chicken tortila soup
Whew! I’m back after a month of traveling!
I will share more about my experience in my newsletter later this month but it was so great and I learned so much about myself. Plus I came back with maddddd recipes for you!
As you may know, I took cooking classes with a woman owned restaurant and learned how to make their authentic Mexican soup, pozole! Pozole is a soup made with beef & bork and simmered in a sauce with chiles, spices and onions & garlic! It was so yummy and even though it was sweltering hot in Tulum, the locals were coming in HOT for this soup when she made it. I knew I wanted to do a spin on this when I got back because the flavors were so good and it reminded me a chicken tortilla soup.
Well here it is for you guys! Whew, let me tell you…we ate this up in this house! It was soo good! My boo thang had three bowls that day (even one late at night after some shots of Jameson lol) and I walked some over to my bis sissy, Janell and her hubby and I got a text later saying “It was SLAMMIN!”
So here you go! I know, I know…it’s hot af out but I was craving it since I’ve been back. Save it for a rainy day or for the fall but it was so dan good!
This dish uses dried Mexican chiles which you can find anywhere, I seriously promise you! They are basically in every grocery store now just ask someone who works there or head to an international market in your city.
Ingredients
3 bone in & skin on chicken breasts (try and stick to this since the bone adds more flavor)
2 ancho chiles
3 guajillo chiles
1 large white onion (cut in half)
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon or so cumin
4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 15oz can sweet corn
1 15oz can of black beans
1 chicken bouillon cube or packet
2 bay leaves
Roughly a teaspoon of Mexican oregano (if you can’t find, just leave out)
1 habanero pepper, whole
a dash of white vinegar
3-4 cups of water (divided but I will explain later)
salt & pepper, to taste
Toppings
sour cream or Mexican crema
sliced radishes
crushed tortilla chips (honestly, lots because duh lol)
sliced avocado
cilantro
Directions
In a large stock pot, add 2-3 cups of water and a dash of white vinegar in a pot on medium heat.
Add the chicken breasts, 2 bay leaves, a whole habanero pepper (you leave the whole pepper in there the whole time), half of the large white onion, the chicken bouillon cube/packet and some salt and pepper. You’re basically making chicken stock but you’re also cooking the chicken to shred later. Let this come to a rolling simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Watch to make sure the water doesn’t evaporate too much. If it does, add a little more water to it.
In the meantime, we are going to make the sauce.
Take your dried Mexican chiles and de-seed them. Just open them and remove the seeds.
Take your chiles and just drop them in the chicken stock that has been simmering and let them get soft so they can blend well. Leave them in the stock for about 4 minutes. They will get soft super quick since it’s very hot.
In a blender or a food processor, add the other half of the white onion that is roughly chopped, the tomatoes, cumin, some salt & pepper, the soften chiles, Mexican oregano and about 1 cup of water. Blend until smooth!
Add the sauce into the chicken stock and let that simmer and cook down for about 30 minutes. At this time you can remove the chicken from the soup and shred it then add it back into the soup.
NOTE: it’s going to seem like a lot of liquid but don’t worry it will cook down. If you feel like it’s too thick after it cooks down add some more water.
Add the corn & black beans.
Taste to adjust with salt & pepper.
Serve in a big bowl and add all the toppings you want - avocado, sour cream, lots of tortilla chips, radishes & cilantro!
ENJOY!