Chicken Tortilla Soup

I've been craving a great bowl of tortilla soup. In a light, flavorful broth, packed with nutrients, a hint of heat, plus all of the fun toppings...you can't go wrong with tortilla soup. Topped with homemade tortilla strips and other goodies, it does make for a gorgeous bowl of soup. When I roasted THIS chicken for dinner on Monday night, I knew that I would be using the leftovers for tortilla soup.

I would say that this was a good batch of tortilla soup. Not great...but good. Certainly passable. My search for the best chicken tortilla soup WILL continue beyond this recipe. I know that girlichef is also on the quest for the best ever tortilla soup also. Click HERE to check out her recipes and her tortilla soup round up complete with recipes from other food blogs.

Here's how my attempt at tortilla soup went tonight:

I heated a couple of tablespoons of butter in my soup pot. Then I added in a diced onion and a couple of thinly sliced green onions and sauteed until tender before stirring in 4 cloves of minced garlic and cooking for another 2 minutes.



Next, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of flour.



And 4-1/2 cups of chicken broth.



I dumped in the rest of the ingredients (except for the chicken and cilantro): diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies, oregano and cumin. Bring it to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.



While the soup simmered, I cut up tortilla strips. You can use crushed tortilla chips in place of tortilla strips if you want to skip this step. But if you don't mind a little extra work, then thinly slice a couple of flour tortillas. You won't regret it!



Heat 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet and drop the tortilla strips in to fry (in batches). When they are golden brown, remove to drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.



By the time I finished my tortilla strips, the timer on my simmer soup was angrily beeping. I quickly silenced it with the push of a button and stirred in 3 cups of chopped chicken and a couple of tablespoons of minced cilantro. Heat through before serving and salt and pepper to taste.



To serve, place some tortilla strips in the bottom of your soup bowl...



then ladle soup over them.



Garnish with some shredded cheese, sour cream, and more tortilla strips and cilantro if desired.



Here's the recipe from Cooking Healthy magazine, October 2008

Tasty Tortilla Soup

7 Servings Prep: 20 min. Cook: 40 min.

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4-1/2 cups Reduced-Sodium Chicken Broth
2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1-1/3 cups crushed baked tortilla chip scoops
7 tablespoons shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions
•In a Dutch oven, saute onion and green onions in butter until tender.
Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

•Stir in flour until blended; gradually add broth. Stir in the
tomatoes, tomato sauce, chilies, oregano, cumin and pepper. Bring to
a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken and cilantro; heat through.

•For each serving, place 2 tablespoons chips in a soup bowl. Top with
1-1/2 cups soup. Garnish each serving with 1 tablespoon each of
cheese and chips. Yield: 7 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving equals 256 calories, 8 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 60 mg cholesterol, 654 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 24 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 very lean meat, 2 vegetable, 1 starch, 1/2 fat.

* I used one can of diced tomatoes with chilies. It turned out that can of diced tomatoes was VERY spicy. This added quite a bit of heat to the soup...but I liked it!
** I used regular tortilla chips and shredded cheese (not low fat)
*** This recipe was designed to be low in sodium. I found that it needed some salt.

Enjoy!