Tortilla Soup Tutorial

You know how everyone tells you how much they love that one dish you make and asks you to bring it to the party every time? Or how you make the best desserts, so that's what you're always assigned to make for pot lucks? Or how people will ask for your famous recipe for that one thing you make once a year and they can't get enough of? Well, I got one of those.

Now that the weather is cooling off and our thoughts are turning towards the holidays, we seem to naturally start craving cocoa with little marshmallows and dishes that are served hot in a bowl with a spoon. This is where I come in. Soups are my specialty. They seem to be the grandmother of all comfort foods. Throw some ingredients into a pot, simmer, serve with a side of crusty bread and call it golden. This soup recipe is one I got from my friend Frankie in Flagstaff and have altered it a little through out the years.

Tortilla Soup

4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (more if you like it chicken-y)

3 cups chicken stock

1 28oz can green chili enchilada sauce (note: some brands are spicier than others, just use your favorite)
1 26oz can cream of chicken soup

3 15.5oz cans of your favorite bean or a variety of, drained (more if you like it bean-y)

1/2 to 3/4 cup of diced green chilies

1 14.5oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1 15oz can tomato sauce

1 cup whole kernel corn (optional, but it adds a sweet crunch and looks pretty)
1 T cumin powder

1/2 t chili powder (optional)

1/2 to 1 t garlic powder (optional)

Corn tortillas or corn tortilla chips

Cheddar, Monterrey jack or Pepper jack cheese, shredded

Green onions, diced

Avocado, diced

Cilantro, chopped

Sour cream

First, cook your chicken, boiling is the easiest for this recipe. After the chicken if fully cooked, clean off any unwanted bits and shred in your Kitchen Aid. Sorry to all you Bosch believers, I've tried, and this only works in a mixer with a paddle like a Kitchen Aid. This is what it looks like (easy peasy, eh?):
Into a large pot add chicken stock, enchilada sauce and cream of chicken soup. Whisk together and bring to a simmer. Add drained beans, green chilies, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and corn. Remove 1/2 cup liquid from soup and whisk in the cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Stir liquid back into soup. Add shredded chicken and simmer for fifteen minutes.

Now, you could either fry up your own corn tortillas strips (see above picture for example) or use your favorite store bought tortilla chips. Things to consider: Store bought chips add more salt to the dish and lose their crunch quicker. Home made tortilla strips are typically sweeter than chips and hold their crunch longer. It's a preference and convenience thing, you decide.

After the soup is cooked on the stove top, it's still not finished until served in the bowl. Here's the preferred order at our house: tortilla strips, soup, then whatever else we want on top. The tortilla strips soften just enough and lend their earthy corn flavor to the whole dish, the cheese melts and brings it all together, the sour cream balances the spice and everything else adds to the symphony of flavors.

This recipe makes a lot. Like enough for a family of four, three nights in a row. It will stay good in the fridge for a few days (maybe four? but it never lasts that long over here) and freezes nicely, too. I hope you give it a try. It's basically just cooking the chicken and opening a few cans of things you probably have in your pantry right now. After you make this once for your family get together or when you have friends over for dinner, you'll have this recipe memorized soon because chances are you'll be asked to make it again.