Soup is my thing. Is it yours?
Several years ago I posted the recipe for Whole Food’s chicken tortilla soup. It still amazes me that it remains one of nwafoodie’s most popular posts of all time. Not surprising, actually, because who doesn’t like the chicken tortilla soup at the soup bar at Whole Foods?
Fast-forward several years and that soup is now a weekly staple in our home. Only I have tweaked, massaged, and given it an overhaul. Over the course of time it has morphed into our ultimate comfort food.
This evolved soup is snapping on all cylinders.
It is truly nourishing, comforting, instant in flavor, delightful long-lasting aftertaste, healthy, and beautiful to look at.
I really want you to try it.
Better Than Whole Foods Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
3 Serrano peppers, thinly sliced
1 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 avocados, cubed
1 can of petite diced tomatoes with juice (28 oz. I used Hunts)
4 cups of homemade chicken stock
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
pepper flakes to your preference
2 chicken breasts, cutlet thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 minced garlic
¼ teaspoon of lime juice
1 zucchini cut in half and thinly sliced
1 yellow squash cut in half and thinly sliced
1 Vidalia sweet onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons chicken broth
1 minced garlic
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
1.
In a large dutch oven, add peppers, cilantro, petite diced tomatoes, chicken stock, and cumin on high heat and bring to a boil. Put on lid and turn down heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
2.
After putting lid on dutch oven, heat a large skillet on separate burner with 1 tablespoon of oil on high heat. Lightly brown chicken on both sides and turn down heat to low. Add cumin, sage, chili powder, garlic, lime juice and 2 tablespoons chicken broth. Put on lid and let cook down for 10 minutes. Add chicken and juices to the dutch oven continue cooking for remaining 50 minutes with lid on.
3.
After adding chicken to the dutch oven, reheat the skillet and add 1 tablespoon oil, 3 tablespoons of broth, zucchini, squash, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook for approximately 5-10 minutes or when onions are translucent and squash is no longer crunchy, remove from heat and add to the dutch oven.
4.
Add avocados to the dutch oven, stir, and put lid back on for remaining time.
5.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
6.
If you want to take it to the next level, let the soup cool, refrigerate, and then bring back to a boil.
7.
If you feel your soup is too thick, add water. If you feel it is too watery, mix up a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of cornstarch in a cup until smooth and slowly add to the soup.
Now, go make your new comfort soup!
Eat well, my friends. Eat well.
Lyndi
Definitely some more depth to this compared to the last recipe; well done.
My goal is the mimic Whole Food's version as much as possible, and i believe it's located somewhere between your two recipes. E.g. the last time i had it, I could have sworn i nailed down their secret ingredient: smoked pablanos. The next time i had it, i convinced myself i was hallucinating the first time. So with that being said…
What are the key similarities (or differences) between your two main tortilla soup recipes to corner that elusive Whole Foods recipe? e.g. i'm finding that lime juice is an absolute must… but how do you match/mimic their version's smokiness?
I'm going to roll with some black beans and corn as well – hoping it doesn't affect things too much.
Thanks!
You didn't dream it, the first time I had the Whole Foods soup it was crazy-smokey, almost an adobe taste. And it was extremely spicy in a nice way. That was years ago and I have never tasted that smokiness again. They must have changed the recipe along the way. I used to add some of the sauce from an adobe off-the-shelf product but have since dropped it.
Similarities = we both leave out tortillas!
Differences = mine has an abundance of cilantro and the addition of the zucchini and squash
Next time I will add lime juice to try it out.
Thank you for this, Lyndi! Initially, I was going to make an attempt at Chicken Tortilla Soup similar to your original post but thought I would try out this method since it was new to me, and am super pleased with the outcome. I did add chopped green and red bell peppers to the first step along with about a tablespoon of chile in adobo sauce, and more cumin because we use a lot of it in our household; I wanted that smokiness. Also, added some hominy at the end. As a garnish, mixed up some lime juice with shredded cabbage and more cilantro. My version was more stew-like but could easily add more stock to make it more of a soup. Looking forward to making it again and playing around with ingredients for different adaptations!
Meagan, that sounds wonderful! Hominy is a great addition… one I would love to sink my teeth in! Thanks for sharing your tweaks!