I got a recipe on paper passed to me by someone at an office I worked at back in the 1990’s. It was called “Chili’s Enchilada Soup”, and apparently, at some point, it sprung up as a copy-cat recipe for a soup served at Chili’s restaurants. Never having eaten the soup it purported to re-create, I can’t attest to how similar it was… but since the 1990’s I’ve taken this recipe as my own and have been making this soup for my family. I have made it for so long that I never make it the same way, twice. I don’t really measure things any more, but it always turns out yummy.
This soup has become my MOST requested soup… and has come to be called by my family, “You know, THAT SOUP.” I always know what soup they mean. It has a cult following amongst family and friends. Even those who are notorious spice wimps.
And since the recipe has been on my blog since 2005, I thought I would bring it back to life by updating the post with photos and new ingredient changes. I’m working with McCormick on their Taco Night promotion for the week of Cinco de Mayo and couldn’t leave this recipe out. As for TexMex creations, this is a perfect example of “thinking beyond the tortilla”.
It would make a super appetizer, a side dish, or a perfect full course. It freezes well (even though it looks pretty strange while it is warming back up), and it is a great way to use up leftover taco side dishes (pinto beans, corn, salsa, chopped jalapenos?) or leftover rotisserie chicken. I just can’t say enough about this soup. Once you taste it, you’ll know why!
INGREDIENTS…
- handful leftover pinto beans
- handful frozen corn
- 1 chopped and seeded Serrano pepper or green chili
- 1 minced garlic clove (more won’t hurt)
- 4 oz. Velveeta (cut in small cubes for quicker melting)
- small or medium diced onion
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 22 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast – fried in butter/garlic salt and cubed (or leftover rotisserie chicken meat, diced)
- 2 cups water for masa mixture (pictured below in recipe instructions)
- fresh cilantro (on table to add at meal time or garnish before serving – pictured below after recipe instructions)
- several cups of home made chicken broth with fat/stock (about 2 pints)
- 1.5 cups masa corn flour (NOT corn meal! Also used to make tamales.)
- hot pepper sauce of choice – to taste (can also add cayenne)
- 1 tsp. ground cumin (not pictured)
- 2 tsp. chili powder (pictured here: McCormick Gourmet Ancho Chili Pepper and McCormick Gourmet Chipotle Chili Pepper, along with the regular McCormick Chili Powder)
- diced jalapeno can be added in leu of fresh peppers (pictured here: McCormick Diced Jalapeno Peppers)
- dried diced onion or chives are great additions to this soup and I often use them (not pictured)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2-3 tsp salt (pictured here: McCormick Gourmet Sicilian Sea Salt)
- 1 small can crushed or diced tomatoes (salsa or Rotel works)
- 1-2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese (1/2 each in soup and on table as extra)
INSTRUCTIONS…
Chop and prepare your veggies. Warm your oil in a large pot and saute until your onion is soft and clear.Add your spices.Because I don’t like getting a bunch of pans dirty while I cook, I add in some extra steps here. I remove the veggies to a bowl and warm my cold home-made chicken broth in the same pan I sauteed the veggies in. Chicken broth looks more like nasty congealed jelly when cold. The jellier, the better, apparently. Check out my post on how to make your own broth and find out why. It is super good for you. “Jewish Penicillin”.
We usually make this soup on a night prior to eating a rotisserie chicken because I always make broth with leftover Rotisserie bones – and the leftover meat goes great in this soup.
Once your broth is hot, pour it carefully back in to your pitcher except for about 2-3 cups worth. Use that (or about the same amount of hot water) to boil your masa with in the hot pan.
Masa tastes rather raw and nasty unless it is cooked well. Kind of like grass or corn with husk on it. It tastes wonderful – like a tamale or enchilada should – if it is cooked properly. This step requires boiling the masa on high heat for a few minutes so your soup won’t taste like a handful of grass is floating in it. Trust me on this – you don’t want to skip this step.
Continue to stir constantly as you boil the masa and after you achieve a bubbling boil you can begin to pour the hot broth back in to the pan. It doesn’t take that long and if you let it go without stirring you’ll end up with a Masa pancake or Masa dumplings. Start slowly pouring in your broth as you continue boiling and stirring so your soup broth is smooth and you don’t have lumps. I usually ask a kid to help me with this step as it is rather tedious.
Because you’ll be adding CHEESE to this soup, you don’t want it to be too thick before hand. I usually just throw two or three handfuls of Masa in to my broth in the pot without measuring, so I sometimes get the soup base too thick. When this happens, I just add in some more water. No biggie. My husband LOVES this soup to be really thick. I like it somewhat thick, too – but after you make it a few times, you’ll get the hang of the consistency pre-cheese and after-cheese. It’s just a matter of taste and texture. Do whatever your family loves.
Note: The original recipe called for at least 2 cups of water.
After you have returned to a boil, lower your heat to medium and add your vegetables back in to the soup pot.
Then add your crushed or diced tomatoes, salsa, or Rotel. Meanwhile, direct your husband to chop the Velveeta. Not much more I don’t like doing in the kitchen than chopping or grating Velveeta. It sure tastes good in this soup, though.
Add cheese to soup. I always use Velveeta and Jalapeno Jack, and sometimes I even add Cheddar for the fun of it. I’m not above using leftover deli cheese slices to get rid of them, either. I’ve used Provolone, Muenster, and Colby Jack – and no one knew the difference.
Add in your chicken. This soup tastes good even without chicken, though. Rest assured. You can vegetarianize it with vegetable broth and leave the chicken out. Whatever floats your boat.
This is the time to taste the soup, add extra salt, and your dash of hot pepper sauce. Reduce the soup to simmer. Toss in your largest soup ladle and gather the bowls.
Remember the spice wimps: I am known for surpassing the spice level my family can handle, so I like to aim low at first and add my final “punch” at the end. When my mom comes to dinner, I might forgo the extra spice and just make it available on the table. But even my mama is addicted to this soup – and she’ll eat it hot if she has to. That’s what the sour cream on our table is about. Sour cream can hide a lot of cayenne and chili powder from even the most sensitive palates.
If you like adding fresh spices before the soup hits the table, this would be the time to add in your fresh cilantro or even a little Mexican oregano. I like to add mine at the table. Especially since we pick ours from the yard and usually remember it on our second bowl… “Oh, THAT’s what was missing!”
Serve hot with Pepper Jack sprinkled on top. Goes great with taco chips, too – my toddlers use their soup as a “dip” bowl.
Here below the soup debuts in it’s #nofilter unedited glory:
Mmmmm. Watch that string of cheese on your chin!
Want to win one of 30 kits of McCormick spices for your own taco night? Here at my house we call it TexMex night because we make tacos, casseroles, enchiladas, or this soup quite often! In honor of Cinco de Mayo, McCormick has come up with a fun Pinterest contest for all of us spice addicts:
If that graphic is a bit small to read, Here’s how it works:
1. Pin any taco night recipe using the hashtag #McCormick in your description, making sure to tag the blogger who sent you (@sprittibee). Pin them to your own food boards. If you need ideas, you can check out some of McCormick’s Taco Night” board.
2. You’ll be entered to win one of 30 spice kits from McCormick! Easy peasy. The contest will wrap up on May 31.
You can follow @McCormick and @sprittibee on Pinterest.
Tomorrow I’ll share my Tacos and Guacamole recipes – just in time for Cinco de Mayo. On the 5th, I’ll be sharing my Spanish Rice recipe. By then you’ll have recipes enough for a TexMex FEAST.
{ ¡Buen provecho! }
In Him,
Heather
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Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by McCormick Seasonings and I received some spices and grocery money to share their Pinterest contest with my readers. The opinions expressed and the recipe here are my own.
[…] chicken soup are our favorites. My kids also really like a baked potato soup. I used to make a chicken enchilada soup that was our family fave… but we don’t eat a lot of corn any more and it had nearly 2 […]