I used to eat Chicken Tortilla Soup all the time when I was a young 20-something in New York City and lately I’ve been craving it again. It’s so comforting, hearty and flavourful – something I always look forward to eating and a beautiful bowl of food to serve anytime!
The tortilla strips are baked to make them crispy like tortilla chips, but they soften in the soup as they get wet from the broth, giving them almost a noodle texture when they’re not still crunchy. There’s a little crunch from the sweetcorn as well and the kidney beans are very filling. Chilli brings the heat, but not too much and the parsley or coriander gives a freshness to the finished product. There’s just so much going on in this soup.
When serving this to guests, I find parsley is a great choice because so many people don’t like coriander, but either work beautifully. A sharp cheddar cheese, preferably something aged if you have it is ideal and honestly you couldn’t go wrong leaving a bowl on the table for extra sprinkling if necessary. Let’s get started!
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 350g chicken mini fillets (chicken tenders) or chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt & pepper
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and shredded
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 red chilli, finely diced
- Juice of 1 lime
- 400g passata
- 500ml chicken stock
- 1x small tin sweetcorn, drained (drained weight 165g)
- 1x 400g tin kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 4-5 corn tortillas, cut into small strips
- Shredded cheddar to serve
- Chopped fresh parsley or coriander to serve
Method
- Put a large, heavy-based pot or casserole big enough to hold the soup that has a lid on medium-high heat and pour in the oil. Add the chicken along with some salt & pepper and cook until browned on all sides, pushing it around the pan with a wooden spoon. Once browned, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate – it does not need to be fully cooked at this point.
- Reduce the heat to medium low and toss in the garlic, cumin, chilli flakes and red chilli. Cook stirring until the chillis and garlic are softened, taking care not to burn. It won’t take more than a minute or two. Toss the chicken back in along with the lime juice and scrape with the wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan to deglaze.
- Pour in the passata and the chicken stock and stir. Bring this mixture to a boil and once it’s bubbling, pop on the lid and reduce the heat to low. Leave this to simmer, covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° Fan / 375°F. Arrange the tortilla strips on a baking sheet and pop into the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until crispy and turning bronze around the edges. When they’re done, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool.
- After the 15 minutes, stir in the sweet corn and kidney beans. Cover and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes to warm through.
- When you’re ready to serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with crispy tortilla chips. Finish the soup with a sprinkle of shredded cheese and chopped parsley or coriander.
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