Hearty Tortilla Soup

Hearty Tortilla Soup




Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 corn tortillas, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 cups chicken stock (I boil the bones of the rotisserie-baked chicken listed below)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Chicken from one rotisserie-baked chicken, shredded or cubed

Toppings

• Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1-2 avocados, cubed
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 corn tortillas, sliced and fried crisp (actually, we need more than this because we like to eat them plain)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped tortillas, garlic and onion. Saute 2-3 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder. Saute additional minute to bring out the flavor of the spices (and make the house smell good). Add tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken stock and pepper. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt if necessary depending on saltiness of stock.
2. While soup simmers is a good time to fry tortillas for garnish. Preheat ½-3/4 cups of vegetable oil in a small skillet. Cut tortillas in strips. When oil is hot enough to bubble when tortillas hit the oil, put in enough strips to cover the bottom. Strips are done when they start to turn a golden brown color. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and repeat process with remaining strips.
3. Remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Reheat.
4. Garnish soup with shredded cheese, avocado and tortilla strips. Sour cream is optional.

Copied and saved, Lefty!

Great way to use up rotisserie chicken!

Lee

I found this recipe in my files and I had a couple of chicken breasts to get rid of. BigWheel was an internet BBQ buddy of mine.

The broth is delicious, but my chicken was chewy, even though I gently and slowly poached it.

I'll post BigWheel's recipe here, but I'm going use some of Lefty's similar recipe (definitely rotiss chicken and chopped tortillas) and some of BigWheel's (love the poblano and tomato paste instead of tomatoes).

Lee

Tortilla Soup (BigWheel’s)

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 or 5 cloves garlic
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced - I used 1 cubanelle pepper along with 1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and diced
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 or 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups chicken stock (or broth) - I added one more 14 oz. can

2 chicken breasts
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime

In a large pot, gently poach the chicken breasts in the chicken broth. When chicken is done, remove it from the broth and set aside to cool. When cooled, shred the chicken into bite size pieces.

Pour the broth into a bowl and set aside.

In the same large pot, heat the olive oil on med-high. Add the onions, pepper garlic, salt, cumin and coriander for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute and stir. Add back the chicken stock and bring to a light boil. When a light boil is achieved, lower to a simmer for 20 minutes stirring from time to time. Add the shredded chicken and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cilantro and lime juice to the hot soup before serving.

Some people like to add some crumbled tortilla chips to the soup when preparing to serve and well as shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Sliced avocado also goes well with it.

I cut 4 medium corn tortillas in strips, tossed them in a bowl with some olive oil, sprinkled them with chili powder and garlic powder, baked for 7 minutes in a 375 oven. Toss the strips and return to oven for another 7 minutes.



Beautiful pot of soup



Plated soup with toppings (tortilla strips are at the bottom of the bowl)