Tortilla Soup

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This has got to be my favorite soup recipe.  I had a bowl of Chili’s Tortilla Soup a long time ago, and that is when it became my favorite.  I’ve had other tortilla soups, even Luby’s, but this one is my favorite.  It has more of a clear broth whereas Luby’s is a creamier texture.  It tastes like chicken enchiladas in a bowl.  I love the fact that you can change up the ingredients, too.  Luby’s adds corn to theirs.  You can add hominy, black beans, pinto beans, whatever you want.  I think the main taste comes from the chili peppers.  I use a can of rotel.  To me, it taste just like Chili’s recipe.  I also add more green chilies and green salsa like I use on my enchilada recipe.  Green salsa is made from tomatillos.  They aren’t spicy, but they have a very distinct and delicious flavor to them.
I’m going to try this recipe with some of my left-over turkey.  The recipe calls for chicken, but I bet it tastes just as good with turkey. One thing that is important, ripe avocado really makes this wonderful.  I had never thought to use avocado in soup, but that’s the way Chili’s serves it.  Prior to serving it, you top it off with crumbled tortilla chips, avocado, and Monterey jack cheese.

Ingredients

3-4 roasted chicken breasts, chopped or shredded into bite size pieces
1 can rotel (hot) (near the canned tomatoes)
1 can green chilies (diced)
1 can green salsa (in the Latin section of your grocer)
4 cups chicken broth
1 can pinto beans or black beans
1 can hominy or whole kernel corn
1 bag corn Tortilla Chips (I buy the generic brand, but similar to Tostitos)
2 cups (16 oz) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1-2 ripe avocados
1 tsp Kosher salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
½ tsp Cayenne pepper

In a large pot, cook your chicken breasts if you haven’t already done so.  Cover them with water and I cook mine on medium high and then back down to medium, until they are so tender they fall off the bone. Mine are usually done in 40 minutes.  Some people cook their chicken for 2 hours.  I guess if you cook it on a low setting, but make sure your chicken is fully cooked.  You can save the liquid to use in this recipe, but drain it using a sieve to get out any loose skin – to make it as clear as possible.  I season my chicken when I cook it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.  After it is cooked, remove any loose skin, chop or shred it into bite size pieces and add the stock and chicken back to the pot.

If you already have your chicken cooked and cut up, but don’t have any stock, you can add broth and your cut up chicken to a large pot.  Add a can of drained beans, hominy, chilies, green salsa and rotel.  Taste it.  Adjust your seasonings.  You may need more salt, pepper, garlic powder, or cayenne.  Add 1 cup of cheese and some crumbled tortilla chips. Let it cook and let the flavors combine for about 20 minutes on a medium to medium-low setting.  When ready to serve, add soup to a bowl.  Top with more crumbled tortilla chips, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, and chopped avocado.