Chicken Fajita Soup

Chicken Fajita Soup has all the spicy flavours of chicken fajitas served up in a warming bowl of soup! This hearty soup is packed with peppers, onions, black beans, corn and homemade fajita seasoning. It’s made in one pot and comes together in just 45 minutes! 

When it’s soup season, there’s nothing better than a warm bowl of comforting chicken soup. I normally bust out my Instant Pot to make this chicken wild rice soup or this lemon chicken orzo soup, but you only need a large pot or Dutch oven to make this fajita soup!

*This recipe was originally published in February 2019. It has been updated with new photos and text, including adjustments to the recipe and helpful tips for readers.

This soup is best enjoyed with traditional fajita toppings, so feel free to break out the guacamole or sour cream. We usually serve it with air fryer tortilla chips, avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice!

If you’re craving fajitas in a more traditional form, try these ground beef fajitas!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• It’s made in just 45 minutes! That includes time to chop the veggies, cook the chicken and let the soup simmer.
• You can use chicken thighs or chicken breasts, whatever you have on hand. To save time, you can even use a rotisserie chicken or precooked shredded chicken.
• The soup is easily customized with your favourite toppings. You can also change up the soup ingredients by using different peppers, beans or adding rice.

Details on a few ingredients

Chicken – You can make this soup with chicken thighs or breasts. Just make sure it totals 1.5 pounds and the chicken is boneless and skinless. I’ve made it with both thighs and breasts, and while both are delicious, the thighs impart a little more flavour to the soup.

Peppers – I used a mix of red and yellow bell peppers, but you can use any combination you like. Orange and green bell peppers will also work.

Onions – I like the flavour of yellow onion in this soup, but feel free to use red onion. It will add a sweeter flavour.

Chicken broth – The base of the soup is chicken broth. Feel free to use store-bought or homemade. For this recipe, I used a no salt added chicken broth, and then added salt to taste at the end.

Spices – I used a mix of spices to make the homemade fajita seasoning. I prefer making homemade seasoning as I can control the level of salt in the soup. To make the seasoning, you’ll need chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and salt. 

How to make chicken fajita soup

Mix together the spices to make the fajita seasoning.

Coat the chicken in half of the seasoning. 

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a Dutch oven (or oven safe pot) over medium heat and brown the chicken. About 2-3 minutes per side. (Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to do this in two batches).

Add 3-4 tablespoons of the broth to the bottom of the Dutch oven with the chicken (enough to cover the bottom). Cover and roast in the oven on 350F for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Transfer cooked chicken to a cutting board (leaving the juices in the pot) and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into cubes or shredding.

Add the peppers, onions and remaining fajita seasoning to the pot and saute over medium heat until just starting to soften (about 3-5 minutes).

Add in the beans, corn, diced tomatoes (with juices), chicken and remaining broth. Stir to combine.

Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 5 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the soup as the peppers and onions will get too soft. 

Taste and add more salt, if necessary. Serve with desired toppings.

Topping options

• Guacamole
• Queso or chipotle dip
• Sliced/diced avocado
• Sour cream
• Chopped cilantro
• Tortilla chips
• Pita chips
• Jalapeno slices
• Fresh lime juice
• Shredded cheese

Recipe substitutions

• Use white beans, kidney beans or chickpeas instead of black beans.
• To save time, buy a rotisserie chicken. Just shred and season it with half of the fajita mix before adding it to the soup.
• Use any combination of red, green, yellow or orange bell peppers. Add some jalapeno peppers for extra heat.
• Replace the yellow onion with red onion.
• Use veggie broth in place of the chicken broth.

Frequently asked questions

Recipe tips

Chicken thighs or breasts. The recipe calls for 1.5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken, so you can use thighs or breasts. That’s about 8 small chicken thighs or 3 large chicken breasts.

Oven safe pot. Since we are going from the stovetop to the oven, you’ll need an oven safe pot, like a Dutch oven, for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you can transfer the chicken to an oven safe dish to roast in the oven.

Size of Dutch oven. To fit all of the ingredients, you’ll need a Dutch oven or pot that is at least 5 quarts or larger.

Browning the chicken. For even browning, you may need to brown the chicken in two batches (especially if using 8 small chicken thighs). 

Add rice. To bulk up the soup even more, you can add white rice, brown rice or quinoa. Just make sure it’s cooked first and stir it in at the end.

No salt added pantry items. I like to use no salt added broth, diced tomatoes, black beans and corn so I can control the amount of salt in the soup. If you use regular products, just note that the soup will be a little saltier.

Roughly chop peppers and onions. Be careful not to dice these veggies too small as they will soften quickly in the soup. You want them a little chunky to hold up in the soup.

Spice level. This soup is moderately spicy. If you’re not a fan of spicy food, just reduce the amount of fajita seasoning you add to the soup.

More soup recipes

• Bone Broth French Onion Soup
• Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup
• Roasted Red Pepper and Butternut Squash Soup
• Golden Beet Soup with Carrot and Ginger
• Roasted Pear and Parsnip Soup

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below!

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