Chicken Tortilla Soup

Lets talk food for a minute. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love food. One of my favorite recipes to cook is chicken tortilla soup. Now I actually have two different recipes for this, they don have the same ingredients, they dont’ have the same cooking techniques but they both taste amazing. Well at leas that is what my husband tells me.

The one I am going to share with you today I actually cook with the Instant pot. I got an Instant Pot for my birthday this past year. I know its a big deal right now to have one. I heard for a lot of busy families that they use it often and it saves them a lot of time. What I think they forgot to tell you before purchasing one, is that there is a lot of time spent on the instant pot warming up before it even starts the cooking time. Either way I still use and love mine. If you don’t have an instant pot, check this one out.

Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer

7-in-1 Multi-Functional Cooker–Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Saute/Browning, Yogurt Maker, Steamer & Warmer
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Delay cooking time up to 24-Hours; Manual setting up to 120 minutes of cook time
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Include 3-ply bottom stainless steel cooking pot, stainless steel steam rack with handle & manual and recipes in English and French

For a chicken tortilla soup not using a Instant Pot, stay tuned, ill post one version later.

Lets get on to the good stuff, the food.

The chicken tortilla soup can be made for a full course. Of course this is Mexican cuisine, so feel free to make this as sky as you would like. This is one of the easier recipes I have made with the Instant Pot. Total time to make it is about 15-30 minutes, 9 of those are those specific to the cook time. This is actually faster then my other recipe. I have served this meal for those are that Gluten Free (like my self) as well as those who are following a low carb diet. As yo start to read over the ingredients you will see the main ones are the chicken, chicken broth and of course the tortillas. I usually do not have a lot of left overs when I make it even though the serving nice is between 4-6

INGREDIENTS

Here is what you will need. Most of these items you can find at a local grocery store.

28 ounces diced tomatoes 2 cans
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs boneless skinless
1 onion diced
1 ounces green chiles diced, 1 can (of course the more cans you use, the spicer it may be, use real chiles for even more spice flavor.)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic minced (I use the minced garlic right from a jar and it turned out great.
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 Corn tortillas cut into 1 ⁄4 inch strips
2 tablespoons cilantro chopped fresh
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
1 avocado diced and tossed with lime juice
Lime wedges
Additional Item:
- 16 oz corn (1 can), I’ll add it in although this recipe does not call for it.
- sour cream, I will add this to the bowl once I am ready to serve, of course this is based on each persons preference.

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine tomatoes, chicken, chiles, broth, onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper in the Instant Pot; mix well.
Secure lid and move pressure release valve to Sealing position. Press Manual; cook at high pressure 9 minutes. When cooking is complete, use natural release for 10 minutes, then release remaining pressure.
Remove chicken to plate; shred into bite-size pieces when cool enough to handle. Stir into soup.
Press Sauté; add tortillas and cilantro to soup. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until heated through. I actually only add in the cilantro at this point. I cook the tortillas after cutting them in a bit of oil to make them crispy. Once I have served the soup in to bowls, then I will add the tortillas and top the bowl off with cheese, avocado and squeeze of lime juice.
Serve immediately.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Here are additional notes this this recipe that you might find helpful. These are not all to be combined, but each point is a different way to make the soup.

add 32 ounces of stock and a can of black beans and serve it with cheese quesadillas
add in 1 can of black beans and 1 can corn if you feel it needs a little more ingredients
add in 1 can of corn and 1 can of whole pinto beans
add in a bit of hot sauce, or leave it up to each persons preference
add in 3 10-oz cans of Rotel (mild), diced up one jalepeno pepper (no seeds), add 1 can of black beans (rinsed), 1 can of corn (not drained), add 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. To kick it up a notch, turn on Saute, put avocado oil in the pot & saute the onion (2-3 mins on its own), add jalepeno and garlic with the seasoning for another 2-3 more mins before adding everything else.

What other ways have you tried making this recipe? Please share I am always interested to hear how others make tortilla soup.

Happy eating!