Chicken Tortilla Soup – Amy’s Version
I’ve been making Chicken Tortilla Soup for nearly twenty years. I don’t think it ever comes out exactly the same every time and there’s a few reasons for that. First, this is an easy recipe to change up the produce or use what you have on hand. Second, the toppings can vary depending on what you like or have on hand, fresh pico de gallo, salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, or plain yogurt – all good on this. Cheese is great too! But, you can change that around as well, cheddar, jack, mozzarella, or queso fresco – all excellent choices. But, it’s good plain, just as pictured, garnished with some fresh cilantro and maybe a nice lime or lemon wedge.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
As a kid in the late 70s and 80s I grew up with those taco seasoning packages. You know, brown the ground beef, dump in the package content, add water, etc. I’m ashamed to admit, for the first few years I was married I even cooked with them myself. It’s a love/hate relationship with those packages. Convenience with a heavy side of salt. I haven’t used them in years and the reason is pretty simple, it’s too easy and much more healthy to recreate that flavor in your own kitchen.
With summer on the way, soup might not be a natural “go to” for dinner when it’s hot outside, but we’ve been known to make it in the dead heat of summer simply because it’s easy and it tastes so good. It’s even better the next day for lunch! Honestly, we’ve had it for breakfast with a fried egg on top… our oldest daughter likes to joke that we’ll throw a fried egg on anything and call it breakfast. There might be some truth to that!
Chicken tortilla soup is a simple, hearty recipe with the flavor of chicken tacos, the cheesiness of good nachos, and the crunch of tortilla chips. It’s ridiculously easy.
And, again, this is one of those recipes that you can play with and change up as you need. You can use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or leftover grilled chicken breasts. It’s a great way to use up leftovers. This is my favorite way to make it, but you can throw in some potatoes, chorizo, use different squash or different vegetables altogether. But, this recipe is probably my favorite version: