Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

Soup is always a tricky subject in our house. I always have to pitch it carefully...

I adore soup, in pretty much any variety, and Luke could live without it—unless of course it's French Onion (I think that mostly has to do with cheesy toast topper). If I suggest making a Chicken Soup on a chilly night, he's meh about it—until I suggest Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Then we're all in.

While I'm not entirely sure how the "tortilla" makes this soup such a seller, but I'm not going to question a good thing. I get my soup night and Luke's happy!

So we saute up some peppers, onions and celery, plus any other veggies that are losing life in the fridge. Then season with some taco seasoning and chili powder, add chicken broth and cooked chicken. Voila... soup's on! And ready in just 30 minutes!

Hint: If you don't have any leftover cooked chicken (we usually don't!), just drop some raw chicken into a pot of boiling water and cook for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through. For this soup, we've used 2 large chicken breasts, 3 bone-in thighs, or a mixture of 1 breast and 1 thigh—really whatever you have on hand works perfectly! If you use anything bone-in, just be sure to remove all the skin and bones

Serve it up with some sour cream, shredded cheddar, diced avocado, tortilla strips or corn chips and you're in for a cozy evening.

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Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 1 small red pepper diced
• 1 small green pepper diced
• 1 bunch green onions diced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 lbs cooked boneless skinless chicken, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 teaspoon water

Instructions

• In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in the minced garlic and crushed red pepper. Stir for 1 minute until toasty, then toss in the carrots, celery, red pepper, green pepper and green onions. Stir and cook for 10 minutes until softened.
• Add in the tomato paste, taco seasoning, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Let cook for 1 minutes, then pour in the chicken broth and chicken. Bring to a bowl then lower to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.
• In a small bowl, mix together the corn starch and water then pour into the pot to thicken the soup. Let cook for another 5 minutes.
• Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips.