Chicken Enchilada Soup

This recipe is one that I had for the first time at my Aunt's house. Someone made this for her after my grandfather's funeral and it was as delicious and comforting then as it is now. I have since made a few changes to it and tweaked it to make it perfect. Today I added a new twist that turned out extra delicious. The thing I love about this soup is how versatile and adaptable it is. While it does have a Mexican flair you can serve it so many ways. I've made it with cheesy bread, tortilla chips, over a bed of rice. You can add beans to give it a hearty flavor or keep it simple. 

However you decide to tweak it, if you are looking for a good comfort soup that is easy to throw together this recipe is for you. 

You will need

A crockpot or LARGE soup pot

64 oz Chicken Broth (or 4 chicken bouillon cubes and 64 oz of water)

1 Rotisserie Chicken or about 2-3 lbs of chicken (a whole fryer)

1-2 cans cheddar condensed soup* 

2 pkg McCormicks chicken taco seasoning** 

1 medium onion diced (I didn't use today but normally do)

1/2 block velveeta

corn tortillas

cooking spray

optional: 

shredded mexican blend cheese

sour cream

avacado

pico de gallo

Serves 6-8 people

Steps

If you are going to use a rotisserie chicken, which I highly recommend you will need to de-bone and shred the chicken. This takes about 15 minutes.  I used a mesquite chicken today but HEB makes a jalapeño lime one that is AH-mazing in this soup. I prefer to use rotisserie for most recipes that call for shredded chicken because I think the mixture of dark and white meat is delicious and it's already cooked so it saves me cooking time.

If you are using just regular chicken breasts you can throw them into the crockpot whole and uncooked, you will need to shred them about 4-5 hours into the cooking process though. You can also precook the chicken in a pot with the onion.  

To de-bone the chicken I use to forks and pull as much meat away from the bones as possible then toss it into the lid. Then I use my hands to pull the remaining meat off and throw it in the lid as well. I take the same forks and shred the chicken in the lid then dump into the crock pot with the chicken broth (I used water and bullion cubes today), diced onion, taco seasoning, 1 can of cheddar soup and 1/2 block velveeta.

 

Wyatt helped me cook today instead of napping...

After you put everything into the crock pot, give it a good stir, put the lid on and set it on low for about 6 hours - you may need to stir it periodically if you are home - if not don't worry about it. Also if you need to have a longer or shorter cooking time no worries - the longer you cook this soup the more delicious it gets but if you are using pre cooked chicken it can be ready as soon as the cheese melts if needed. 

About 40 minutes before dinner I start prepping the garnishes. I normally like to fry my corn tortilla strips but today I baked them and they turned out just as good without the mess of frying. 

Cut the tortillas into 1/2 inch strips and spread out onto a foil covered baking pan so that they are not touching each other

Coat strips evenly with cooking spray

 

Bake at 425 degrees until crispy (you may need to toss them around a couple times while baking, I set the timer for 10 mintes, toss, 5 minutes toss and then a final 5 minutes to crisp them - the main thing is to keep an eye on them or they will burn)

Once your soup is done - throw it in a bowl top with crispy tortilla strips, sour cream, avocado, more cheese, pico de gallo and whatever else sounds good to you!

*If you like a thicker soup you can add 2 cans of cheddar soup - I usually do one because I prefer the broth texture

**I only had one package of taco seasoning so I substituted a spicy ranch dip packet for one of the taco seasonings and it was deliciously tangy