Chicken Tortilla Soup Slow Cooker

This chicken tortilla soup slow cooker recipe is mildly spicy and wonderfully fresh tasting. I like to take a little care with the presentation of chicken tortilla soup. Slow cooker recipes often benefit from the addition of fresh herbs and coriander complements the flavour of this soup.

Making the fried tortilla lattice adds five minutes to the preparation, but it's fun to do.

Serves:

4

Preparation time:

10 minutes

Chicken Tortilla Soup Slow Cooker: Ingredients

1lb. (500 gms.) fresh or cooked chicken pieces.
One can of chopped, peeled tomatoes.
A chopped onion.
Two cloves of garlic, chopped, crushed or grated.
Two pints, (1 litre) of chicken stock - from a cube or preciously made.
One green chilli pepper, sliced small and de-seeded.
A pinch of whole mixed peppercorns.
A spoonful of dried parsley.
Four corn tortillas.
Dried, grated hard cheese.
A few sprigs of fresh coriander.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Slow Cooker: Cooking Method

Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, green chilli pepper, peppercorns, stock and parsley to the slow cooker. If you're using fresh chicken, add that too. If you're using cooked chicken, add it after the slow cooker is up to cooking temperature. This can be speeded up by using hot stock.

Cook slow cooker taco soup for eight hours on low, or four hours on high.

To make the tortilla lattice, cut the tortilla into strips, weave the lattice on a plate and slide it into the frying pan with a little oil. Use as little oil as possible because to brown both sides, you'll have to toss it like a pancake. That's the fun part. Don't worry if you mess it up, a bit of poking with a spatula will sort it out, or let it cool down and re-arrange by hand.

Slide the tortilla lattice onto a plate.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Slow Cooker: Serving

Put a spoonful or two of the dried grated hard cheese into the bottom of each bowl, ladle the crockpot chicken tortilla soup over it and place the tortilla lattice on top with a sprig of coriander.

Slow Cooker Soup Tips

Sometimes a slow cooker soup recipe will need to be thickened before serving. If the basis of the soup contains peas, lentils, root vegetables or beans, pureeing the soup with a hand blender will thicken it.

The easiest way to thicken other types of soup is to use cornflour, (cornstarch). Put a teaspoon of cornflour in a cup, add a little cold water, mix well and stir into the soup and wait a few minutes. If it's still not thick enough, repeat.

Rice, cornmeal, breadcrumbs, bulgar wheat and arrowroot can also be used for thickening soups.

Spinach, cabbage, sprouts, broccoli and artichokes are best avoided in slow cooker soups as they can taste bitter.

Added flavour can be achieved by roasting or frying meat and vegetables before using.

Soups look more attractive served with croutons, a whirl of cream or fresh chopped herbs sprinkled on top.

If a soup is too acid, it can be sweetened with a little sugar or honey.

Wine, if used, should be stirred into the soup shortly before serving.

Don't add more salt if using stock cubes. For a soup that is too salty, adding an uncooked, peeled potato for the last half hour will absorb salt. Remove potato before serving.