Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS

Tortilla Strips:

• ¼ cup olive oil (60mL)
• 4 6-inch yellow corn tortillas cut into 1/4-inch strips (95g)
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Chicken Soup:

• 1 medium yellow onion chopped (1 1/4 cups) (160g)
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon seeded, diced jalapeno
• 4 cups chicken broth (.50L)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (794g)(28-ounce)
• 1 can black beans rinsed and drained (432g)(15.25-ounce)
• 1½ cups frozen yellow corn (172g)
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (454g)
• 1½ teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Toppings:

• shredded cheese
• sour cream
• sliced avocado
• chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

For the Tortilla Strips:

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In two batches, add the tortillas strips and cook until crispy, about 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

For the Chicken Soup:

1. Return the pot to medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes, beans, corn, chicken, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue simmering for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from the heat. Remove the chicken and shred.
3. Return the pot to medium-low heat. Stir the shredded chicken back into the pot. Stir in the lime juice. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Serve the soup with shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, and cilantro, if desired.

NOTES

• Decrease the amount of jalapeno if you want the soup less spicy.
• When cutting the jalapeno, make sure to remove the seeds before adding them to the pot. You can wear gloves to avoid your hands feeling tingy. 
• If you have leftover rotisserie chicken, you can shred it to add to the soup instead of cooking the chicken breasts in the tortilla soup. You will need approximately 3 to 4 cups of shredded chicken. You can even simmer the soup with some rotisserie bones to add more flavor to the soup.
• If you want to thicken the soup, you can whisk some masa harina with the soup before pouring it back into the soup. Masa harina gives a distinctive corn flavor to the soup. A cornstarch slurry will thicken the soup if you don’t have any masa harina.