My Tempting Texas Chicken Tortilla Soup will keep everyone’s taste buds entertained & satisfied!
This is one of my very favorite soups…I crave it! Being that I lived in Texas for many years, I have tried my fair share of tortilla soup.
When I first ordered it from a menu, I was expecting something completely different than what was brought to me at the table. However, it was a wonderful ah-ha moment! Tortilla chips floating on top of a gorgeous, rich, chicken broth with minimal distraction, except for the chips & cheese.
Now, I’ve kicked mine up to a place where I am most satisfied. Still with the rich chicken broth, of course lots of chips floating & shredded cheese as well. In my soup, though, I add tons of vegetables to take this soup to another level, and bring in layers of flavor that are not only delicious, but something you’ll want to make again & again.
It will fill your tummy up for dinner, or give you a great option for a soup as an appetizer.
Tempting Texas Chicken Tortilla Soup:
It seems like quite a few ingredients and it takes 2 hrs or so, but it is WELL worth the wait…Trust me! This is an family favorite and satisfies everyone!
Type: Soup Recipe
Serve With: shredded cheese and sour cream
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 2 hr
Yield: 1 large stock pot full
Ingredients:
3 chicken quarters – You may use a small, whole chicken, or any other parts in an equivalent measure.- water – enough to fill a large stock pot 3/4 full
- 6 carrots – sliced crossways
- 4 stalks celery – sliced crossways
- 2 whole tomatoes – chopped
- 1 serrano pepper – diced
- 3 onions
- 5 whole cloves garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 lime leaves – optional
- 8 peppercorns
8 coriander seeds – optional- 2 tbsp sea salt
- 3/4 bottle or can of beer
- 1/2 tsp hot sauce – or to taste
- 10 oz tomato sauce – not pasta sauce
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- shredded cheese – Tex-Mex, cheddar or Monterrey Jack
- tortilla chips – to float on top of soup
- sour cream – to serve along with soup
Instructions:
Fill stock pot 3/4 full of cold water with sea salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaves, and 2 lime leaves.- Rinse chicken pieces and put in water on medium heat. You may use frozen chicken for this if desired.
- Wash and chop carrots, celery, onion very roughly. Keep garlic cloves whole, just peel skins off. Add to pot.
- Allow to boil and turn down heat to simmer. Lightly boil/simmer for about 1.5 hrs or until chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
- Tip: Take a piece of chicken out of the pot, and make sure the chicken juice runs clear when cut near the bone.
- Tip: Some brown foam may rise to the top of the pot, so take a large spoon and skim off the brown foam off the top and discard. These are the ‘impurities’. You may have to do this a few times before the soup boils clean.
Once chicken is ‘falling off the bone’, fish out all the chicken out of the pot and allow to cool. Once cool, shred chicken by picking off the bones and pulling apart every piece. Set aside to add to each individual bowl.- While waiting for chicken to cool, find garlic in pot and crush, with the side of a wooden spoon, into the soup.
- Dice 2 whole, ripe tomatoes into small pieces. Dice 1 serrano pepper (I cannot get fresh serranos where I live in Canada, so I use canned serrano peppers.) Add to the soup while continuing to let simmer.
- Tip: Put remainder of can of serrano peppers into a resealable, freezer bag and freeze for subsequent uses.
Add beer, ground cumin, chili powder, other 2 lime leaves, and hot sauce to soup and continue to simmer.- Once chicken is shredded for serving, take cornstarch in a small bowl and add same amount of cold water. Take a whisk to mix completely, then add to soup.
- Tip: The corn starch will thicken up the soup and will only reach it’s thickening power when the soup boils. If you boil it too much, the cornstarch will then lose it’s thickening power. So, as soon as the soup boils for about 1 min after adding cornstarch mixture (a slurry), turn it down/off.
- To prepare individual bowls for serving, add a good amount of shredded chicken, then add desired amount of soup. Garnish top of soup with tortilla/corn chips (the more the better), shredded cheese and sour cream.
You will likely want more than one bowl of this Tempting Texas Chicken Tortilla Soup – don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Similar Posts:
- How to Cook Tired of Leftover Holiday Turkey Low-Fat Tortilla Soup
- How to Cook Kimberly’s Kicked-Up Texas Frito Pie
- How to Cook Hot & Sour Soup
- How to Cook Kimberly’s Vegetable Barley Soup
- How to Cook Mennonite Green Bean Soup + Video
June 16, 2008
We just tried this this weekend, and I’ve got to tell you it was awesome! We couldn’t find lime leaves, and added a half t-spoon of cayenne into the mix instead of hot sauce….