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There is one a bright blue turquoise bowl and a second bowl to the upper left only showing the edge of the bowl. The bowls are filled with reddish brown tortilla soup and garnished with green Italian flat leaf parsley, sliced avocado, thinly sliced with pickled red Serrano peppers and Queso Fresco cheese. Surrounding the bowl are two margaritas infused with jalapeño simple syrup and garnished with candied and brûléed jalapeño. A clear bowl of pickled red Serrano peppers sits in the lower left hand corner and at the top left hand corner is a bright blue glass bowl filled with wedges of limes.

The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup

It all starts with quality ingredients, layered with exceptional complex flavors with a mild heat that gives just enough warmth to the soup while letting the build of chili flavors shine through. The gentle smokiness from the grilled Serrano peppers makes it one of those soups your tastebuds will be asking for again and again. 
Chiles have also found their way into cocktails. If you love margaritas, try this candied jalapeño margarita. https://foodstyleuncorked.com/candied-jalapeno-margarita Infused jalapeño simple syrup adds a mild spiciness and sweetness to this craft cocktail. Flavorful, sweet caramelized jalapeño is an unexpected sweet treat you will love.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 4 people
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2-3 Tablspoons olive oil  extra virgin
  • 1 onion  sweet yellow, small diced
  • 1 clove garlic minced and pasted
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 poblano  pepper grilled, skin removed and small diced
  • 1 jalapeño grilled skin removed and small diced
  • 1 Serrano pepper grilled skin removed and small diced
  • 2 pasilla chili (chili negro) Also known as pasilla bajio dried chilies. Soaked, skin removed, stemmed, seeded, and pureed.
  • 1/4 teaspoon Anchote Rojo seasoning paste
  • 1/4 teaspoon oregano  Mexican dried
  • 1/8 teaspoon cumin ground
  • 2 14.5 cans fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 2 quarts chicken stock
  • 4 sweet corn  in salted water corn cut of the cob, reserve cobs
  • 1 14 ounce black beans canned
  • 1/2 cup corn tortilla chips finely ground in a small food processor
  • 1 whole roasted chicken  from market, pulled apart into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2 pound Queso Fresco for top of the soup
  • 2-3 medium avocado for top of the soup
  • 5 medium limes for garnish
  • 1 bunch cilantro leaves for garish
  • 1 bunch epazote leaves optional
  • 1 pound tortilla chips 1 bag for serving and 1/2 cup ground for soup
Pickled Fresno Chilies
  • 3 Fresno chiles small, thinly sliced
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar granulated
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar

Method
 

  1. In a large soup pot, add enough olive oil to swirl in pan 3-4 times around; heat olive oil.
  2. Add diced onion, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Sweat onions until translucent. Add skinned, seeded, chopped poblano, jalapeño, Serrano peppers, pureed pasilla chili, and 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili. Cook 15 minutes. Add tomatoes. Cook 10 minutes. Puree mixture in the food processor. Add puree back into the soup pot. Add ground tortilla chips.
  3. Let soup cook down for 15 minutes.
  4. Add chicken stock, corn off the cob, beans, and corn cobs to the soup. Cook on medium-high for 20-minutes. Remove cobs from soup with tongs before serving. Stir in shredded chicken, season with salt as needed and continue cooking for 10 minutes unitl the chicken is warmed through.
In Advance
  1. Rince dried peppers. Heat water in a kettle bringing it to a boil. Pour the hot water over the two dried pasilla chilies to soften for approximately one-half hour. After the chilies have softened——. Reserve chili water. With the back of your knife, scrape the chilies to remove the skin, remove the chili end. Cut chilies in half, and with the back of your knife, scrape the seeds from the chilies. Add chilies to a mini-food processor with 2 Tablespoon of the chili water and puree until smooth. Add chili water as needed to puree chilies until they are of smooth consistency. Set aside.
  2. Lightly coat poblano, jalapeño, and Serrano chili with olive oil. Grill until the peppers become charred. Remove from heat. Place charred peppers in a sealed plastic bag; this makes it easier to remove the skin of peppers. After the peppers have cooled, remove the stem of the peppers. With the backside of your knife, scrape charred skin, cut peppers in half, removing the seeds. Small dice all of the peppers. Set aside
Pickled Fresno Chilies
  1. Slice chilies thinly and combine with remaining ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to simmer and turn off the heat. Set aside to cool in a bowl.
Garnish Prepration
  1. Prepare garnishes and place in separate bowls, cover and refrigerate all but the tortilla chips. Next, break apart the Queso Fresco, slice the avocado, squeeze lime juice onto the avocado to prevent oxidation, pull apart cilantro leaves, pull apart epazote leaves, pickled Fresno chilies, lime wedges, tortilla chips on the side.
Roasted Chicken
  1. Using the tip of your knife, find the center breast bone of the chicken and run your knife along of side of the breast bone, following the chicken breast to the backside of the chicken and removing half of the chicken breast. Then, repeat the process on the opposite side. Next, remove the chicken wings by pulling the wing, bending each wing to pop it out of the joint, and removing the wings. Next, turn each leg, disjointing them, and cut between the joints to remove. The thighs will easily pull off with your hands from the chicken's backside.
    With your hands, remove the skin and discard. Next, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and refrigerate.

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