Mexican Chicken Soup

by Chase

Here is a soup that is both tasty and nutritious.

I’ve been making alot of soups lately. Maybe it’s the weather but I can’t get enough of them. The other night I decided to make a soup that’s probably more suited to the summer but still makes it’s way into our rotation no matter what season. It’s super easy, doesn’t take very long, and is really quite healthy. I know I know… tastes good and is healthy…is it possible? The combo is attainable, though I honestly have less recipes that I enjoy that I consider “healthy.” Just being honest. Here is a wonderful exception.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 large onion
• 6 ancho chiles
• 4 mexican chiles
• 3 tbsp good salsa
• 3 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can of corn
• salt and pepper to taste
• cilantro and lime for serving

You can easily make this soup by using only chili powders but now is a great time to familiarize yourself with an ingredient you may have been previously intimidated by. I know I was. Those little bags of dried chilis you have undoubtebly seen at your local grocer. They look pretty weird, even gross but I assure you these little uglies are the key to upping your mexican cooking game. You just need to know how to bring them back to life and it’s super easy. They really just need a bit of water or stock and a little bit of time and they will do wonders for your mexican cooking. Here we use them to add wonderful full flavor to our stock. Here’s how to do it.

First, we need to remove the stems and most of the seeds from our chilis. Why the seeds you ask? Well, the seeds contain most all of the heat in a chili. If you don’t remove them, you may need medical attention after consuming this soup. Seriously people, I love spicy food but that many chilis with all those seeds your asking for trouble. Don’t sweat it if you have a few seeds left in the chilis, no big deal, we just don’t want hundreds of seeds because it will be far to hot to be enjoyable.

Here are a few anchos (they look like prunes) and just plain ole Mexican chiles (the red ones)

Don’t forget to remove most of the seeds

Now that we have our chilis ready to go just put some chicken stock over medium heat and add your deseeded chilis. This will reconstitute the chilis but more importantly will allow your stock to absorb all the wonderful flavor from the chilis. Let them simmer together for as long as you like but a half hour should do just fine.

Your stock will begin to color almost immediately

While your stock and chilis do their thing we can get a head start on the rest of our dish. We want to add some olive oil to the pot you plan to actually serve the soup in and add your onion and garlic. Cook on low heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add your salsa. If you don’t have a good salsa then you can skip this step. Do not put anything that says Pace on the label in your soup. Now add your stock followed by your cumin, oregano, corn, beans, and chicken. Reduce heat and cover. That’s it folks. Your done, just wait it out for about half and hour or so and you are ready to garnish and serve.

Add your corn and beans. These are just canned but be sure to rinse them under cold water.

Add your chicken. Here I just used meat from one of those rotisserie chickens you see at the grocery store. This is a shortcut I use all the time when something calls for chicken and you should too.

After your soup has simmered for about a half hour your almost ready to serve

The soup is pretty good as is but it needs some help to put it over the top. Having cilantro, lime, and avocado at the table takes this to an entirely new level. Sour cream or cheese would be nice as well but I tried to keep with the healthy theme here. Hope you enjoy.

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