Pressure Cooker Creamy Enchilada Soup
Creamy enchilada soup has all of the flavor of homemade enchiladas in an easy Instant Pot soup recipe! This easy pressure cooker creamy enchilada soup recipe is a comforting welcome to fall.
Hey everybody! It’s Marci from the food side of TIDBITS. From the moment September shows up on my calendar, my food brain makes a switch to all things pumpkin, squash, and apple.
I’m not one that mourns the passing of summer. I always love the idea of summer, but then there is the HEAAAAT, and oh yeah, sunscreen makes me break out, and, oh I forgot about how much I loathe yard work and bugs and fair rides that make me nauseous… It’s kind of like the time I told my husband (then boyfriend) how much I loved the idea of camping.
So to break into fall, I’m showing you how to make one of my family’s favorite recipes that I’ve adapted to the pressure cooker. It’s jam packed with all the best end of summer produce and the toppings (love my toppings!) are diverse and customizable.
This recipe originally came from an AMAZING food blogger named Mel, over at melskitchencafe.com. Mel puts out some delicious food and this enchilada soup, that is so not the same ol’ enchilada soup, is one of my favorite pressure cooker chicken recipes from her site.
Making Creamy Enchilada Soup in an Instant Pot
Quite honestly, you won’t be saving much cooking time from the original recipe, but the fact that I could throw it all in, push a button and walk away (and also completely forget about it because I was getting a princess makeover from my daughter), makes this amazing recipe move to the top of the charts!
Since I love to side track, let’s talk about veggies and kids for a second. While I’m not into hiding my kids veggies in their food, I’m 100% into pretending I don’t understand or hear the question, “So what exactly is in this” until after they’ve tried their food and decided they like it. Which is how this soup experience went down.
Butternut squash, onions, chilies, red bell peppers, garlic, and potatoes get blended into the base until it’s so perfectly silky and rich (with absolutely no cream!). All my kids see are white beans and juicy chunks of chicken.
Top it with cheese and crushed chips and they’ll eat three bowls of it! Of course, my bowl tops out at ten veggies after I add pico de gallo, avocado, corn, sour cream, cheese, hot sauce and crushed whole grain tortilla chips! Heaven in a bowl right there!
And if you’ve ever debated whether an immersion blender was worth owning, this recipe, that you will likely make again and again, will be the perfect time to take that plunge. I’ve had this blender for years and I love it so, so much. You can totally blend the soup in batches in a blender (kind of a pain), but for real, an immersion blender is where it’s at!
And since enchilada soup wouldn’t be the same without an insane amount of toppings, lets take a moment to break it down a little. Our base layer is veggie packed and contains my favorite white cannellini beans, and juicy chunks of chicken.
Then to make it magical, we first add cheese (so it can melt over top the hot soup), then juicy gems of barely cooked fresh corn, fresh pico de gallo, creamy cool avocado, and finally a handful of crushed salty goodness (i.e. whole grain tortilla chips). Then if you’re like my crew, you take it a bit too far by adding a huge dollop of sour cream and half a bottle of Cholula! Yum!
Enjoy this break into fall soup and get ready for cool nights, colorful mountains, and the smell of cinnamon everywhere you go!
Ingredients
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 3 medium size boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 3.5 ounce can chopped green chilies
- 1 yellow onion coarsely chopped
- 3 large russet potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 red bell pepper cored, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 8 cups peeled cubed butternut squash (about 24 ounces)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning store bought or homemade recipe to follow
- 2 15 ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- Additional toppings: pico de gallo sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh or canned corn, diced avocado, Cholula hot sauce, whole grain tortilla chips, etc
Taco Seasoning Mix
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Whisk together taco seasoning ingredients if using homemade version.
- Add chicken broth, chicken, green chilies, onion, potatoes, pepper, squash, garlic, salt, cumin, tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning to the pressure cooker pot and gently stir.
- Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
- When cooking is complete, use a natural release. Can also use a natural release for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure.
- Remove chicken and place on a cutting board, cover with foil. Using an immersion blender, blend soup until very smooth (this can also be done in batches with a blender but be careful not to overfill the blender! Place a towel over the lid and gently pulse before turning the speed up to blend). Chop or shred chicken and return it to the pot of soup. Add cannellini beans and stir.
- To serve, ladle soup into a bowl, immediately sprinkle with cheese and top with desired toppings.
Notes
Going crazy among pressure cooking fans is our new, BLOW YOUR MIND, method for making instant vanilla extract in the pressure cooker!
It is amazingly delicious and potent, and made in minutes verses months!
Or if you need a little more mexican food in your life, try our Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers with Chipotle Lime Sauce.
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I made this last night with just a few slight changes. I thought it was quite tasty.
CHANGES:
Used 2 very small sweet potatoes in place of butternut squash (because that is what I had on hand)
Used 1 can of chunk chicken instead of chicken breasts (cutting down on meat)
Used only 1 can of beans. I think next time it would be nice to use black beans.
This recipe is easily adaptable and easy to throw together. I served it with cheese, avocado and crushed tortilla chips. I liked the fact that it had “hidden” veggies in it.
It sounds like a delicious way to change it up. Thanks for sharing Wendy!
Will this fit in a 6 quart IP?
Hi Janet – yes, all the recipes are written for a 6 quart pressure cooker. Enjoy!
It BARELY fit in mine, and I used less butternut than it called for. Next time I would halve a few of the veggie amounts and put in less liquid (because it also makes more than a family of four can eat in 2 meals).
This looks great but can you please tell me how much in ounces/pounds how much chicken and potatoes to use instead of just the number of items?
Hi Pamela – a large potato weighs about 8 ounces – so you’ll want about one and one half pounds. A chicken breast weighs about 8 ounces as well – so you’ll want about one and one half pounds of chicken breasts. Although in a soup like this, being precise isn’t really necessary. Enjoy!
Would it work to use frozen sweet potato chunks in place of the Butternut Squash? It’s sometimes hard to find Squash already cleaned and cut in the produce section. Maybe it’s an in Season luxury.
Hi Cheryl – I haven’t tried it, but I assume frozen sweet potato chunks should work well.
Can you omit the potatoes? Watching our carbs.
Sure, you can omit the potatoes.
This soup was AMAZING! I followed the recipe exactly and used the included recipe for taco seasoning. Next time I will use hot canned green chili peppers instead of mild for a little added kick. Thank you!!
Thanks Rebecca – sounds like a delicious change to me.
Soup is very good, I used canned chicken. Good way to use my butternut squash.
Does the chicken have to be thawed or can I place in frozen chicken?
Hi Shannon – you could use frozen chicken in this recipe with no changes.
I have made this at least three times now and we love it. Such a great way to sneak in veggies. I’m always looking for hearty, veggie-filled meals and this one is delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
Thanks Caitlin!
The very first recipe I’ve ever made in a pressure cooker. And it was OH SO GOOD!!!!! I just bought the old school pressure cooker that makes you afraid that you’re going to blow the house down…and it was too small for the whole recipe, so I did it in two batches. Can’t wait to try more recipes from this site!!
Kristin,
Yay, I’m so glad you liked it!
I can’t wait to try this, so I’m off to the store tomorrow for the ingredients I don’t have.
Since getting my epc, I’ve discovered that I totally love freshly cooked dried beans so much more than canned, I’ll be making this with them. My plan is to cook the beans in the broth and spices, then remove the beans, add the squash and potatoes, and cook a bit longer, then puree, add the raw, chopped chicken, corn and beans, and cook for another 5 minutes. Mmmm, here I go!
Sounds like a good plan to me. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Jane, That’s a great idea. I’m gonna try that the next time.
Bless you Marci-methinks you just gave me a way to get butternut squash into my “I don’t LIKE butternut squash ” husband. I”ll hide it in the soup! He LOVES Mexican anything so this will be made soon-soup weather is fast approaching here in New England.
Off to pin this so I can find it fast later, then I’m going to check out the pressure cooker vanilla extract….WHAAAT?
Thanks so much!
Carol
I happen to be the butternut squash hater in my family, but pureed I think it’s sweet and luscious! I make a mac and cheese with it as my sauce and it’s absolutely heavenly! And yes please, try the vanilla and report back!
My husband and I loved this soup. We had peppers and the squash that needed to be used up before they went bad. He put chopped jalepeno on his. I chopped up cilantro. We had no beans so they were left out and I forgot to do the natural release. The extra taco seasoning is going on our popcorn. Thanks so much for the delightful recipe.
Wow! You made it already! I’m impressed. My husband and I love spicy, the jalapeños will definitely be coming out next time I make it. Glad you enjoyed it!