At the 7 hour mark, remove the chicken to another dish. Shred the chicken and put back in your slow cooker.
- Add the cream cheese to the soup mixture and replace the lid. Cook for another 30 minutes and stir the soup, making sure to get the cream cheese mixed in. You may need to cook just a bit longer to ensure the cream cheese is melted completely.
- Top with your favorite garnishes and serve.
Notes
- Thighs are amazing in this Low Carb Green Chile Enchilada Soup recipe, but you’ll want to remove as much fat from the thigh as you can prior to cooking.
- Spice measurements are to taste, I’ve had one person tell me they thought it was too spicy, but hundreds who have said they like it as is, so use judgment. (Remember the age of your spice will affect the taste: brand new = spicy, 5 yrs old = not spicy, lol)
- The recipe calls for 1 can of diced green chiles, but I actually use 2 for even more flavor.
- For best results, don’t use store brand cream cheese, I have found certain brands won’t dissolve/mix in all the way!!!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8th of recipe
- Calories: 256
- Sugar: 1
- Fat: 17
- Carbohydrates: 3
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 19
Keywords: green chilies, low carb, soup, tex-mex, keto slow cooker, pressure cooker
Enjoy!
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This was amazing! Made 1/2 of a recipe and added Jack cheese. Even better the next day.
★★★★★
Loved this! I made it in the instant pot with extra chicken thighs. Served with crispy jalapenos and avocado.
★★★★★
I made this today on the stove. boiled 4 chicken thighs then followed instructions. instead of canned chili peppers I had a pablano pepper that I roasted and peeled chopped up and added. I also cooked a 1/2 bag of cauliflower rice in microwave and added that for texture. Delicious! Thanks for recipe.
★★★★★
sooooooo good!! my family loved it.
★★★★★
Delicious…added Greek yogurt cream cheese,added additional can green chile, rotel,and pepper jack cheese. Yum
★★★★★
Can I use rotisserie chicken and still put it in the crockpot?
You could, but I would just do it on the stove top instead and let everything simmer for about 25 to 30 min.
everyone loved it!!! Even my picky eater had 2 bowls
★★★★★
Sooo good!! Topped it with cheese and sour cream.
★★★★★
Easiest meal ever! Such a lifesaver for those tired nights
★★★★★
I really enjoyed the soup, although next time I will bump up the spices, especially the cumin and chili powder (admittedly I like food very spicy). I added some crushed red pepper after cooking, and added two cans of chilis as suggested. I made it with rotisserie chicken meat from Costco, so I was unsure how long to cook it. I guessed, and set my Instant Pot for six minutes on high pressure, quick-release, and it turned out perfectly. I will say it looked nothing like the photo, the color was closer to brown than the gold color. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
I think the color depends a lot on the fat of the chicken and spices. I have made it where it looks greener from the chilies ant another time it was red from the dark red chili powder.
I made this a while back and my family loves this!! Fastforward to today …I want to make it but my chicken is frozen!! Can I use frozen chicken for the pressure cook recipe??
★★★★★
Yes you can. If the chicken breasts are huge, you might add 2 to 3 minutes to the cooking time.
Delish! Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Wondering what size instant pot you’re using? I have a mini so have to adjust since it’s only 3qts and I’m assuming you’re using a bigger one. Thanks 🙂
yes, I have the 8 quart.
TThis looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing!
I love this soup it’s so easy to make in my intstant pot! I make it on Sundays and it helps with my weekday dinners ?
★★★★★
Lovely soup. I made this on the stove top and added semi frozen thighs. Cooked the entire soup for about 2 hours. Turned out perfect. I also used 2 cans of green chilis. Topped it with shredded cheddar, sour cream, cilantro and Herdez guacamole salsa with fresh cracked pepper.
★★★★★
You are making me hungry, lol!
This is amazing! Froze really well too!
This soup was really tasty! Perfect for a cold, rainy day. I made it in the Instant Pot and it was super easy. We will definitely make it again. I think next time I will let the chicken cool a bit and then cut it into chunks rather than shredding. The family wasn’t crazy about it being kind of stringy. I can never quite get cream cheese smooth in the Instant Pot, so I heated it with a little heavy cream on the stove, and whisked it smooth before adding to the soup. I added a little cornstarch to thicken it and it seemed to help absorb the fat from the chicken and eliminated the oil ring around the bowl. Overall 5 stars. We loved it! Thank you!
★★★★★
I just made it last night in the pressure cooker too! I’ve got 2 new tips to share…
1. To reduce the fat, you can sear the thighs on the saute setting to render off some of the fat. (or use breasts – I still prefer thighs)
2. I put the block of 2 % Philadelphia cream cheese, directly into the pot, before closing the lid. It melted beautifully!
here’s a 3rd tip, I think room temp cream cheese helps it incorporate better. I still cannot officially explain why sometimes the cream cheese does not melt all the way.
I made this recipe for the second time tonight. Definitely a winner. This time I had chunks of rotisserie chicken in the freezer, and since the chicken was already cooked, I just made the whole thing in a 3-quart sauce pan on the stove top. Super fast and truly excellent! Thanks again for the great recipe. It’s a keeper.
★★★★★
Hello! Soup came out amazing! What would the serving size be?
1/8 of the recipe.
Did you use Herdez green salsa verde or the traditional red? I’m sure either one works but want to duplicated your soup! Thanks.
I used the green. It just looks kind of reddish because of the chili powder. good luck!
Hi ? I’m hoping to make this soup on the stove. Would you cook it and differently? Reduce water maybe?
I would cook it the same. Leave the did off and the broth will cook down.
LOVE this soup! I make a double batch and freeze half of it in individual portions for a quick go to meal. Sour cream, lime, fresh cilantro, avocado and grated mozzarella make this a wee bit of heaven on earth! When short on time I make it on stove-top with ground chicken and it’s just as tasty. Brown the chicken in stock pot then add ingredients through to garlic powder. Bring to a boil then add cream cheese. So delish! Thanks for such a tasty, low carb, easy meal!
★★★★★
so glad you liked it!
This is very delicious!! How much is in a serving size? I am assuming 1 cup because everyone has different bowl sizes, but would appreciate what you measured a serving size to be so I can accurately reflect it in my Carb Manager app.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This is insanely delicious!
OMG this soup is the best ever!!!! I’ve made it SO many times!
★★★★★
so glad you like it!
What kind of cream cheese do you use if you can use Store bought cream cheese????
I said store BRAND, not store bought. Store brand is the generic stuff produced and sold with the store label. They put extra additives that make it not melt so great. Of course, not all brands are the same, but If you do use it, it will still tastes good – you just might have little bits of cream cheese that don’t melt properly.
Everyone in my family loved this soup!! We are making it again tonight for the 3rd time! Thank you!
★★★★★
Super delicious! Even the husband was full and happy. The pressure cooker was easy and there are leftovers!
Actually, I’m good. I messed up the chicken choice and now it’s down to 7. which for some reason makes me feel better 🙂
when I chose McCormick spices, it brought the carb level down even more: Servings 8.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 256
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 17 g 27 %
Saturated Fat 8 g 39 %
Monounsaturated Fat 6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 105 mg 35 %
Sodium 342 mg 14 %
Potassium 46 mg 1 %
Total Carbohydrate 3 g 1 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g 2 %
Sugars 1 g
Protein 19 g 37
This was really good, thank you for sharing! Although I plugged it into myfitnessapp and it says it was 9 carbs per serving. Is that what everyone else has? I can’ t imagine it being so much.
I love this soup so much. I made it in my pressure cooker and it was super fast and yummy. I made it again in a crockpot for my mom and sisters and everyone loved it. I think I liked it even better in the crockpot. I’m addicted. This is the best quick and easy soup!
★★★★★
How many carbs?
★★★★★
Hello, I recommend my fitness pal to calculate the carbs based on the ingredients you end up using.
I made this soup in the crock pot this weekend and it was amazing! I used reduced fat cream cheese, it took a little longer to mix it in, but eventually it all got worked into the broth. Thanks for the recipe!
You think it is okay to start with frozen chicken or need to thaw first?
I’m sure that will be ok, you’ll just need to add extra time to the cook time to ensure the chicken gets cooked all the way.
Brrrr…its really cold here in Florida today…going to be in the 70S this afternoon…and I am frezzin! Going to make this great sounding soup…thanks.
Oh, my New Favorite Soup! So quick to whip up and amazing flavor?
I used a 24 oz can Green Enchilada Sauce from Aldi and even reduced cumin and chili powder to 1/2 Tbl each. No insta pot needed, just a soup put on the stove top. Awesome, thanks!
This is amazing!! I did one can of hot green chile and one can mild green chile for the perfect amount of spice. I could eat the whole crockpot full! So flavorful!
Right? It is so good!
This was a great low carb soup! I added 2 shredded crookneck squashes and an onion, just to give it more veggies. Also used freah garlic.
★★★★★