This vegetarian tortilla soup is so flavorful and quick! It’s an easy healthy soup recipe from the popular Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook.
Ready for an easy healthy soup that tastes so flavorful you’d think it’s been simmering all day? Meet our Vegetarian Tortilla Soup! Ready in a little over 30 minutes, it’s full of flavor and one of our favorites for a rainy afternoon. This vegetarian tortilla soup is also vegan and gluten-free, so it fits a variety of diets. I was recently at an elementary school Career Day and showed the video below to a room of 5th graders: this soup got VERY enthusiastic responses. (It looks so good! I want to make it!) We’ve tested our vegetarian tortilla soup on all sorts of kiddos so we think it’s kid-friendly as well. Keep reading for the recipe.
Watch how to make vegetarian tortilla soup
Words are helpful to describe food and cooking, but seeing the process is even more powerful. We wanted to give you a glimpse of what a recipe from Pretty Simple Cooking looks like in person, and we chose this vegetarian tortilla soup. It’s one of our favorite quick soups that also turns out beautiful with all the garnishes!
Related: Try this soup with homemade Mexican Crema on top!
How to make vegetarian tortilla soup
One of our secret ingredients to amp up vegetarian dishes is adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers. This ingredient is in several of our recipes in our Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook: for example, our red and green enchiladas, and the chipotle aioli sauce for cauliflower tacos. All you need from the can is a bit of the sauce (not the hot peppers!). Typically, we freeze the remainder of the can for later use. Using only a tablespoon of the adobo sauce gives this tortilla soup big flavor without making it overly spicy.
If you can find it, frozen fire-roasted corn brings big flavor to this vegetarian tortilla soup! And what sends it over the top is the garnishes: homemade tortilla strips, radishes, cilantro, and a squeeze of tangy lime, making for a healthy and easy weeknight dinner. It’s one of our very favorite vegetarian Mexican recipes.
About the book: Pretty Simple Cooking
The recipe is a preview recipe from our cookbook, Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious. It’s a collection of our 100 best recipes that are at the intersection of what we think are the big three: healthy, delicious, and pretty simple to make. In the book, we also share our top 10 lessons for how to cook healthy food in the long-run. Instead of fad diets and cleanses, learn to cook sustainably healthy food at home!
The book has all vegetarian and vegan recipes, with plenty of gluten-free options. There’s also a full-color photo for every one of the 100 recipes: something we made our publisher promise to, since we think the visual aspect of cooking is so important. Read more about the book, including testimonials from real life readers.
Get the book! Pretty Simple Cooking
This recipe is…
This vegetarian tortilla soup is vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Get the book!
Looking for more vegetarian recipes?
Outside of this vegetarian tortilla soup recipe, here are a few of our favorite vegetarian soup recipes and other vegetarian dinners that are delicious and healthy:
- Tortellini Soup with Basil
- Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup Recipe
- Easy Tomato Basil Soup
- Creamy Corn Chowder (or Vegan Corn Chowder)
- Cauliflower Soup with Moroccan Spices
- Cozy Farro & Brussels Sprouts Soup
- Tomato Sage Chickpea Soup
- Red Lentil Soup
- Tuscan Soup with White Beans
- Golden Vegetable Soup Recipe
- 28 Day Healthy Meal Plan
- Easy Dinner Recipes for Family
- Best Healthy Dinner Recipes
- Easy Vegetarian Recipes for Beginners
- 12 Easy Dutch Oven Recipes
Related: Try using our Homemade Vegetable Broth for this recipe!
PrintVegetarian Tortilla Soup
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
Description
This vegetarian tortilla soup is so flavorful and quick! It’s an easy healthy soup recipe from the popular Pretty Simple Cooking cookbook.
Ingredients
For the tortilla strips
- 6 6-inch corn tortillas
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
For the vegetarian tortilla soup
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 medium garlic cloves
- 2 15-ounce cans black beans
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1½ cups frozen corn ( fire roasted, if possible)
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
- 1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 4 radishes, for garnish
- 1 lime, for garnish
- 1 handful cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Make the tortilla strips: Brush the tortillas lightly with olive oil on each side. Using a pizza cutter, slice them in half, then into thin strips. Place the strips on a baking sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until crispy and lightly browned.
- Prep the veggies: Peel and dice the onion. Dice the green pepper. Peel and mince the garlic. Drain and rinse the beans.
- Make the soup: In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and sauté the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper and the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in the oregano and the cumin for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, beans, corn, adobo sauce, broth, and kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and add additional adobo sauce or kosher salt if desired.
- Prep the garnishes: Slice the radishes. Slice the lime into wedges.
- Serve: To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and allow to cool to warm. Garnish with the tortilla strips, radishes, torn cilantro leaves, hot sauce, and plenty of lime juice.
Notes
Excerpted from A Couple Cooks | Pretty Simple Cooking: 100 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes to Make You Fall in Love with Real Food by Sonja Overhiser and Alex Overhiser. Copyright © 2018. Available from Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: Chipotle, Tortilla Soup, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegan Soup, Vegetarian Soup, Black Bean Soup, Black Beans, Mexican Soup, Mexican, Meatless
20 Comments
Claire
February 18, 2018 at 10:10 amI made this soup for the #PrettySimpleDinnerParty and all my friends LOVED it! They couldn’t believe I had thrown it together in less than 30 minutes. I’ll definitely be making this a staple meal in the winter.
-Claire
tallgirlbigworld.com
Sonja
March 14, 2018 at 1:41 pmOoo we’re so glad to hear this was a hit at the Pretty Simple Dinner Party! This one always surprises me that the flavor is so developed after just 30 minutes — it’s that magic adobo sauce :) Thanks for making it, Claire!
Beth
February 19, 2018 at 11:51 amGreat video (you have an easy to listen to, soothing voice) and the soup looks yummy! Is there an accompanying recipe? Thanks!
Sonja
March 14, 2018 at 1:39 pmThank you so much! Haha about a soothing voice — I’m so glad :) The recipe is actually in our new cookbook — Pretty Simple Cooking! It’s available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold!
Tara
December 10, 2019 at 6:57 pmDelicious! The whole family loved it. The local supermarket didn’t have fire roasted corn but I remember seeing some at Trader Joe’s. I’ll grab some next time I am there because I think it would really take it up another notch.
Rich
January 14, 2020 at 7:17 pmSo I’ve been trying to coerce the ol lady into going meatless but it’s an uphill battle with many nights of me sleeping in the garage:). Anyway, I did convince her to let me cook for a week and I made this tonight. It very flavorful, and even my finicky seven year old liked it! The wife had never had radishes before and she loved the “texture” it adds and whenever I can get her to say “texture”, I’ve won! Kudos to you!
Cheers,
Rich
Griffamzo
March 8, 2020 at 1:51 amWould love to know the sodium level. I don’t see it in the nutrition panel.
Alex Overhiser
March 9, 2020 at 9:37 amIt’s really going to depend on your brand of beans and broth. The 1 teaspoon of kosher salt has about 1,800 milligrams.
Tessa
March 29, 2020 at 6:51 pmWe were so sick of pasta during the quarantine that I sought out a soup recipe. Glad I stumbled on this one! My family loved it! I’m the only vegetarian in the house so I usually get slack for what I make and there was only rave reviews. My one sister is going to make a variation of chilaquiles with it for breakfast tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe
Alex Overhiser
March 29, 2020 at 7:53 pmAwesome! Glad you enjoyed!
paige
March 30, 2020 at 5:03 pmtip: do not put the tortilla shells in the oven for that long! i almost caught my house on fire. make sure you watch them
Olivia
May 7, 2020 at 1:16 pmDELICIOUS. You guys are wonderful!
Alex Overhiser
May 8, 2020 at 9:55 amSo glad you enjoyed!
Tiffany Walters
September 10, 2020 at 2:37 pmI make this at least 2 times a month. It’s so delicious and filling. Thank you.
Alex Overhiser
September 14, 2020 at 12:19 pmWe love to hear this! So glad you enjoy :)
Liz Steele
September 22, 2020 at 8:14 pmI’m a new vegetarian and this soup is a 5 star for me! Thanks!
Alex Overhiser
September 22, 2020 at 9:01 pmSo glad you enjoyed it! :)
Cass
October 16, 2020 at 4:36 pmThanks for the recipe. I made it last night and it was delicious. I froze 1/2 because I’m the only vegetarian in my house. It will be great to pull out when I don’t want to cook a separate dinner for myself.
Donna C
October 21, 2020 at 6:49 pmI made this recipe over the weekend as the weather has gotten colder…and it’s soup weather. I followed the recipe with one exception. I added 2 1/2 tablespoons of adobo sauce to the soup instead of just 1 tablespoon. The soup is really spicy, and it is so good! I froze half of the soup, so I can pull it on cold nights. I will definitely be making this again…soon! Thank you for this great recipe!
Alex Overhiser
October 21, 2020 at 9:00 pmYou’re welcome! We like it with some extra heat too; it’ll definitely warm you up :)