Mason Jar Tortilla Soup

The Mason Jar’s Chicken Tortilla Soup is a complex soup that has a lot of spices and fresh vegetables.

A bowl of tortilla soup with a dollop of sour cream on top

Mason Jar Tortilla Soup

Mason Jar Chicken Tortilla Soup is a complex soup that has chicken and lots of spices and fresh vegetables. This copykat soup recipe makes a very thick, hearty soup that’s quick and easy to put together – a real blessing on those busy weeknights. It’s also a good soup to make ahead of time and store in your freezer or refrigerator. It’s a heartwarming soup at any season of the year, but especially on chilly fall and winter evenings.

The Mason Jar is a Houston favorite!

You may think that this recipe is made in a Mason jar. However, this soup was once on the menu of the Mason Jar restaurant, a Texas family-style eatery where you can dine on a wide variety of dishes and enjoy Texan warm hospitality. After being regarded as a landmark restaurant in Houston for more than forty years, the Mason Jar has recently relocated to the nearby town of Katy.

This tortilla soup isn’t made in a Mason jar

Obviously, you don’t have to serve this tortilla soup in a Mason jar, but if you want a little more fun you could. Furthermore, ladling your soup into Mason jars makes it a little more portable when moving from your kitchen to your dining table or your outdoor patio. Mason jars are good for reducing the risk of sloshing soup all over.
How about freezing soups in mason jars to reheat as needed for healthy and homemade meals? There’s nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of soup, and this is an excellent way to prep individual meals. Learn how to freeze soup in Mason jars.

Tortilla Soup has so many options for toppings!

Another reason I love this tortilla soup recipe is that it’s easily customizable. For example, you can throw in any leftover veggies that have been lurking in your fridge or pantry for a while. It’s also an ideal way to use up any leftover chicken or another kind of meat. You can also get creative with different toppings. Some toppings to consider are:

  • Avocado, diced.
  • Fresh cilantro.
  • Crushed tortilla chips – you could swap these for tortilla strips.
  • Tomatoes, diced.
  • Sour cream.
  • Shredded cheddar, “taco” cheese, or pepper jack cheese.
  • Green onion, chopped.
  • Jalapeños, cut into rings.
  • A squirt of lime.

If you don’t want to use so much butter, you can go for two tablespoons of butter with an equal amount of olive oil. I know not everyone wants to use all of that butter.

And here are two more useful links:

A bowl of chicken tortilla soup with sour cream and cheese on top.

Love soup? Try these easy soup recipes.

Ground Round Mexican Chicken and Tortilla Soup
Luby’s Tortilla Soup
El Torito’s Tortilla Soup

Everyone will rave about this tortilla soup recipe. It’s just tastefully simple. It may seem like a lot of steps, but they will go quickly. This is a really yummy soup recipe that will warm up your family at dinner time. I would love to hear how much your family enjoys this soup, so drop me a line.

A bowl of tortilla soup with a dollop of sour cream on top

Mason Jar Tortilla Soup

Make the Mason Jar Tortilla Soup at home. 
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: Mason Jar Tortilla Soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 525kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 green bell pepper cut into chunks
  • 3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1/2 pound celery cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1/2 pound carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1/3 cup cilantro leaves chopped
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teasoon black pepper
  • 8 ounces butter
  • 1/3 cup olive oil divided use
  • 10 ounces corn tortillas
  • 3 quarts water
  • 4 ounces chicken-seasoned stock base
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1 pound tomatoes peeled and choppe
  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts seasoned, grilled, and cut into pieces
  • 1 cup tortilla strips tortilla strips (1/8-by-1-inch)
  • 1 cup shredded American cheese for garnish

Instructions

  • Place bell pepper, onion, celery, carrots and cilantro in food processor and finely chop; set aside in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine garlic, chili powder, cumin and black pepper and stir into chopped vegetables. Melt 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter and olive oil in large pan over medium heat. Add vegetable mixture and saute, stirring often, until vegetables are transparent and lightly browned. Finely chop the 10 ounces of tortillas in food processor and add to vegetable mixture; saute over medium heat until soft. Transfer mixture to a large pot over medium heat. Add water and chicken base, mixing until chicken base is dissolved. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt remaining 1 stick butter and whisk in flour. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, while whisking, to make a roux. Add roux to soup; stir and let simmer 20 minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes, then diced chicken; cook until heated through. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle with tortilla strips and grated cheese. Yield: 12 servings

Nutrition

Calories: 525kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 122mg | Sodium: 3287mg | Potassium: 636mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 4820IU | Vitamin C: 14.1mg | Calcium: 236mg | Iron: 1.6mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sally Plake

    5 stars
    Do you have lazy dogs restaurants chicken tortilla soup recipe? It’s really delicious and I would love to have it whenever I try to make chicken tortilla soup it just doesn’t get it

  2. Ulaa

    The Mason Jar is a restaurant in Houston, TX, located off the Katy Frwy. This is their soup. They printed the recipe in the Houston Chronicle some years back and I still have the clipping. I have made it many times, and trust me, you don’t have to use all that butter. I usually cut the recipe in half (it makes enough for a crowd otherwise), keep the spice amounts the same, and only use about 2 TBL of butter with an equal amount of olive oil. Everyone raves over it. This is a very thick, hearty soup. You could probably skip the flour roux and still have a nice, thick soup with just the tortillas. We garnish with pepperjack cheese, diced avacado and chopped green onions with the tortilla strips. A little squirt of lime is pretty good too.

  3. Sherry

    I know of a home owned restaurant by that name in Colorado…not sure if this would be the same place. If so, they have AMAZING “Stuffed Bell Pepper soup”-which I got the recipe from the owner of the place itself…they actually have copies they hand out of it because people ask for it soooo much, they also have GREAT great chicken salad sandwiches and the list goes on,really!

  4. Deviled Eggs

    This recipe sounds wonderful! At first I was thinking this was made in a mason jar but I guess Mason Jar must be a restaurant?

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