Chicken Tortilla Soup

Love, love, love Mexican food!  It’s my absolute favorite type of “ethnic” food.

I first fell in love with Chicken Tortilla soup when my husband and I were in Sedona, Arizona at a place called Javelina’s.  I had their soup, and loved it so much, I insisted we eat there again the next day.  When we returned home, I was dreaming of this soup and would order it when I saw it on the menu.  I was surprised by the lackluster and boring versions that constantly disappointed me in restaurants. They never measured up to the soup I was craving, so, I invented this soup one day and couldn’t believe how close it was to my memory.  It’s an easy and satisfying soup to make, and eat, that I don’t worry about ordering when I go out for dinner anymore!

1 large chopped onion

1 chopped red or orange bell pepper

1-2 minced jalapeno pepper (optional)

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (optional, but recommended)

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

2 qt chicken stock

2-3 cups of chopped cooked chicken

1- 15oz. can diced tomatoes with jalapenos

1- 15oz can white beans, or chili beans

12 small corn tortillas,

     -Half cut up in 1” pieces and IN the soup while cooking

     -Half cut up in strips and fried crisp, set aside for garnish

1 cup frozen corn

1-2 Tbsp lime juice

½ cup chopped cilantro

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. chili powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil until soft.  Add broth and all the other ingredients… simmer until the chopped tortillas have fallen apart and thickened the soup.

Condiments for topping at the table: 

• Cubes of avocado
• Shredded pepper jack cheese
• Fresh chopped Cilantro
• Chipotle Sour Cream (recipe follows)
• 
  

  Strips of fried tortillas, or tortilla chips (See below for some ideas of how I did it!)

  

Chipotle Sour Cream

2-3 chipotle peppers with sauce

1-16oz tub of sour cream

1 tsp. salt

Add the chipotle peppers in the bottom of the blender, add in the sour cream and salt.  Blend until it’s a nice soft peachy color.

Give it a taste test… if you like it hotter, go ahead and add another chipotle pepper. Best to warn others when serving this… as not every likes it spicy and this can really pack a punch.  So easy, we have this on hand in the fridge at most times.  Try this on your eggs, or even on your sandwich instead of mayonnaise!

Side Dish Inspirations

I’m sure you can think of a million things to serve this with, but here are some ideas if you are feeling low on inspiration today. It doesn’t really need much more, I mistakenly served this as a first course when friends were over, they insisted on seconds, and therefore, no one really wanted the main course. This soup is hearty enough to just serve with:

Green Salad

Southwestern cole slaw

Round Two cooking… make more and use it for:

If you plan it right, you could make a double batch to have enough leftovers for another meal, and it’s definitely great to take to work for lunches!

What else would this technique work on???

You could easily use this technique on any kind of leftover chicken, or Turkey! My favorite way is to use a roasted chicken from Costco (or the grocery store) and shred up the chicken and make chicken stock with the leftover bones. My absolute favorite chicken stock is made from the roasted chicken carcass, which gives more flavor as the bones are already “browned”.