The Best Vegan Tortilla Soup

4.93 from 27 votes

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This vegan tortilla soup might just be the best you ever make! This recipe is healthy, gluten-free and easy to make with simple ingredients.

The Best Vegan Tortilla Soup in two bowls topped with avocado, cilantro and tortillas.

How to Make Vegan Tortilla Soup

First up, chop the onion, garlic and jalapeno and saute them in the olive oil until they’re soft and fragrant.

Onions, garlic and jalapeno cooking in a soup pot for making vegan tortilla soup.
Onions, garlic and jalapeno cooking in a soup pot for making vegan tortilla soup.

After they’ve softened, add the tortilla – yes, a WHOLE tortilla, a small one, like for tacos, chop it up and throw it in.

Add the spices, broth and diced tomatoes too. I like fire-roasted diced tomatoes best! You can use any vegetable stock or broth but I like this bouillon from Better than Bouillon.

Garlic powder, diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, broth and jalepeno in a soup pot for making vegan tortilla soup.

Cook that up for 10 minute or so, a light simmer is perfect. It should be smelling pretty amazing by now!

Vegan tortilla soup in a blue soup post with a wooden spoon.

After that has simmered a bit, add the cilantro and black beans and you’re almost there!

The best vegan tortilla soup in a pot topped with cilantro and black beans and a lime on the side.
Chunky vegan tortilla soup in a soup pot with a wooden spoon and a lime on the side.

After you stir those in, you can either transfer about 2/3 of the soup to a blender and pulse a few times to smooth it out or use an immersion blender right in the pot.

Don’t completely pulverize it, a little chunkiness is good!

Vegan tortilla soup in a blender.
The best vegan tortilla soup in a soup pot topped with cilantro and avocado.

Best Tortilla Soup Toppings

As much as I love tortilla soup, I think the toppings might actually be my favourite part. Try topping your soup with:

  • avocado
  • cilantro
  • lime
  • crispy tortilla strips
  • shredded vegan cheese
  • vegan sour cream

How to Make Crispy Tortilla Strips

To make these amazing crispy, salted tortilla strips, I used my favourite white corn tortillas from La Tortilla Factory. These guys make a mean, authentic tortilla and they’re my go-to for tacos, burritos and other Mexican-inspired dishes.

They’re soft, thick and chewy and when fried in a pan, they puff up and come to a perfect crisp, absolutely perfect for adding to this soup! I also added 1 tortilla right into the soup and I think that really helped bring it all together!

Overhead view into a bowl of tortilla soup topped with avocado, tortilla strips and cilantro.

Vegan Tortilla Soup Recipe

The best part of this tortilla soup? You only need a few simple ingredients and it can be ready in about 20 minutes. It’s super easy to make yet the flavour of this simple, vegan soup absolutely delivers.

More Healthy Soups

Loving this tortilla soups? Here are more delicious and healthy vegan soups to try:

More Recipes to Try!

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Bowl of tortilla soup topped with avocado, cilantro and tortilla strips.
4.93 from 27 votes

The Best Vegan Tortilla Soup

By: Deryn Macey
This vegan tortilla soup is easy to make in about 20 minutes with simple, everyday ingredients. It might just be the Best Vegan Tortilla Soup there is! Top it with avocado, lime, cilantro and tortilla strips for a comforting, healthy and absolutely delicious meal.
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
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Ingredients 

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 small white onion, diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 jalapeño, seeded and diced
  • 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted if possible
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 6-8 ” inch corn tortilla
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 19 oz can black beans, well rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
  • juice from 1 lime
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

  • Saute the onion, garlic and jalapeño in the olive oil for 5 minutes, stirring until soft and fragrant.
  • Add the diced tomato, vegetable stock, tortilla, chili powder and garlic powder. Stir well and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
  • Stir in the black beans, cilantro and lime and simmer a few more minutes.
  • Using an immersion blender or by placing most of the soup in a blender, blend just enough to ensure the tortilla has been blended completely into the soup. You want to leave it a little chunky.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve topped with avocado, cilantro, fresh lime and crispy tortilla strips.

Video

Notes

To make crispy tortilla strips, cut 1/2-1 corn tortilla per person into approximately 1/4-1/2 inch strips. Fry the strips in a large pan with 1-2 tsp of olive oil over medium-high heat until browned and crispy. Flip and stir frequently to ensure they don’t burn. It took me about 10-12 minutes to get them nice and crispy. I also added a little salt and pepper to the pan for seasoning. Keep a close eye on them to prevent burning.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of recipe, Calories: 241kcal, Carbohydrates: 44g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 3g, Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 6g
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

This recipe was originally posted October 18, 2015. It was updated March 29, 2019 with new text and photos.

About Deryn Macey

Deryn Macey is a nutrition coach, certified personal trainer, and the creator of Running on Real Food, where she's been sharing nutritious recipes since 2013. She holds a science degree and offers strength training and nutrition coaching through Onward Strong, focusing on strength, sustainable eating habits, and breaking free from diet culture.

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55 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Accidentally bought crushed tomatoes instead of diced. Kept in the seeds of one of the jalapeños and added corn. Turned out super good! This recipe is a keeper!

  2. 5 stars
    This soup is delightful! So tasty and filling. I like to add about 1/4 cup corn (fresh or defrosted) after returning puréed portion. 

  3. This looks delicious. I’m going to add some ground beef to this so everyone in my family who isn’t vegan will eat it and I’ll put some aside for the vegan. Win win. Thank you so much. 

  4. 5 stars
    Just made this for dinner. It’s so good! I used half diced tomatoes and half fire roasted, and started with half of the black beans. I blended most of it as the recipe said, then added second half of the black beans. Served with chips, sour cream, vegan cheese, and guacamole. Everyone loves it, including kids. They said “this is definitely a keeper!” It was so easy to make, the kids helped. 

    1. Awesome! So glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe. The toppings sound delicious! Thanks for the review.

  5. 5 stars
    I love this soup. Sometimes I add tiny diced carrot or corn if the cob to get in some extra veg. It’s such an easy one to make and my non vegan friends love it as much as I do!

  6. 5 stars
    I made this Vegan Tortilla Soup this morning and had it for lunch – it was sooo good. I can’t wait to have it for lunch again tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!

  7. 5 stars
    HI!
    I just made this soup for my meal prep for the week and it is AMAAAAAAAAZZZZZING!!!! My husband says “Well this is BS, you meal prep the good stuff and serve me tofu!” LMFAOOOOOOOOOOO I caved and gave him one of my servings. =)
    Anyway, I do have a question: do you by chance have the nutritional info for this soup? I made it exactly as the recipe states. For some odd reason My Fitness Pal won’t let me save this and it won’t compute it for me either… sighhh ughhhh
    =(

    1. There seems to be a bug in My Fitness Pal recently…if you go back and check a bit later, the recipe should be there! That happened to me yesterday and when I went back later, a recipe had saved 3 times. Sorry, I don’t have this one calculated! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

  8. This soup is flavorful enough,, but if you don’t like your food VERY SPICEY consider adjusting the amount of jalapeño you use – or perhaps using diced green chilis instead. I lost one of mine, and thank goodness I did. I like a little heat, but if I’d used two it would have been inedible for me. My husband thought the heat level was fine. Otherwise, I followed this recipe exactly, with one exception. I had some corn on the cob, so I threw in the kernels of one of them.

    1. I like it depends on the jalepenos too because I had one the other day and I used 1/2 of it a recipe and it just about killed me! Thanks for the feedback on that. Sounds yummy with corn in there.

  9. 5 stars
    This is the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had bar None!!!!!!!! It is requested by my friends all the time when we do potlucks. I add vegan chicken to it. Just love love Love!!!