Tortilla soup is one of my most favorite comfort foods and I had been especially craving it since it has been dark and rainy and cold these past couple of days. I had an idea that I wanted to use the crockpot to make this soup so I googled a crockpot recipe and found a strange recipe with carrots and celery. Um no. Tex-mex food does not use carrots and celery. Then I did a google search for paleo tortilla soup and I found something a little closer to what I wanted to create. In the end, I combined several recipes and used whatever I had on hand to make this soup and surprisingly enough it turned out exactly how I wanted it to taste — spicy, hearty, lime-y, not too tomato-y and super delicious on a rainy day.
INGREDIENTS
– 3-4 large chicken breasts, sliced into 1/4 inch chunks
– 1 can (14.5oz) of diced organic tomatoes
– 2 cans (4oz/each) of fire roasted diced Hatch green chiles, hot (we buy ours on Amazon b/c they can be tricky to find)
– 32 oz of organic chicken broth
– 1 small can (6oz) organic tomato paste
– 4-5 assorted hot/chili peppers (I used 1 large poblano, 2 jalapenos, and 2 large Korean hot peppers — basically you want an equal amount of onion and pepper)
– 1 large onion, diced
– 2 TBSP garlic, minced
– 1 tsp of chili powder
– 1 tsp of garlic powder
– 1 tsp of cayenne powder
– 1 tsp of cumin
– 2 limes
– olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1-2 cups of water
FOR GARNISH (optional)
– avocado
– chopped cilantro
– cheddar cheese
– chopped fresh onions / tomatoes/ peppers
– chicharrones (I would go for this recipe instead of store-bought processed ones)
– crispy baked or fried plantain slices
DIRECTIONS
1, On stove over high heat, add olive oil to a pan and add about 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Add the onions, peppers, garlic, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Once cooked remove from heat and add the ingredients to a crock pot.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the crock pot and add enough water to fill the crock pot to the top. Cover and cook on HIGH for approximately 1.5 hrs.
3. After 1.5 hrs, squeeze the juice of two limes into the crock pot mixture, stir, season with salt and pepper. Replace the lid and continue cooking on HIGH for another 30 minutes.
4. Garnish with your choice of toppings and enjoy!
NOTES:
– Notice there are no tortilla chips in this recipe, but honestly I did not miss it at all.
– Growing up on Tex-mex food I have a pretty high tolerance compared to most people for spicy food. I usually like my food to have a slow burn — a spiciness that builds bite after bite. If you are the type of person that cannot eat the hot version of Pace Picante (which I would consider to be very mild) then you may need to substitute regular peppers for chili peppers and maybe just use 1-2 jalapenos.
– Many spices such as chili powder are not gluten-free and include small amounts of flour. If being GF is a big priority and even trace amounts will upset you, make sure to buy the correct GF spices.
