Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

I am in love with soups and stews of all kinds.  Nothing warms me up and cheers me up like a hot steaming bowl of soup.  Especially ones that are hearty, healthy, and packed with more flavor than you could expect in a small bowl.  When I found myself craving chicken tortilla soup, I came up with this recipe for chicken tortilla soup that only took about 20 minutes, but tasted like I had worked on it for hours.   

Ingredients (1 big or 2 small servings):
2 oz chicken, chopped
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp hot pepper flakes
salt and pepper
¼ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped celery
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
juice of half a lime

salt to taste
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped
½ cup chicken broth
1 tbsp corn meal
corn chips
optional: ½ cup black beans

First, I got together the flavor profile I wanted to give my soup.  Cumin is at the top of the list.  So is garlic powder and pepper flakes.  I use these flavors so often, I buy them in bulk and store them in mason jars. 

So, I defrosted a few chicken tenders I had in my freezer, gave them a quick chop, and seasoned them with the cumin, hot pepper flakes, garlic, and of course, salt and pepper. 

I then cooked them in a small pan with a little olive oil in it over medium heat until the biggest piece was cooked through.  (Normally I write recipes in friendly imperative, but today I'm feeling past tense, like it's a story.  Just going with it.)   

 

Now, let's chop through our lovely onion and celery.  I love these two flavors together, they're wonderful.

I put these into a small pot and let them sweat it out over low heat in a little olive oil.

Now, where normally I would use crushed tomatoes, I actually ended up using my own crushed tomato concoction.  I had made this for a different recipe, but it's basically tomatoes, lime juice, and cilantro.  I don't expect people to have this just laying around, but you can easily just use crushed tomatoes, juice of half a lime, and a tablespoon of minced cilantro and add it to your soup.

  

So I added the tomatoes, the chipotle peppers (which are pretty darn spicy, even for me...I used use 1/2 a pepper per person for a sufficient kick), and the chicken I cooked earlier.  I also added the chicken broth here.

Another huge flavor boost is tomato paste!  I like to have tomato paste lying around.  Since it tends to get all can-rusty-gross if you leave an open can in the fridge, I line a tiny plastic container with a sandwich bag, put the tomato paste in there, and put the top on to make an airtight seal.  Lasts for months.

Okay, in goes in the paste!

Also, if you wanna make this soup a little heartier, you can add some beans at this point.

And now, this is the weirdest ingredient of all.  I wanted something to thicken the soup a bit, but not flour...flour is so wah-wah, especially for this type of soup that has so much pizazz.  So I googled around, and apparently corn meal is an excellent soup thickener.  So I added a tablespoon of corn meal to the soup.

Whoa, it looks like a magic potion!  Let all come to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low.  You might also give it a quick taste to see if you need to add any salt.  Depending on your broth, this may all differ.

After 5 minutes of simmering, it became a delicious, thick, hearty soup.

And of course, I have my awesome baked blue corn chips.  I love baked blue corn chips.  I get mine at Trader Joe's.

Satisfying.  Immensely satisfying.  That feeling when you crave something badly and you finally get to eat it.  Yum!  And it didn't take very long at all, but the flavor in there was amazing.  The spices that went in with the chicken, the broth, the tomato paste, lime juice, onions and celery, and chipotle pepper...all of that made this little soup crazy flavorful without having to spend tons of time. 

Hope you liked the recipe!  And as always, thanks for reading and making this hobby of mine so fun and rewarding!  

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.