A hearty and delicious soup that’s fit for anyone that likes a bit of spice, creaminess, and chunks of fantastic ingredients spread throughout each and every bite. A soup that captures all of the flavors of an enchilada, without the tortilla and added carbs – perfect for anyone on a ketogenic diet!
It’s preferred that you make your own chicken stock from leftover bones you have, but if you’re in a pinch of time, you can go with College Inn broth or more expensive (organic) broth over at Whole Foods/Trade Joe’s. The lime at the end will add just the perfect amount of acidity to compliment the sweetness that the tomatoes bring.
It’s always best to use as many fresh ingredients as possible, as there’s not too many ingredients and they all bring their own unique flavors to the party. For the meat, I prefer using a mixture of both breast and leg meat, but that part is totally up to you. Just remember that the more breast meat you use, the less fatty the final macros will be.
If you want to make this as an entree, feel free to add more chicken to bulk it up. Top it off with some shredded cheddar cheese or some sour cream. That will increase both the fat content and the protein content, along with making it more hearty and suitable for a dinner course!
So, what’s your favorite soup to make that’s packed full of flavor? Let us know in the comments below!
Yields 4 (1.5-cup) servings of Chicken Enchilada Soup
The Preparation
- 120 grams celery
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 6 ounces cooked chicken, shredded
- 1/2 medium lime, juiced
The Execution
1. Dice 3 stalks of celery (cut the tips off of each end) and 1 medium red bell pepper. Mince the 2 teaspoons of garlic (about 2 cloves) and get your cilantro out.
2. In a pot, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Once the oil is hot, add celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Let this cook until the celery softens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Once celery is cooked, add 1 cup diced tomatoes and stir well. Let this cook for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add spices and additional salt and pepper if needed. Stir this up and leave for a 1-2 minutes.
6. In the mean time, chop up the cilantro (make sure you cut the stems off). You’ll need about 1/2 cup in total.
7. Add 4 cups chicken broth and cilantro to the pan. Stir everything together.
8. Bring the soup up to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Let this simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Measure out the cream cheese and add it to the pan. Stir in well and bring to a boil again. Once boiling, turn to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
10. Shred the chicken with a fork. You can either cook this fresh as you’re making the soup or you can use leftover rotisserie chicken like I did.
11. Once simmered, add chicken to the pan and squeeze the lime juice over the top. Stir together until everything is mixed.
12. Serve up with extra limes and sour cream! You can additionally garnish with shredded cheese, extra bell pepper, or fresh cilantro.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Chicken Enchilada Soup. Each serving comes out to be 425 calories, 36.1g fats, 7.8g net carbs, and 16.2g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 120 gram celery | 19 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 |
| 1 medium red bell pepper | 36 | 0.4 | 6.9 | 2.4 | 4.5 | 1.1 |
| 2 teaspoon fresh garlic | 8 | 0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| 1/2 cup fresh cilantro | 2 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| 3 tablespoon olive oil | 358 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 cup fresh tomatoes | 30 | 0.3 | 6.4 | 2 | 4.4 | 1.5 |
| 2 teaspoon cumin | 15 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| 1 teaspoon dried oregano | 4 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 1 teaspoon chili powder | 8 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 4 cup chicken broth | 60 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 0 | 4.4 | 6.4 |
| 8 ounce cream cheese | 776 | 77.1 | 9.3 | 0 | 9.3 | 14 |
| 6 ounce cooked chicken | 374 | 22.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.1 |
| 1/2 medium lime | 10 | 0.1 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
| Totals | 1702 | 144.3 | 40.9 | 9.8 | 31.1 | 65 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 425 | 36.1 | 10.2 | 2.4 | 7.8 | 16.2 |

Chicken Enchilada Soup
Ingredients
- 120 gram celery
- 1 medium red bell pepper
- 2 teaspoon fresh garlic
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup fresh tomatoes diced
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 cup chicken broth
- 8 ounce cream cheese
- 6 ounce cooked chicken shredded
- ½ medium lime juiced
Instructions
- Dice the celery and red bell pepper. Mince the garlic and measure out the cilantro.
- Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add in the celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Let cook until the celery has softened. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Once the celery is cooked, add in the diced tomatoes and stir well. Let cook for 2–3 minutes.
- Add in the spices and any additional salt and pepper if needed. Mix and let cook for an additional 1–2 minutes.
- In the meantime, finely chop the cilantro, removing the stems.
- Add the chicken broth and cilantro to the pan. Stir everything together.
- Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Measure out the cream cheese and add it to the pot. Stir it in well and bring the mixture to a boil again. Once boiling, turn the heat back down to low and simmer for 20–25 minutes.
- Shred the cooked chicken with a fork.
- Once the soup has simmered, add in the chicken and squeeze over the lime juice on top. Stir together until everything is mixed.
- Serve and enjoy!

























Small typo – “11. Oce “
Woops, sorry about that Christy. I actually had onions in there too…which I was planning to put in but didn’t after calculating the carb count. My brain is slow when I haven’t had coffee in the morning 😛 Fixed up the typo – thanks for pointing it out!
Yum – I am loving all the diverse spices and herbs in this soup! This reminds me of a chicken enchilada soup I used to get at a little cafe close by. Though I tend to gravitate towards pumpkin based soups – this one would be a close second!!
Thanks Shashi! I made a pumpkin soup the other day, if you like pumpkin then that one will be right up your alley 🙂
I made this for dinner last night & was amazed with the final dish!!!! GREAT recipe Craig! thanks for sharing 🙂
Glad to hear it Elizabeth! I loved it too – my family wasn’t interested in it so more for me 😉
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
I don’t see why not. I’ve frozen other soups with similar consistency and had no problem. I kept this one in the fridge for a while and it kept just fine, also.
Thank you!
I just finished a bowl of this and liked it so much that I had to comment before my second bowl. I love creamy soups and anything with the zing of a lime is right up my alley! I did add fresh chopped jalapeno for an extra kick. Thanks for the recipe!
Haha, I’m glad you liked it so much to come back and post a comment! You know, I never liked soups too much to be honest, until I started making my own (and that has only been a very recent en devour). I’m really starting to like them too – and that jalapeno is an awesome idea. I was originally going to put jalapeno in this until I opened my fridge and didn’t see any 😛
Have my first batch getting ready to come off the stove right now! Can’t wait!
Is this pretty soupy or more bisque-y? (Please say bisque-y, please say bisque-y.)
Hey Jess, sorry for the late reply. The soup is in the middle, I suppose. It’s not super watery, but it’s not super thick, either. It’s kind of an in between of thicknesses – trust me, I think you’ll like it 🙂
Amazing soup!!! Made this last night as an accompaniment to “left-over night”, but the soup was all we ended up eating, lol. Will definitely be making this again, but will double or triple the recipe so we will have some leftover. So delicious, and perfect for rotisserie chicken. When I make something and the 15 yr old daughter, 21 yr old son who is pursuing a career as a chef, and the husband ALL like it, I know I have a winner!
Wow, that’s awesome news! I’m glad I could impress your whole family – next time add a bit of jalapeno to it too, it adds just the right amount of punch 🙂
This is perfect for all of that bone broth I just made this week. Chicken enchilada soup is one of the hubby’s absolute favorites.
Sounds awesome – hope you guys enjoy!
Hey Craig, this soup is amazing! I dropped a smoked ancho pepper in there for an additional smoldering smoky heat. The lime juice really ‘makes’ the soup, giving it a zesty freshness to break through some of the creaminess. Thanks!
That ancho pepper sounds fantastic. I’m glad to hear you liked it though, it was definitely one of my better soups lately 🙂
i know this question has been asked but what is considered a serving?
This made 4 total servings. I generally eye-ball my portions, but you could easily measure them out by weight.
Hi, Craig. I’m from AZ and grew up in TX, eating Mexican food all my life. One thing I find missing from most keto Mexican recipes is the iconic taste of ground corn meal (masa). Does this recipe manage to achieve that flavor? If so, which ingredients are making that magic happen?
Ben,
I would say that it doesn’t. Being that I’ve not had tons of Mexican and Southwest food growing up (or in general), I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint masa. Though I know a few people who have tried recipes where I tried to replicate it, they did say that the masa taste is absent. So, if you ever come up with a good replacement, let me know 🙂
This was my first Ruled.me recipe… and it was AMAZING. So delicious. Thank you!!! 🙂
Awesome to hear it – glad it turned out well! 🙂
Could you eliminate the tomatoes (- 6 carbs) and add one tablespoon of masa harina
(+ 5 carbs) to make it taste like authentic enchilada soup? This also thickens the soup somewhat.
I rarely come across a recipe so good that I come back to leave a comment, but this soup was just that wonderful!!! My entire family loved it…even my daughter who hates cilantro. I also served a bowl to a friend who stopped by unexpectedly, and she took one bite, stopped and looked up and said “OH MY GOD…THIS IS AMAZING!”. We served it with a dollop of sour cream and cubed up avocado. Delicious! Thank you for this…it’s a keeper!!!
I have made this soup several times now and it is wonderful, I had to give the recipe to everyone at work. I added jalepnos to mine. So Good.
Craig, do you give the info on the size of each serving somewhere that I’m not seeing?
All of the serving sizes are located above the nutritional table (on almost all recipes on the site). For this specific recipe, it’s 4 servings. Hope that helps!
This recipe rocked my world! The seasonings are perfect!
Thanks so much – my family was a huge fan when I made it, so I knew I had to put it up on the website 🙂
This is amazingly delicious!
Thanks so much – I hope you get the chance to try it out!
I made it last night and it was delicious. I doubled it (except the cream cheese) and the kids even ate it! Lot’s of lime!!
Awesome to hear it. I know it’s always a soup that I get asked to make when I visit my parents, but I’m always trying to experiment. Glad your whole family loved it!
This is amazing. It is my boyfriend’s new “go to” favorite, I make 1 huge batch per month and freeze it in small batches so that he never runs out.
Awesome to hear it! I hope you’re enjoying it just as much as him 🙂
Hi Craig – I apologize if this was previously discussed…6 oz of chicken seems quite low for 4 servings at 320 calories and 24 grams of fat. Is 6 oz of chicken correct? I adore soups and can’t wait to try this one!
It’s correct, yes. It’s to keep the fat ratio quite high, though. If you want more chicken, you can definitely add it if your macros allow.
Seriously the best soup I have had in a while. This is the first recipe I have tried from your website and because of that I will definitely be trying more! Wonderful!
Love your site.
Thank you so much Irene!
Made this two nights ago and it was fantastic. I used the leftover chicken for an omelette the next day and OMG.
OMG…I am in LOVE with this soup!
I just made this dish! So delicious!! I love your website and I’ve been telling my friends about all the amazing recipes on here! I don’t feel miserable eating low carb anymore because of the delicious recipes!
the best way I have found to shred chicken is with a hand mixer (beaters) while the chicken is still hot. it takes all of 30 seconds to do and comes out perfect.
Another hit with the hubby. This site has fantastic recipes!
I just made this and it was so good! I’ve never made a soup before, but I had a lot of the ingredients already and it seemed pretty simple so I did. I used shredded pork, because I had some already and also added a jalapeno. It is fantastic! I will definitely make again. Love these recipes, your site has become my go-to for keto!
I made this today and it was fantastic! I did make my own chicken broth from a chicken we’ve been eating off of the past couple of days. We will definitely keep this in our dinner rotation, thanks for sharing! The only substitution I made was I used chipotle powder instead of chili powder because that’s what we had. Delicious!!
Ooooh chipotle powder sounds awesome. Homemade chicken broth is the best 😀
Oh man! I’m still in the beginning of my lchf journey and a delicious dish like this makes it easy to continue! I love Mexican food so much and felt sorry to give up chips and salsa and tortilla wrapped items, but this soup provides the all the flavors I love and it was so filling.
Pretty easy to prepare as well.- I also used leftover rotisserie chicken and I used boxed chicken broth. I was nervous that it was too spicy with the cayenne pepper, but the cream cheese soothes it down a bit. If you are sensitive to spice, perhaps add that 1/2 tsp a bit at a time and see if it’s good for you.
Thank you for such great content!
Check out the tortilla recipes we have on the site, too – you may not have to give those up, either 😉
Really glad you liked the soup – I’m always happy to hear people’s feedback!
This was delicious!
Hi! This could be an odd question, but could I use canned chicken? I’ve never in my life used canned chicken for anything and have some on hand. I’m dying to try this recipe and have everything but the shredded chicken!
You definitely could (I used to use canned chicken ALL the time in my college years). It won’t be as flavorful, but it will get the job done if you’re looking for a quick/easy alternative.
Thank you!
Absolutely love this soup and make it weekly. Just wondering about the calories on the cream cheese though. You list 560 for 8 ounces, but my Philly cream cheese for 8 ounces says 800 cal.
Hi Jane, you’re correct…I think the nutrition table had the info for a lower fat cheese. I’ve updated the table to show USDA information. (Which is here: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/nd… )
Thank you for making the correction. The soup is so fantastic and satisfying… Worth every calorie!
Thank you Jane!
I’ve made this recipe about 8 times in my 8 weeks of Keto. It’s the only one I haven’t convinced my 5 year old to try, but I’m ok with that because more leftovers for me!
Hahah! When that happens with my kid I get kind of excited too….
I have a Thai Chicken Soup recipe that’s so good. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of sugar which can easily be eliminated, everything else is right on the money for keto-ing. I have just discovered this recipe and can’t wait to try it. I’m just getting started on keto so scouring for good and easy foods. Thank you for this one!
Hi, sounds great – making it right now! One question: you don’t mention the garlic in the instructions. I put it in once the oil was hot (before adding the celery and red pepper), but is that part of ‘spices’ in the execution?
Sorry about that Kathy, I see it appears in the instructions where you cook the celery and peppers but not in the printable instructions. I’ll fix it!
Love it!
This is, hands down the most delicious soup I have EVER tasted! I almost think I could be satisfied on the “Enchilada Soup Diet” for quite some time. 🙂 I’m deathly allergic to poultry but I easily substituted with shredded pork from a pot roast I made for the fam… OUTSTANDING!
Well done and many thanks for this!
That sounds amazing Christine!
This was the best soup I’ve ever made!!! I’m lazy so I threw it all in the crockpot, adding the cream cheese about 30 min before serving and shredding the chicken breasts after they had been cooking in there all day. This was awesome thanks so much for sharing–will be making again and again!!
Thank you!
Alisha do you remember how long you cooked it for? As a busy mom of a newborn I would love to throw mine into the slow cooker or even instant-pot this. Thanks for the idea and posting that it still came out successful!
I cooked it on low for about 6 hours I think, maybe 7 tops. I just pulled the chicken out to test its tenderness and it pretty much fell apart so I knew it was done. You could do on high for 4 or 5 hours though if you’re in a time crunch. I also added some xanthan gum at the end to thicken if you’re into that. Can’t say enough about this–everyone who tried it loved it!!!
I’m so glad you liked it!
What is xanthan gum an where do you purchase it?
It’s a thickener. Many food stores carry it nowadays, but ordering online is usually the easiest way to get it for a reasonable price.
Just made it mmmmmm!
I just made this and YUM!! The only thing I did differently is that I used a can of Rotel in place of the tomatoes and I added the garlic at the very last minute of the cooking time for the peppers and celery so it didn’t burn. I’ll make this every week!
My wife can’t have dairy. Is there a way to make this non-dairy? Would need to substitute the cream cheese with something.
This soup is AWESOME. I think it’s my fav recipe from this site. I wanted to make it this week-end but didn’t have all the ingredients… so I threw in a handfull of chopped spinach instead of the bell pepper and topped it off with a sliced green oignon at the end to replace half of the tomatoes. It was great and added a little crunchy
Yum! I love how you made it your own with what you had. 🙂
what is your definition of a serving?
For this recipe it’s 1.5 cups.
Wanting to know if this recipe calls for a whole STALK of celery or is it a typo and they mean RIB of celery, because 3 STALKS of celery is celery soup.
I just used a rib of celery (I’ve always called them stalks), and I chopped off each end piece.
I personally recommend adding the cilantro & cream cheese at the end. I like my cilantro to be “fresh” and cream cheese isn’t going to benefit from simmering for 30 minutes. Blend it in once you take the soup off of the heat!
I made this for dinner this evening. It was really delicious. I only used two cups chicken bouillon, and added a bit more chicken than was called for in the recipe…..and used canned, crushed tomatoes. This recipe is a keeper. It tasted great even before I added the cream cheese!
I love the deep, bold flavor, the textures, and that the process is not too involved. I’ve never been a soup-lover, but this is definitely my favorite soup EVER. I do add extra chicken and reduce the broth a bit for a thicker soup so that we can scoop it with chips; the kids like that. I love this soup so much that I make a huge batch every other month or so, and I freeze many bowls of it to offer friends, folks in need, postpartum families, and for stressful or lazy nights. We pop a block of soup in the slow cooker and it’s ready for dinner with minimal energy/time used.