Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup
Smoky, brothy and full of shredded chicken, beans and corn, with enchilada sauce doing the heavy lifting and crunchy chips on top.
- 400 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.19 a serving
- 330 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1½ lb chicken breasts
- 1 can red enchilada sauce, 10 oz
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 cups tortilla chips, lightly crushed
- 1 avocado, diced (optional)
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 4 cups water
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 330 calories, 33 g protein, 34 g carbs and 7 g fat, and costs about $2.19 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No black beans? Pinto beans or kidney beans work.
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No avocados? Guacamole works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the jalapeño and garlic, and and the beans.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dolly’s tip: Wash your hands right after touching the jalapeño, and don’t rub your eyes. The seeds and ribs hold most of the heat.Put the onion, jalapeño, garlic, beans, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, water, bouillon cubes, corn, spices and salt in the slow cooker and stir.
Nestle the chicken breasts into the liquid, cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours.
Timer: 360 min
Lift out the chicken and check it: 165°F in the thickest part, or white with no pink inside.
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
the chicken with two forks and stir it back in with the lime juice. Taste for salt.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Ladle into bowls and pile the crushed chips, avocado and cilantro on top right before eating.
Dolly’s tip: Add the chips at the table so they stay crunchy on top and go soft underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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