Happy Thursday! The week is almost over 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻! So, we’re almost one week into the New Year! How’s it treating you? Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Doing Dry January? I’m doing Dry January. I just feel like I need to detox from 2020 in general 😝. Cleanse my soul! I’m not going crazy with a diet. I’ve done Keto in the past, and I know people swear by it. But, honestly, I’m always miserable. I’d rather have smaller portions of pasta, rice, or bread than give it up entirely! But to each there own; I just can’t handle it.
But, I’ve taken a break from our delicious burgers and pizzas, although I’m posting up one more tomorrow that we had at the end of last year… it was just too delicious not to share! But, this first full week of the New Year, I’ve kicked off with a lot of chicken dishes. And super easy dishes to make during the week. And, all these dishes have been bursting with flavor!
Now, I know chicken tortilla soup seems like a “been there, done that” type of recipe. But don’t leave! There are a couple of things that definitely kick up this recipe compared to the traditional chicken tortilla soup recipe out there!
Most chicken tortilla recipes call for jalapeños. Instead, I used a can of green diced chilies. Why? Well, frankly, I feel like they have a bit more of a bite than jalapeños… but more so because I wanted to use the liquid they’ve been sitting in. There is so much flavor in that liquid!
In order to kick up the flavor a bit more, I added a chipotle in adobo with some of the adobo sauce. This is definitely not too spicy for kids, but does add a hint of heat and a whole bunch more flavor to the broth! With a fresh squeeze of lime juice and cilantro, this soup has such a complex broth that tastes so fresh with each bite.
I cooked the chicken in the soup and then shredded it. Alternatively, if you want to save a TON of time, buy a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat, discarding any skin. I recently made pot pie with rotisserie chicken. As I mentioned there, you can buy the rotisserie chicken ahead of time, shred it, then freeze it. Defrost it when you’re ready to make the soup! If you do this, the soup will be ready in 15 to 20 minutes. But, cooking chicken breast in the broth for thirty minutes lets all those flavors saturate into the meat, giving you flavorful, moist meat!
I garnished each bowl with avocados, sour cream , cilantro, green onions, lime slices, and tortilla strips. This is such a filling dinner while being SO LOW in calories! What could be better? Want to go lower carb? Skip the tortilla strips… you won’t even miss them!
Enjoy!
Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: South-of-the-Border, Soup
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
Soup
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 TB olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
6 green onions, chopped (retain the dark green parts for garnish)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 TB chili powder
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 TB tomato paste
1 chipotle in adobo sauce with ½ TB liquid, finely minced
1 – 4 oz can green dice chilies ~ liquid reserved
1 – 14 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup corn
½ lime juiced
salt and pepper
To Garnish
½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 avocado, cut into bite size chunks
dark green parts of the green onions
sour Cream
lime slices
tortilla strips (I like the Santa Fe style tortilla strips)
Instructions
In a large pot or small Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sweet onions and green onions and cook for about 8 minutes, or until starting to soften. Lightly season with salt. Add the garlic, chili powder, ground cumin, and dried oregano. Stir and cook until the garlic is fragrant ~ about 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste and chipotle in adobo, with sauce, stirring to combine.
Add the green dice chilies with the reserved liquid, the fire roasted diced tomatoes, and chicken stock. Stir in the corn and add the chicken. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and, using two forks, shred the chicken. Return it to the pot and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Distribute the soup into bowls and top with the desired garnishes. Eat!
Enjoy!
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