This Tortilla Soup recipe was inspired by a soup I found over at Budget Bytes last year. It was delicious, but it had my biggest soup pet peeve: way too much broth, not enough hearty good stuff.
I suppose I could have just cut back on the broth, but I felt more like adding some variety to the soup without changing the flavor profile much. Black beans were an obvious choice, and they made a nice addition, but it seemed like the recipe needed one more thing. Something from the grain department. Quinoa? Not the right texture. Barley? Didn’t fit the Mexican vibe I was going for. Then I recalled that Mexicans put hominy in pozole soup, and we had a winner, folks.
What’s Hominy?
If you’re not familiar with hominy, it’s kind of like canned popcorn. It’s made when dried corn kernels are soaked in lime (the mineral, not the fruit), which removes the corn’s hull and germ. It also makes the grain puff up to twice its usual size. The process is called nixtamalization (log that word away for the next time you play Scrabble), and it yields a grain which is easier to grind and will hold together when made into tortillas or grits. The process also frees up niacin (vitamin B3) in the corn, making it more nutritious.
Hominy doesn’t have a lot of flavor, but I like the texture, and it adds some nice oomph to this soup. I also think it’s fun to broaden our horizons with an ingredient that’s a little fun and different. You can find canned hominy in most grocery stores (usually near the canned beans), but if you can’t track it down, or you’re just not a fan of hominy, you could replace it with a cup of regular corn kernels.
Don’t Skip the Chips
While the hominy may be negotiable, the tortilla chips aren’t. For one thing, this wouldn’t be tortilla soup without them. For another thing, everyone in my family agrees that the soup is good on its own, but it’s 100 percent better with salty, crunchy, crushed tortilla chips sprinkled on top.
The first time I made this soup, my kids were hesitant to try the new dish, especially since they’d never had hominy before. The chips won them over. They were a perfect gateway ingredient, and the kids loved being in charge of how many scoops of chips they added to their bowls (within reason–they have to leave enough in the serving bowl so that everyone gets some). My children don’t think of this recipe as the healthy dinner with tons of protein, fiber, and six different vegetables. They think of it as the soup they get to eat with chips. And I’m cool with that.
So, seriously, don’t skip the chips. You know those tiny shards of tortilla chip at the bottom of the bag that are too small to hold even a smidge of salsa? This soup is their calling in life. While Tortilla Soup looks pretty with a few large, triangular, artfully-arranged tortilla chips in the picture at the top of this post, when it’s on our table, it looks more like this:
And a few minutes later, it looks like this:
Tortilla Soup, I love everything about you. Citrusy, savory broth. Lots of protein and veggies. A hint of spice, but not so much that my kids get cranky. Hominy and tortilla chips, just for fun. You are totally my BFF soup.
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 medium jalapeno
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ¾ lb. chicken breast, quartered
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
- 1 can (4oz) diced green chilies
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ Tbsp cumin
- 1 can (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15oz) hominy, drained and rinsed
- ½ a medium lime
- ½ bunch cilantro (optional)
- Crushed tortilla chips
- Dice the onion, celery, and jalapeno (discard the jalepeno seeds, unless you want your soup extra spicy). Mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large pot, then cook the onion, celery, jalapeno, and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until tender.
- Add the chicken broth, chicken, tomatoes, chilies, oregano, and cumin to the pot. Bring soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Add beans and hominy to soup, then use two forks to shred the chicken. Return the meat to the pot. Squeeze the juice of half a lime into the soup. Roughly chop the cilantro then add to the pot, give it a quick stir, and serve. Top with crushed tortilla chips.
Looking for another nourishing soup to chase the winter chill away?
