This is my favorite soup to make during the “winter” (in quotes because the winter season is debatable in Arizona). Making this rotisserie chicken soup with salsa is quick and easy, bonus points because the whole family loves it too!
Break out the Crockpot or the Instant Pot to take the watching and stirring out of this tasty recipe! Perfect for meal prep too, you can make a batch of this tasty soup and reheat it all week long. Make sure to add your toppings fresh each time or they’ll get soggy!
A note about rotisserie chicken
We stoped buying store bought rotisserie chickens a while ago because of the extra ingredients added. We learned how easy it is to make our own rotisserie-style chicken, and we’ve been making them for this recipe (and others) ever since.
I have a five different rotisserie chicken recipes, cooked five ways: Crockpot, Instant Pot, Grill, Ninja Foodi, and Oven. Click here to read about how to cook a rotisserie chicken five ways (with recipes!)
Recipes Like This Rotisserie Chicken Soup with Salsa:
Don’t worry, if chicken soup is not your thing, here are some other great 21 Day Fix recipes that you might enjoy! You can use that Crockpot chicken in these delicious recipes as well :)
- Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Healthier Cracked Out Chicken
- 21 Day Fix Chicken Recipes
- Spanish Rice with Chicken
- Chicken Bone Broth Soup Recipe
How to Make Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salsa:
1) Pull the meat from the rotisserie chicken and chop it into bite sized pieces.
2) Add the meat, bones, and skin to the Instant Pot. I grouped the bones and skin on one side of the Instant Pot so that they were easier to remove later. Yes, the bones are important–it adds a depth of flavor that just isn’t there with regular chicken meat. You’ll remove the bones and skin later :)
3) Pour the rest of the ingredients to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Remember, dry rice for Instant Pot cooking!
4) Cook on high pressure using the soup setting for 25 minutes. When the Instant Pot is done cooking let the pressure release naturally or release the pressure by turning the valve a little then closing it again. This will release a little pressure at a time and prevent the soup from shooting out of the valve.
5) Remove the bone and skin from the soup the serve. Garnish with chopped avocado, cilantro, and/or tortilla strips and cheese.
Tips for removing bones and skin:
- Push them to the same side of the pot and remove them before stirring
- Put them in a mesh cooking bag for easy removal
- If you’re concerned about the fat, skip adding the skin and just do the bones
How to Make Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salsa:
1) Pull the meat from the rotisserie chicken and chop it into bite sized pieces.
2) Add the meat, bones, and skin to the slow cooker. I grouped the bones and skin on one size of the slow cooker so that they were easier to remove later.
3) Pour the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker.
4) Place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook the soup on high heat for 2-3 hours or low heat for 4-6 hours.
5) When it’s time to eat remove the bone and skin from the soup the serve. Garnish with chopped avocado, cilantro, and/or tortilla strips and cheese.
How to Make Chicken Soup with Salsa on the Stovetop:
You can skip steps 3 & 4 if you are using the crockpot chicken for meal prep recipe that I linked above! In all reality you could skip right to adding the rice if you make the crockpot chicken. Just make sure to add your salsa into the mix for the simmering process!
1) Pour the chicken stock and salsa into a stock pot on low heat.
2) Cook the carrots and zucchini in 1 T olive oil for 5-10 minutes
3) Pull the chicken off the bone. I put it all on a cutting board and then cut it into smaller pieces before putting it into the pot. A huge step that I used to skip (because it’s icky) is putting the skin, drumsticks, and wings into the pot. Don’t skip that step. It adds a lot of moisture and taste, and you’re going to take out all the yucky stuff before you eat the soup. Trust me on this one. Go ahead. Close your eyes and put the drumsticks and wings in.
4) Add the salt and pepper, and the veggies when they’re done.
5) Add the rice.
6) Let it simmer (slow boil) on the stove for an hour. Or two. Or three.
7) When it’s time to eat, use tongs to pull out the skin and bones. I fill the bowl with everything but broth at first and add cheese on top. After the cheese has a few seconds to melt, I add the broth on top
8) Garnish with chopped avocado, flour tortilla strips, or both!
21 Day Fix Info For Chicken Soup With Salsa Recipe:
21 Day Fix portions are as follows:
Serves: 4
Serving Size: 1.5 cups filling, 1 cup broth
Entire recipe: whole chicken = 6 R, 4 1/2 G, 1 Y
1 Serving with 3/4C chicken: 1 1/2 R, 4 G, 1/4 Y
Making this recipe for Trim Healthy Mama?
This is a Crossover recipe for THM and you’ll need eliminate the carrots since they’re not on plan! I made this recipe before I knew about those guidelines but you won’t miss them. The recipe is still delicious without the carrots!
Rotisserie Chicken Soup with Salsa:
Rotisserie Chicken Soup With Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken
- 64 ounces low sodium chicken stock or if you're fancy and you make your own, 64 oz.
- 2 C zucchini diced small
- 1 C carrots diced small
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup brown rice (dry for IP, cooked for stovetop or Crockpot)
- 1.5 cups salsa
Instructions
Instant Pot:
- Pull the meat from the rotisserie chicken and chop it into bite sized pieces.
- Add the meat, bones, and skin to the Instant Pot. I grouped the bones and skin on one size of the Instant Pot so that they were easier to remove later.
- Pour the rest of the ingredients to the Instant Pot. Close the lid and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Remember to use dry rice when cooking in the Instant Pot.
- Cook on high pressure using the soup setting for 25 minutes. When the Instant Pot is done cooking let the pressure release naturally or release the pressure by turning the valve a little then closing it again. This will release a little pressure at a time and prevent the soup from shooting out of the valve.
- Remove the bone and skin from the soup the serve. Garnish with chopped avocado, cilantro, and/or tortilla strips and cheese.
Stove Top:
- Pour the chicken stock and salsa into a stock pot on low heat.
- Cook the carrots and zucchini in 1 T olive oil for 5-10 minutes
- Pull the chicken off the bone. I put it all on a cutting board and then cut it into smaller pieces before putting it into the pot. A huge step that I used to skip (because it's icky) is putting the skin, drumsticks, and wings into the pot. Don't skip that step. It adds a lot of moisture and taste, and you're going to take out all the yucky stuff before you eat the soup. Trust me on this one. Go ahead. Close your eyes and put the drumsticks and wings in.
- Add the salt and pepper, and the veggies when they're done.
- Add the rice. Cooked rice is needed here!
- Let it simmer (slow boil) on the stove for an hour. Or two. Or three.
- When it's time to eat, use tongs to pull out the skin and bones. I fill the bowl with everything but broth at first and add cheese on top. After the cheese has a few seconds to melt, I add the broth on top
- Garnish with chopped avocado, flour tortilla strips, or both!
Slow cooker:
- Pull the meat from the rotisserie chicken and chop it into bite sized pieces.
- Add the meat, bones, and skin to the slow cooker. I grouped the bones and skin on one size of the slow cooker so that they were easier to remove later.
- Pour the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker. Cooked rice is fine here as well!
- Place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook the soup on high heat for 2-3 hours or low heat for 4-6 hours.
- When it's time to eat remove the bone and skin from the soup the serve. Garnish with chopped avocado, cilantro, and/or tortilla strips and cheese.
Cindy says
no garlic or onion?
Jeanne says
Could you please tell me what containers you use to portion this recipe? How it relates to the 21 Day Fix?
Thank you!
Becca says
Hi Jeanne! Yes! Look at #2 here: https://mycrazygoodlife.com/21-day-fix-dinner-recipes/
Katrina says
But what about the brown rice? What number of yellows do you count that as?
Becca says
Depending on how much brown rice you add, you could could it as 1/4 or 1/2 yellow container.
Georgianna says
Hello! Does the rice go in cooked and then I simmer it for a couple hours? I just want to make sure I’m clear. I cannot wait to try this tonight!! It is cold here in North Florida.
Becca says
Hello! I use the Minute Rice and put it in for a few hours, or if I need it faster I use cooked rice. It’s chilly here in Arizona too! I hope this warms you up!
Becca
Rachel says
The recipe says cooked rice. Is it supposed to be uncooked? I can’t imagine only a quarter cup of cooked rice proportioned with the larger quantities of everything else.
Becca says
You can definitely change the amount to what works best for you!
DJ says
Great soup! I flipped the order of instructions. I put only the stock in the pot first and the “yucky” chicken bones and skin and let them cook while I finished cutting up the chicken and cooking the veggies. Then I just dumped it through a strainer, poured the stock back in the pot, and finished the recipe.
Darcy says
I am cooking this now. Since it serves 6 I added 3 yellow container portions of cooked rice. That way, when I divide it I have 1/2 yellow container per serving. This worked best since I wasn’t planning on adding cheese or tortilla strips to my soup. I will add avocado as a topping and probably squirt some lemon juice into it (I love lemon in all my broth soups). I like that the salsa kind of takes the place of having to chop onion and garlic. It smells heavenly up in here. Side note. . .when reading this recipe there is a tendency to just take the breast meat. Harvest all the meat. Grocery store rotisserie chickens are small. If you get a Sams Club or Costco roasted chicken, feel free to just use the breast. Those things are HUGE.
Lynne says
Thank you for this great recipe. I really enjoyed it. I substituted the brown rice with hulled barley. I had cooked a couple of chickens in my IP yesterday and planned to use one of them to make this recipe. So glad it turned out well.
Becca says
I’m so glad you liked it! This is one of our favorites!
Tracey-Lyn says
Hi, I made this soup in my instant pot tonite and I just wanted to tell you how much I love it!! It has so much flavor. Even my dogs loved it, i let them lick the bowl…my only problem, my rotisserie chicken carcass fell apart during cooking and the bones ended up everywhere. Any tips or suggestions for future? I definitely am making this again!
Becca says
Yay!! This makes me so happy! They have bags you can buy, mesh or cheesecloth ones, that contain the bones–I’d try that!