This creamy paleo chicken enchilada soup is packed with flavor, healthy, and so hearty and filling. It comes together in just 30 minutes and is perfect for weeknights. Whole30 compliant, dairy-free, so comforting!
Who says you need dairy to make a creamy soup?! Recreating comfort foods is something I’ve come to love to do on this blog!
Sure – we all know cheese tastes great. BUT just because you’re avoiding it for health reasons doesn’t mean you have to feel deprived of all things delicious! This chicken enchilada soup contains no dairy of any kind but is still packed with flavor, and yes – it’s actually creamy.
A Whole30 enchilada sauce from Siete Foods (which is coming soon and I will link it here as soon as it’s available!) made this soup incredibly quick and easy to throw together since you don’t have to make your own enchilada sauce.
If you want to prepare your own paleo and Whole30 friendly enchilada sauce, I recommend using this recipe from Against All Grain. Most store bought brands that I’ve found contain cornstarch and/or sugar unfortunately – but if you don’t mind cornstarch you can try this sauce from Whole Foods.
What You Need to Make Chicken Enchilada Soup:
I used chicken thighs for the cooked chicken, but you can use any chicken you want – breasts, thighs, rotisserie (Whole30 compliant if you need!) or anything else.
Note: If you’re making the enchilada sauce yourself, I recommend doing it the day before to save time!
- avocado oil
- onion
- garlic
- bell peppers
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Tapioca or arrowroot flour
- chicken broth or bone broth
- red enchilada sauce, Siete Foods brand or homemade (for Whole30)
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, fire roasted
- 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
- ground cumin
- cooked, shredded chicken
- coconut cream
- nutritional yeast
- lime juice (or lemon juice)
- Avocado, sliced for garnish
- Cilantro, chopped, for garnish
How to Make Paleo Chicken Enchilada Soup
First, make sure you have all our ingredients in front of you, prepped, and ready to go. The soup will cook fast so it helps to be ready, have cans opened, spices measured, etc.
Heat the oil in a large stock over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes, or until translucent and fragrant. Add the garilc and peppers, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and saute for an additional 3-5 minutes until soft and fragrant.
Sprinkle the mixture with the tapioca or arrowroot and stir to coat. Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring, and stir well to completely combine.
Stir in the enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes, green chiles, and cumin, and stir until combined. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally (the soup will thicken as it cooks).
Add the chicken and reduce heat to medium-low. Let the soup simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the soup simmers, whisk together the coconut cream, nutritional yeast, and lime juice. Stir the mixture into the simmering soup to combine well. Taste the soup and season with salt as desired and allow to simmer 5 more minutes or longer, if desired. Garnish and serve hot!
Can I Sub Something Else in For the Coconut Cream?
A question I receive again and again is if the coconut cream can be omitted or replaced with something. Most of the time, it’s because the person isn’t a fan of coconut flavor and doesn’t want the whole recipe tasting like coconut!
First, I can assure you that a small amount of coconut cream, combined with all the other flavors, won’t overpower the taste of the soup. That said, if you hate coconut, can’t have it, or don’t have it on hand, you can easily omit it from this soup. You can replace it with plain nut pods, plain unsweetened almond milk, or any other dairy free milk you prefer.
Additionally, if you CAN have dairy, heavy cream would be the way to go here. Along with cheese. Yes, if you can eat dairy you’ll probably want to add cheese to this soup so go for it!
Toppings for Chicken Enchilada Soup
Now for the fun part – toppings! Let’s start with Whole30 options first. You’ll definitely want to add some cilantro and avocado, or even make some easy guac and put a big scoop of it on top 🙂
To keep it paleo you can also add some grain free tortilla chips (although this is not Whole30!) The crunch and flavor will go perfectly with the creamy soup and avocado! And once again if cheese is okay – some melty cheddar would be great stirred in.
I hope you’re ready for a totally DEEELISH creamy paleo chicken enchilada soup that’s quick, easy, and sure to become a new favorite! Grab your ingredients and a soup pot and let’s go!
Chicken Enchilada Soup {Paleo, Whole30}
Chicken Enchilada Soup {Paleo, Dairy-Free, Whole30}
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium bell peppers diced
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp tapioca flour or arrowroot
- 3 cups chicken broth or bone broth
- 1 1/4 cups red enchilada sauce siete brand or homemade
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, fire roasted
- 1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 3 - 3 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken (about 1 1/2 lbs boneless breasts or thighs)
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp lime juice or lemon juice
- Sea salt to taste
- Avocado sliced for garnish
- Cilantro chopped, for garnish
- Grain free tortilla chips Siete brand if desired (not Whole30)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large stock over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and saute for 3 minutes, or until translucent and fragrant. Add the garilc and peppers, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and saute for an additional 3-5 minutes until soft and fragrant.
- Sprinkle the mixture with the arrowroot or tapioca and stir to coat. Slowly pour in the chicken broth, stirring, and stir well to completely combine.
- Stir in the enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes, green chiles, and cumin, and stir until combined. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. The soup will thicken as it cooks.
- Add the chicken, reduce heat to medium-low and let the soup simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the soup simmers, whisk together the coconut cream, nutritional yeast, and lime juice. Stir the mixture into the simmering soup to combine well. Taste the soup and season with salt as desired and allow to simmer 5 more minutes or longer, if desired. Serve hot garnished with avocado and cilantro if desired.
Nutrition
Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More Whole30 Soup Recipes? Try One of These!
Stuffed Pepper Soup in the Instant Pot
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the recipe for the red enchilada sauce, can`t find it in the supermarket
This was so easy to make and my family loved it. Can’t wait to make it again
I substituted some whole 30 salsa because I didn’t have green chilies or enchilada sauce.
This was so easy to make and my family loved it.
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The recipe says coconut cream but the picture below the recipe under “shop products and ingredients” shows coconut milk. Which should be used for the recipe?
Great tasting soup! Easy make-ahead meal. My family loved it!
Best soup ever
This was delicious with just the right amount of spiciness.
My husband said “this is really good” at least 4 times.
Great soup. It was very easy to make. I had some leftover chicken. I added some extra leftover veggies like carrots and zucchini. I made enchilada sauce from scratch since I didn’t have any.
It looks so interesting, I will definitely make this tonight, thanks a lot for the recipe you shared.
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Your website is my absolute favorite for discovering whole30 meals that my non-compliant family will eat! I had leftover shredded beef from last night’s roast, used that in place of the chicken. Added beef broth instead of chicken. Followed the rest as directed. This was completely delicious! A new family favorite!
Great recipe! I made this for meal prep lunches for my husband and I for the week and we both raved over it.
If cooking a day in advance to bring to a postpartum momma, should you wait to add the cream until right before drop off? Or will it be okay following the exact recipe, staying refrigerated 24 hours, and reheating? Thanks!
Love this soup! I make it all the time now. It has replaced my chili that was so good but not exactly Paleo. I followed the recipe to a tee, used lime juice and its so good! I put a dollop of plain coconut yogurt on top for “sour cream” or use the left over coconut cream for topping.
I recommend this! Delicious
OMG so good! Even my “discerning” children really liked it! Used homemade enchilada sauce and adapted it for the slow cooker (add the arrowroot and coconut cream/n. yeast at the end) and it was delish!
also was out of cumin so sub 1/2tsp coriander and it was perfect!
Loved this soup! Made my own enchilada sauce with hot Mexican style chili powder to give it a good kick.
Made the enchilada sauce featured in the recipe and the soup. Very tasty!!
This soup was fantastic! My family loved it. Will definitely be making it again. Thanks for the recipe.