Light Mexican Slow Cooker Soup

Set up this Light No Chicken Mexican Slow Cooker Soup before you leave for work in the morning, and come home to a delicious, comforting meal, perfect for a cold winter night.

Our vegan soup version omits the chicken found in most recipes, but we added baby portabella mushrooms for texture and butternut squash to make it heartier. The fire-roasted tomatoes and the spices make it nice and smoky, and you can adjust the amount of chipotle pepper depending on how spicy you like it.

How to Cook Mexican Slow Cooker Soup

Nothing could possibly be easier than making this slow cooker soup. Chop up all of your ingredients the night before and the next morning just throw it in your crockpot. Fast, easy, and so tasty to enjoy warm soup when you get home after a long day.

Ingredients for No Chicken Mexican Soup

• Vegetable Broth. The base of any easy vegetarian soup is a good vegetable broth.
• Rainbow Carrots. This variety adds color, texture and flavor to your finished soup.
• Baby Bella Mushrooms. These are also known as Crimini Mushrooms. If necessary you can substitute with Shitake Mushrooms.
• Butternut Squash. The perfect, flavorful, and hearty squash for soup.
• Onion. White, sweet or yellow onion.
• Garlic Cloves.
• Large Can of Fire-roasted Diced Tomatoes.
• Sea Salt.
• Cumin. Check the expiration date on your spice jars frequently as fresh spices are essential for good food!
• Ground Coriander. Make sure you do not have coriander seeds, you want the ground spice.
• Turmeric. This particular spice has a strong yellow color that can stain clothing and skin so handle it carefully.
• Ground Chipotle Pepper Powder. Canned Chipotely Pepper may also work. Taste your chipotle pepper powder or canned chipotles before adding, since they can be quite spicy. Add slowly to make sure you are ok with the level of heat.

Optional Toppings for Vegan Mexican Soup

• Lime
• Cilantro
• Avocado
• Black Beans
• Hot Sauce

Step-By-Step Instructions for the Vegetarian Mexican Soup

To make this soup super easy to throw together on the morning you need it, peel, slice, chop and dice the following ingredients the night before and throw them in a plastic container in the fridge: carrots, butternut squash, mushrooms, onion, and garlic cloves. This little bit of prep work will save you so much time on a busy morning! Before leaving for work, you can just toss all the ingredients into the slow cooker, set it on low, and walk away.

This slow cooker soup takes about eight hours on low or four hours on high, but extra time in the pot will not do it any harm. That makes it a no-stress meal perfect for game nights or long days.

How to Serve Light Mexican Slow Cooker Soup

We love our tasty Mexican Vegetarian soup with a squeeze of lime, chopped cilantro, and avocado slices on top, but you can use your favorite toppings. And best of all, you can set it up in the morning and have it ready by the time you get home. Super light and comforting... that we hope you'll enjoy even after winter ends.

The Inspiration for this Recipe

A few weeks ago, while I was teaching my Wednesday morning HIIT class,  I saw Stacy, one of my students/friends sort of spacing out a little. Then she yelled something like: "sorry, I was just daydreaming about food!" We all got a good laugh of course and kept going. Later on that day, she sent me a message telling me EXACTLY what she was daydreaming about: a Crock Pot Mexican Chicken Soup. She told me it's one of her favorites, and how easy it would probably be to make it vegetarian. I checked it out and indeed, it was! The rest is history.

FAQ

Does Mexican Soup have to be spicy?

No. Leave out the chipotle peppers and this vegan soup will still be tasty without the heat.

What size slow cooker should I get?

I always recommend you get the largest slow cooker you have room to store. This soup easily fills a six-quart slow cooker. And the fabulous part about that is -- if you don't need it all it freezes so well and you will have quick lunches whenever you need them. I love making extra soup just for that purpose.

Can I freeze no-chicken Mexican soup?

Yes. I recommend using individually-sized air-tight plastic containers and freezing the soup for up to three months. Microwave to thaw and reheat.

Does no-chicken Mexican soup have protein?

This particular vegan soup doesn't have much protein at all. If you would like to add protein I do recommend adding a can of drained and rinsed black beans.

More Great Light Soup Recipes

• Mushroom Barley Soup
• Thai Soup
• Leek and Potato Soup
• Turmeric Ginger Vegetable Soup Recipe

If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe or do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.