Mexican-ish chicken soup

My goal of clearing out my pantry is mostly going well... except for those times when I design a dish specifically for a certain ingredient (ahem, canned green chiles) then proceed to omit them entirely. Sigh.

This soup is based on the Barefoot Contessa's Mexican Chicken Soup, which I loved the first several times I made it. I loved the combination of what is essentially chicken soup, but with a twist: the addition of tomatoes as well as a nice kick from some spices. Over the years, I have varied it slightly, cutting down on some of the ingredients, or sometimes making a vegetarian version with beans. This is my latest.



1. Prepare chicken. Sometimes I'll just use a store-bought rotisserie chicken, but this time I roasted a couple of chicken breasts using a method I read about on Serious Eats. I like this method because it is super fast, easy, makes just enough chicken, and I can save the bones for stock. To paraphrase:

• rub olive oil on two skin-on, bone-in breast halves, then salt and pepper
• place skin-side down in hot, dry, oven-proof skillet
• after 5 minutes, turn chicken, then place into pre-heated 375 degree oven
• roast for about 15 minutes

In this case, since I would be adding it to soup, I wasn't concerned about it being dangerously under-cooked, so I took it out after 15 minutes and let the chicken rest before shredding. (If I wanted to eat it as is, I probably would have left it in for 17 minutes.)

2. Chop onion, jalapenos, and some garlic.

3. Optional: Simmer beans (in this case, cannellini) in about a cup of chicken stock. I was using beans that I had made myself and frozen. I was trying to combat my problem with beans that become too hard after refrigeration, so I thought if I let it warm up in some water or stock before adding it the soup, it would help. (I think it did, but I only have this one example as evidence so far.)


4. Saute veggies.

5. Add spices. Here, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, cumin, dried oregano, salt, pepper.

6. Add canned diced tomatoes (here, half of a 28 oz can) and let simmer.

7. Add the beans and chicken stock.

8. I added some frozen cilantro (which I had chopped up and froze in ice cube trays with a little water) as well as some frozen corn. If I didn't have the frozen cilantro, I would have added fresh.


9. Add shredded chicken.

10. The soup seemed kind of thick to me (I wanted it to be more broth-y) so I added a cup of [hot] water.

11. Let simmer and adjust seasonings (needed salt).

12. ADD CANNED GREEN CHILES. Especially if they are sitting in your pantry, waiting to be used in this dish!

In case you couldn't tell, I forgot this step.



I guess I didn't really miss the chiles though. It's a nice, fairly light but warm and hearty soup to have in this Winter to End All Winters. If I wanted to make it more like a stew, I might add crushed tomatoes instead of diced, but I like this soupy version. In fact, I've been adding more water when I heat up the leftovers. This soup is also fantastic with a squeeze of lime, or some crushed chips.

Pantry purge: canned tomatoes, frozen chicken stock, cannellini beans, cilantro and corn
Minus points: those damned green chiles
Calorie count: very rough estimate of 200 calories, 8 servings