I have been meaning to post my own version of Half Baked Harvest’s Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup for a very long time. This week, I finally made a batch of it and remembered to pay attention to the process! 

This is one of my all-time favorite soups. It’s flavorful, full of fiber and protein, and has all the fun of chili (so many toppings!) without the heaviness. 

Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken and Black Bean Soup (inspired by Half Baked Harvest)

Servings: 

Around 8-10, depending on what you consider a serving

Ingredients:

• 1 Spanish onion, diced
• 2 Poblano peppers, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• Approximately 4 cloves garlic, crushed, but measure with your heart
• 2-6 tablespoons canned chipotle and/or adobo sauce (see note 1)
• 2 14-oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes (see note 2)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 pound chicken (see note 2)
• 8 cups chicken stock (see note 4)
• Juice of two limes (see note 5)
• 1-2 15-oz cans of black beans, drained (see note 5)
• 1-2 cups of frozen corn (see note 5)

Optional Toppings:

• Cilantro
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Sour cream
• Tortilla strips or chips
• Lime juice
• Avocado

Note 1: I love the smoky heat of chipotle peppers, but I am weird about textures and I cannot stomach the combo of skin, seeds, and slimy flesh. So I will buy a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, blend it up, and then freeze it in ice-cube trays. Once frozen, I put the cubes (which each hold roughly a tablespoon and a half of pureed chipotle/adobo) into a Ziploc bag in my freezer. They last forever this way, and I can drop them into soup and chili and taco meat and whatever else my heart desires. I usually add about 3 cubes to a batch of this soup.

Note 2: Due to the texture issues I mentioned in Note 1, I do not simply dump diced fire roasted tomatoes into my soup. Instead, I puree them in the blender, then strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve to capture any leftover seeds or tomato skin (hork). This time, I pressed the puree button on my blender three times, rather than the normal once, and I felt like the puree had FAR less debris left over after straining. Maybe next time I will puree it four times and it will be smooth enough that I can skip the straining step entirely. 

Note 3: Although chicken thighs would be great in this recipe, I prefer white meat chicken. I have been partial, lately, to chicken tenders which are less expensive than whole breasts. I usually cook the chicken along with the soup, dumping it in frozen and then pulling it out once cooked to shred it, and returning it to the soup. Pre-cooked/shredded chicken would be fine in this too, and if you don’t like chicken, I think the soup is flavorful enough that you could leave it out entirely.

Note 4: The recipe this is based on calls for just four cups of stock, and that’s fine. My husband prefers this soup with less stock because he likes a nice chunky stew. I prefer a brothy soup, so I use two four-cup cartons of chicken stock and I loooooove it.

Note 5: I add the lime juice, black beans, and corn to the soup about a half hour before it’s done cooking. Because I love black beans and corn, and because I am receptive to my husband’s aforementioned preference for a chunky stew, I sometimes add more beans or corn. Just depends on how I’m feeling in the moment. You do you.

Instructions:

1. Spray the bowl of your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, then add diced onion, poblanos, jalapeno, garlic, chipotle peppers/adobo, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
2. Add chicken, broth, and tomatoes to the veggies and spices.
3. Cover and cook on low for 5.5 to 6.5 hours or on high for 2.5 to 3.5 hours.
4. Add black beans, corn, and lime juice to your slow cooker. Shred chicken if necessary and return to slow cooker. Cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, tortilla strips, avocado, and more lime juice.