Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ever since school began this year, my days have been a blur between dance, academic decathalon, and marching band. Things have a tendency to get crazy! And as if it weren’t busy enough, then we got a puppy(!!). As the school year has progressed and the puppy demands my attention, I’ve found the need for stupidly simple meals that I can make ahead of time. I’m talking the simplest of simple. Enter chicken tortilla soup!

When I had first put this recipe on our meal plan, I originally intended for it to use up some of my Instant Pot Pulled Pork. **Stay tuned for that recipe!**

But I hadn’t gotten around to making it yet because of the newest addition to our clan. While L, our puppy, may be adorable, she is certainly a handful! It’s like I’m back to a schedule similar to a potty training toddler. Except with 4 legs, lots of fluffy fur, and some wickedly sharp teeth!

I was very happy to see that Hubs didn’t use all of the chicken breasts I had cooked in our Instant Pot {we have the Instant Pot Ultra*, and I can’t sing my praises over this enough!}. Winning for using up leftovers!! Let me tell you though, as the kids get older and more involved in school activities, I’m having to find ways to adjust our frugal hacks to help keep things frugal. It doesn’t take many distractions on my part before we’re off the rails as far as our grocery budget goes.

Since I used those cooked chicken breasts, I’m confident that leftover roast chicken, or even store bought rotisserie chicken, would be perfectly tasty in this. It’s kind of hard to go wrong with chicken since it is so versatile. But this soup was so good that I’m certain pulled pork would have done equally as well in there. So, use what you have!

I also had mind blanked on my grocery trip and totally forgot to buy some bell peppers for this. It came out just as tasty without them as it does with them!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, olive oil, or a combination of the two
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 garlic cloves, minced {I prefer to use the jars of pre-minced garlic — simplicity here; they’re also fairly cheap at Aldi}
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
4 to 6 cups chicken broth — {depends on how much broth you like your soup to have. If you don’t want to make your own chicken broth, I like using Better Than Bullion*. It’s MSG free, relatively cheap and makes a TON of broth.}
12oz bag frozen corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes — do not drain
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika — {I use a combination of regular and smoked}
1 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley

Directions:

In a 6 quart dutch oven*, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onions and bell pepper, and saute until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic, and saute for another minute or two, or until garlic is fragrant.
Add in remaining ingredients — chicken, chicken broth, frozen corn, tomatoes, beans, spices.
Bring the soup to a boil, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. We prefer more chili powder than cumin, but your family may be different.
Serve immediately with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, frito chips or tortilla chips.