Chicken Tortilla Soup

You will really like This Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe. It is the one that we have settled on after living in Mexico on beautiful Lake Chapala and having it in a lot of different restaurants down there. Then making it a few different ways for ourselves. We love it and I make it two or three times a month. When I put the leftovers in the fridge to cool overnight so we can freeze portions in the zip locks, well, it never makes to the freezer. We scarf it all up the next day.

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”
Oscar Wilde

What you will need

serves 4 – The number of servings can be changed in the recipe card found below this post. Changing the amount of servings on the recipe card will automatically change the amounts of the ingredients.

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion coarsely chopped
2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped
3 large garlic cloves -chopped
2 fresh limes 1 halved for cooking 1 quartered for serving
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp. powdered cumin
1 pinch cayenne pepper – optional
2 quarts chicken broth
1 large boneless skinless chicken breasts or 4 tenders
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves chopped – reserve a little for garnish
1 15 oz. can corn kernels drained
1 15 oz, can black beans drained
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans drained
2 roma tomatoes coarsely chopped
1/2avocado coarsely chopped or sliced for garnish
4 tbsp. sour cream for garnish
4 corn tortillas

How to make your Chicken Tortilla Soup

Coarsely chop up a small onion and two fresh seeded jalapeño peppers. The more jalapeño seeds that wind up in the soup the hotter it is going to be. If you’ve never made it before I’d suggest for the first time go with one pepper without the seeds. The next hotter level is 2 jalapeños without seeds then one pepper with the seeds and the hottest is 2 peppers with the seeds.

Put a 6-8 quart stock pot on the stove at medium high and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Put in the chopped onion and jalapeño and stir them together. While they are cooking finely chop 3-4 cloves of garlic and when the onion starts to get translucent add the garlic. Squeeze half of a lime onto the garlic. Mix it all together and add the salt, pepper, cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper,, if you want. Yes, it adds a bit more heat to it but it also adds another flavor to the mix.

Add two quarts of chicken stock and mix it all together. Then the chicken. You can just cut up a boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs or you can just take frozen chicken tenders. Thaw them in the microwave and put them right in the pot. Cut them up and add the pieces to the pot.

Also add the corn, garbanzo beans, black beans, the cilantro, (save some for garnish) and the tomatoes. Squeeze in the juice from the other half of the lime. Bring it to a boil then lower it to a fast simmer.

Stir it every five minutes or so and get the garnishes ready while the soup cooks. Turn the oven on at 350°F. Cut up 2 corn tortillas into 1/2″ strips. Spray oil a cookie sheet and spread the strips out on it.

Put it in the oven for 3-4 minutes and check the strips for crispness. When they are crispy to your liking take them out and put them in a dish to rest.

Slice or quarter a lime and cut up the avocado into the size pieces or slices that you want. Also have some sour cream standing by.

Cook the soup for twenty minutes. Longer if you have the time, but twenty minutes simmering all together will get the job done. When the soup has about another ten minutes to cook whisk together about two tablespoons of corn meal with a few tablespoons of water and mix it into the soup. Take about half of the tortilla strips, break them in half and add them to the soup. Mix everything together, cook for another ten minutes. Serve it up and garnish your bowl with some of the dried tortilla chips and whatever else that you want. Like some sour cream, some diced avocado, some chopped up cilantro. Enjoy your Chicken Tortilla Soup!

Here is a minestrone soup recipe that you will like