Has it seriously been 5 months since I wrote my last cooking blog post?! This school year has been the hardest I have had in 4 years. I am completely exhausted every night and sometimes I find myself asleep before 9pm which is totally unlike me! The good news is, we have made it to Fall Break and I have plenty of time to write more blog posts!
Today for whatever reason, maybe (well, definitely) it’s because it finally feels like fall I felt like making chicken tortilla soup. I even got a whiff of the fall “smell” today! You know the one, like dead leaves?! Yahoo!
Last week I was more sick than I have been in years! I mean I have gotten strep throat 2 years in a row, but this bad cold ended in a sinus infection! I’m blaming the fact that not only do we have parent teacher conferences (which I don’t mind AT ALL, I actually love them) but we also have a staff meeting AND PD Meetings AND PLCs. And everyone is wondering why all the teachers are getting sick in October…….just saying…don’t you think they should cool it with the meetings during Parent Teacher Conference month? Especially since we have to schedule Parent Teacher Conference on our own time and are not given time to actually do them?! Okay I’m sorry for my rant, on to the most delicious chicken tortilla soup I have EVER made!
If you have an Instapot, use that, but if not you can totally make it on the stovetop too. I love my Instapot because I am notoriously known to forget to take meat out of the fridge until I’m actually ready to use it. One awesome thing about the Instapot is that it will cook frozen chicken in just 10 minutes under high pressure! Score!
I adapted this recipe from the amazing food blog DamnDelicious. You can click this link and go directly to her website to find the original recipe if you would rather try that. I just changed/added a few things. It’s seriously SO good! I have never put tomato paste in my chicken tortilla soup, but it really helped to thicken it up! And one thing I always add is black beans! Gotta have that fiber…
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 of a sweet onion, diced
- 1 poblano pepper , seeded and diced
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 4 oz tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2, 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilis
- 1, 14.5 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 cups chicken stock
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup cilantro
*My Favorite Toppings*
- avocado sliced or cubed
- cheese (I like Mexican cheese best)
- sour cream
- squirt of lime juice
- tortilla chips
Directions
1. Heat olive oil (If using IP put sauté setting on high (or heat large pot over medium/high heat)) and sauté pepper and onion until golden brown or soft.
2. Add cumin, oregano, chili powder, garlic, tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
3. Add tomatoes and chicken stock. Stir, making sure to get all the brown bits off the bottom.
4. Add the raw chicken. If using an IP pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. (My chicken was still a little frozen, so I cooked it for 13 minutes and it was perfect.) If cooking over the stove, will probably need to cook for 30 minutes medium high heat to make sure the chicken is cooked through.
5. After pressure in IP has been released, remove chicken and shred. Add it back into the soup and add chopped cilantro, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!!
🍋 The Main Squeeze 