Today it snowed. What?! I generally welcome winter and holiday fair as soon as the weather gets cold. Stores putting out their Christmas trees and yard reindeer in October is fine by me. Bring it on! But for some reason snow in October is still something that seems preposterous to me. Shouldn’t snow be saved for December? I’m sure today is just a pre-winter fluke, but if not I will have to find a way to work snow boots into my little one’s lion Halloween costume.
Luckily today I have a big bowl of this soup leftover from last night’s dinner. It is so flavorful, warm and comforting; not to mention healthy. A win-win-win in my book. I used Ina Garten’s recipe and tweeked it a little. You can’t go wrong with Ina’s recipes. She really is the best! Ina said that in France they often thicken soup with bread. Hence the popular tomato and bread soup. In this recipe she uses corn tortillas to thicken the soup which is just genius. The tortillas impart a sweet corn flavor to the broth and make it the perfect consistency. We love this soup at our house! It makes a ton and the leftovers freeze great.
Comforting chicken tortilla soup with a flavorful broth thickened with sweet corn tortillas.
Ingredients
- 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken or 2 chicken breasts
- 2 cups chopped onions (2 onions)
- 1 cup chopped celery (2 stalks)
- 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
- 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 1/2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, optional
- 8 (6-inch) fresh white corn tortillas
Instructions
- Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper, and the cilantro, if using. If using chicken breasts add to the pot whole.
- Cut the tortillas in 1/2, then cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
- If using chicken breasts take them out and shred them. Then add back to the soup. If using rotisserie chicken add the shredded chicken and season to taste.
- Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.
(recipe adapted from Ina Garten)
Yumm! I need to come over to your place to eat! 😉
How spicy does this come out? I like a small amount of spice (none is bland, but I don't have a high tolerance), should I cut down the amount of jalepenos?
Hi Sarah!
I think if you put in just 2 jalapenos with their cores and seeds removed it won't be too spicy! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Erin
do you think this meal could be cook in the crockpot and if so how would you go abouts doing it?
Yes this would work great in the slow-cooker! I would use 2 uncooked chicken breasts instead of cooked rotisserie meat. Place everything in the slow-cooker except the corn tortillas. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Then 15 minutes before you want to eat add the tortillas and take the chicken out and shred it. I hope this helps!
Thanks for another great recipe. I made a 1/2 recipe to try it out before using up a lot of my homemade chicken stock. Next time I’ll make a full recipe and just freeze the leftovers.
I’m glad you liked it!
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