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.
Related: Easy Vegetarian Recipes for Beginners | 12 Easy Dutch Oven Recipes
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, vibrant bowl meal.
Related: 28 Day Healthy Meal Plan | Easy Dinner Recipes for Family | Best Healthy Dinner 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.
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Looking for more vegetarian and vegan soup recipes?
Outside of this vegetarian tortilla soup recipe, here are a few of our favorite vegetarian soup recipes (all vegan, too!) 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
- Vibrant Spring Green Soup
- Green Pea Soup with Chive Flowers
- Tuscan Soup with White Beans
- Golden Vegetable Soup Recipe
Related: Try using our Homemade Vegetable Broth for this recipe!
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Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
(16 votes, average: 4.69 out of 5)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
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.
Make the vegetarian tortilla soup: Peel and dice the onion. Dice the green pepper. Peel and mince the garlic. Drain and rinse the beans.
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.
Prepare the garnishes: Slice the radishes. Slice the lime into wedges.
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
About the Authors
Sonja Overhiser
Cookbook Author and writer
Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.
Alex Overhiser
Cookbook Author and photographer
Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.
4 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!