Vegan Tortilla Soup

This vegan tortilla soup is fresh, flavorful and delicious! With black beans and corn, it's hearty and filling, perfect for a weeknight dinner. It's also super quick and easy to make, with just a few simple steps and about 20 minutes of hands on work!

This post is sponsored by Zwilling. All opinions are our own. This post also contains affiliate links, which means that Crowded Kitchen may make a small commission when you purchase products at no additional cost to you.

Why we love this recipe

• Quick and easy: this vegan tortilla soup only requires about 15-20 minutes of hands on work and just a few simple steps.
• Hearty and delicious: this soup is filling, with plenty of plant-based protein and fiber from black beans. It's also packed with flavor!
• Vegan & gluten free: completely plant-based and suitable for just about any diet. As long as you use corn tortilla strips, it's also completely GF!
• Perfect for meal prep: you can easily make this soup ahead of time and store in the refrigerator or freezer for a busy weeknight.

Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make this vegan tortilla soup:

Ingredient Notes

• Fire roasted tomatoes: canned, diced fire roasted tomatoes have a smokier flavor than regular diced tomatoes and add extra flavor here. For even more heat, you could use fire roasted tomatoes with green chillies. Or, if you prefer milder flavor, you can use regular diced tomatoes.
• Taco sauce: taco sauce is typically made with a tomato base, vinegar and dried spices. It's inexpensive, available at most grocery stores, and great in tacos (as the name suggests!). Note that different brands differ in spice levels, so you may want to start with less and add more after tasting the soup.
  • Substitution: if you don't have any taco sauce, sub with 2 tbsp of tomato paste and add an extra ¼ tsp each of cumin, paprika and garlic powder.
  • Want to make it homemade? Try this recipe.
• Corn: we used frozen sweet corn, which is much easier than fresh! You could also sub with fire-roasted frozen corn, or if corn is in season, fresh is great, too.
• Tortilla strips: we've included instructions in the recipe card to make homemade crispy corn tortilla strips, but feel free to sub with store-bought. If you can't find any strips, you can even just use broken up tortilla chips.
• Vegetable broth: want to make it from scratch? Try this recipe!

Equipment

My top 3 kitchen essentials include good quality knives, a good blender, and at least one fantastic soup pot.

We absolutely LOVE anything from Staub, but we particularly love their enameled cast iron cocottes & dutch ovens. They're so high quality and last for years, even with daily use!

To make this vegan tortilla soup, we used their 5 qt. tall cocotte. It has a narrower base and taller sides than their classic 5.5 qt. cocotte, making it perfect for hearty soups, stews and braises (no boil over!).

Since it's narrower, it's also perfect for crowded stovetops. If you're anything like us and often cooking with 4+ pots at a time, this is a huge plus!

The enameled cast iron surface is super durable, compatible with any heat sources (including induction) and distributes and retains heat evenly. It's also a total breeze to clean and doesn't have to be seasoned, like non-enameled cast iron! (You can also use soap and water to clean it without damaging the surface!)

Staub products are a staple in our kitchen. We love using their baking dishes, dutch ovens and these adorable mini cocottes for such a wide variety of recipes!

If you're looking to upgrade your cookware, we 100% recommend Staub! The quality and variety of products just can't be beat, and we love their beautiful colors (dark blue is the color pictured here!).

As mentioned above, another top 3 kitchen essential (IMO) is a few super high quality knives! We've been loving Zwilling's Pro line, especially this 7-inch chef's knife, which is comfortable to work with and perfect for just about anything.

Step-by-step instructions

Heat oil in 5qt. pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes. 

Add garlic, jalapeño and bell pepper and continue cooking for 5 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. 

Stir in taco sauce, oregano, chili powder, salt, cumin and paprika until the vegetables are well coated.

Add in vegetable broth, fire roasted tomatoes, lime juice, black beans and corn. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. 

Simmer for 25-30 minutes, then stir in the cilantro and cook for additional 5 minutes. 

Serve topped with tortilla strips, sliced avocado, cilantro, fresh lime wedges, etc. 

Expert Tips

• For a thicker, more stew-like soup, let the soup simmer for longer (up to an hour). It actually even tastes better the longer it simmers!
• Corn tortilla strips: they're surprisingly quick and easy to make homemade! Full instructions are in the recipe card, but essentially all you have to do is slice the tortillas into strips, toss with olive oil, salt and chili powder (optional) and bake for a few minutes on each side until crispy. They definitely taste better homemade!
  • If you would prefer fried tortilla strips instead of baked, try this recipe.
• Storage: let soup cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 5 days. Reheat in a small saucepan over medium heat.
• Freezer storage: Let the soup cool completely before transferring to an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 6 months. To reheat, defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then heat over medium in a saucepan.

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