My first recipe post in the new year! How exciting. I decided to kick it off with a couple of my favorite things: Mexican food and a nice big bowl of soup on a cold, cloudy day. Chicken tortilla soup sounded like the perfect plan.
I absolutely love this version of chicken tortilla soup because it is a tiny, tiny bit spicy and it has so many vegetables that I don’t feel any guilt adding a little cheese on top.
I know that it’s January and we’re all making up for the delicious holiday food we ate, but that doesn’t mean you need to eat a boring salad every night. And I don’t have anything against salad. Salad can be delicious – I’m just saying this healthy chicken tortilla soup is a great stand in when you get tired of eating lettuce.
Cauliflower is my favorite sneaky vegetable. There are so many different ways to use it that aren’t obviously as a vegetable. My husband says he doesn’t like it, but he didn’t even notice it was in this chicken tortilla soup. It gets very soft and just kind of disappears in all the flavor, and you get to reap the benefits of it being there. Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K, dietary fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, to name a few. Seriously, there is no reason to NOT have cauliflower in your diet.
I’ll just take a second to talk about these smoked paprika tortilla strips. You might be tempted to skip this step, but don’t. It takes 15 minutes and they are really, really good. I’m planning on making them just to snack on.
Check out my last post 13 Healthy Recipes for the New Year for more healthy recipe ideas that will help you start your year feeling and looking fantastic!
The Cheerful Kitchen
Yields Serves 6-8
This healthy chicken tortilla soup is the perfect way to stick to your diet while still getting so much flavor you won't believe you're eating a ton of vegetables.
10 minPrep Time
45 minCook Time
55 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large onion
- 1 red pepper
- 3 medium carrots
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 small head of cauliflower
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 14oz can diced tomatoes with juices
- 32oz chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2T chopped cilantro
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder PLUS more for tortilla strips
- 1 1/2 tsp salt PLUS more for tortilla strips
- 1 tsp each pepper, cumin, coriander and smoked paprika
- Olive oil
- 3 flour tortillas
- Cheese for serving
- Avocado for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the trimmed chicken breasts in a pot and cover with cold water. With the lid on, bring the pot to a boil. When it's boiling, remove the lid and continue to boil the chicken breasts for 10 minutes. When done remove the chicken breasts to a plate and set aside to cool enough that you can handle them.
- Dice the onions and saute them in olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- While the onions are softening, peel the carrots and cut them into bite sized chunks. Cut the red pepper into bite sized chunks. Add the carrots and bell pepper to the pot with the onion and stir.
- While the vegetables are cooking, cut all the cauliflower florets off the head and then into bite sized pieces. Cut the zucchini in half length wise, then again lengthwise so they are long quarters. Then cut the zucchini into bite sized pieces. Add the cauliflower and zucchini to the other vegetables and stir.
- Mince the garlic cloves and stir those in with the vegetables. Cook for another couple minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except the fresh cilantro, stir and bring to a boil with the lid on.
- While you're waiting for the pot to boil, dice the chicken breasts and add them to the soup.
- When the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the soup is simmering, cut the tortillas into short, thin strips and put them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and about a teaspoon of smoked paprika. Toss them with your hands until all the strips are well coated in the oil and seasonings, then spread them out into an even layer.
- Bake for 5 minutes then toss the strips around so they don't burn. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 4-5 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they crisp but don't burn.
- Mix in the fresh cilantro and serve your soup topped with shredded cheese, sliced avocado and tortilla strips.
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