Guest Post - Tortilla Soup

 Elisa from Bird in the Hand shared this yummy sounding soup! Several of you shared your favorite soup recipes. Look for more of them this week.

This recipe is from my mother-in-law: we recently had a soup recipe exchange at a monthly Titus II Bible study she leads for women at our church. She shared this one ... and I promptly put in on my weekly meal list for the following week! It is really delicious and easy to adapt.


Tortilla Soup

8-10 Corn Tortillas - roughly chopped
4 T. Oil
1 Onion - chopped
6 cloves Garlic - minced
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
8 c. Chicken Stock
2 tsp. Cumin
1 T. Chili Powder
3-4 Boneless Chicken Breast Halves
1 can black beans - rinsed and drained
1  4 oz. can diced Green Chilies

Heat oil in large soup pot. Add onion and cook 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add torn tortillas. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add cans of tomatoes, chicken stock, cumin, chili powder and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and simmer 15-20 min until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken, cook, and shred or cut up into small pieces. Return chicken to pot and add beans and green chilies. Return soup to a simmer. Ready to serve! Top with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, hot sauce, crumbled chips, chopped avocado, etc.!

My mother-in-law also always fries strips of corn tortillas and serves those on top. Cooking the chopped tortillas in the soup thickens the soup to a wonderful consistency because they break down quite a bit.

My Variations: I cooked the chicken in a crock pot during the day (w/ garlic salt, chili powder, and onion powder) to slash on the actual cooking time of the soup. Just shredded it and added it after the liquid had been brought to a boil. I also added some corn into the mix.

Thanks, Elisa. for sharing!