Chicken Poblano Tortilla Soup

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read the full disclosure here.

In the winter I make a lot of soup.  I hate to be cold and soup is a great way for me to warm up.   I always feel like warming up from the inside out is the most effective way to do it.  So about once a week I make a big pot of soup for dinner and then we enjoy the leftovers for lunch throughout the week.

I have my favorite soups that I rotate during the winter such as chicken noodle soup with my husband’s homemade noodles, potato soup, hot and sour soup, and one of my many chili recipes.   While these are all favorites I sometimes get tired of them and want something a little different.   I often save soup recipes whenever I see them because I know I’ll make them during the winter since winter lasts about 8 months where I live.

This recipe is for Chicken Poblano Tortilla Soup.   Now I’ve made other tortilla soup recipes before and even other chicken tortilla soup recipes but this one is a little different.  In addition to the homemade tortilla strips on top this one has crushed tortillas in the actual soup to help thicken it.  It also gets a bit of heat from the poblano pepper as well as green chilies.

I like that while the base of this soup does have tomatoes it also has a lot of chicken broth which makes it a bit lighter.  It’s actually a fairly easy soup to make with common ingredients that are almost always found in my kitchen.   You can top it off with regular tortillas but I like making my own homemade ones.  Then I put a dollop of sour cream, a slice of avocado, and a lime wedge on top.

This soup is really tasty.  It’s a bit spicy from the poblano and green chilies but not overly spicy.  There’s a lot of chicken in the soup and a lot of vegetables which gives it more flavor.   Then the toppings can be whatever you choose those I think the squirt of citrusy lime and the creamy avocado on top are just about perfect.

Continue to Content

Chicken Poblano Tortilla Soup

Yield: serves 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 41 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 1 minute

This delicious soup is tomato based with chunks of chicken, spicy peppers, and is topped off with homemade tortilla chips.

Print

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 c. carrots, chopped
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 (4 oz) can green chilies
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 c. chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons cumin
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 oz. tortilla chips, crushed
• 1/2 c. cilantro, chopped
• 1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded or chopped

For the topping:

• 1 avocado, thinly sliced
• 1 lime, sliced into 6 wedges
• Sour cream
• homemade tortilla chips

Instructions

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and swirl to coat.
2. Add in the onion, carrot, poblano, green pepper, and red pepper. Saute for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the green chilies and garlic cloves and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add in the chicken broth, salt, pepper, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
5. Add in the crushed tortilla chips and mix well. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Remove lid and add in the chicken and cilantro. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.
7. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with 2 avocado slices, 1 lime wedge, a dollop of sour cream, and additional tortilla chips.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, October 2016.