Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I'm taking my New Year's resolutions/goals to heart. At least when it comes to using my crockpot more. I've even rearranged some of my kitchen cabinets to make the crockpot more accessible. That's like giving it its own drawer in a relationship, I'm in it for the long haul.

I made a similar tortilla soup last year but on the stove top instead. This year, I don't have a giant soup pot anymore (#moving) and the crockpot is the largest bowl I have to seemed worth some Googling to find a good recipe. I'm learning that it's really easy to make things up to cook in the crockpot, especially with soup where as long as you have enough liquid, you're good. Also, I know this is called chicken tortilla soup but I didn't add tortilla this time and chicken soup is already a thing so it's just chicken tortilla soup, sans tortilla.

This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Her recipe came up at the top of my Google search and I used to watch her show back when I had serious cable and the Food Network. Now I just follow her on Instagram and check for recipes.

As always, all of the ingredients go into the pot: chicken, black beans (drained), diced tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, onion, jalapeno, garlic, tomato paste, spices and all of the broth. The chicken came out so tender, I was in awe. Even trying to spear a piece with a fork to shred, it literally just fell right off. If there were bones to chicken breasts, I would say the meat fell right off the bone (in this case, it fell right off the fork).

 

You can garnish this any which way you choose: crispy tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado. I stuck with just avocado, another kitchen love affair in the making.

Recipe
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

• 1 1/2-2 lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 14.5oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen but you can use canned if you drain it first)
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1. Add all ingredients to the crockpot, making sure everything is covered with broth. You can use more broth if you want more of a soup, less if you want more of a stew.
2. Stir to combine the spices and tomato paste.
3. Set to high and cook for 3-4 hours (or low for 7-8). Cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
4. Using two forks, shred the chicken.
5. Serve hot with avocado (or cheese or sour cream or tortilla chips).