Learn how to create a hearty and delicious meal with Chef John's Chicken Tortilla Soup. This step-by-step video guide will walk you through the process of making a flavorful and satisfying soup that's perfect for any time of the year. With simple ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, you'll be enjoying a bowl of this tasty soup in no time. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a beginner in the kitchen, this recipe is a must-try for everyone.
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00:00 Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Chicken Tortilla Soup.
00:08 That's right, I'm very happy to be sharing what has to be the best chicken soup I haven't
00:12 shared yet.
00:13 And I have no idea why, since this stuff is amazing.
00:16 And while we are going to make this from scratch, I will be giving you lots of different tips
00:20 and tricks for how to make this faster if you want.
00:23 And to get started, the first thing we'll do is put a big old chicken into a big old
00:27 pot, along with one onion we've cut in half.
00:31 And no, you don't need to peel it.
00:33 And then we'll also toss in some cilantro stems, which we cut off the bottom of the
00:36 bunch.
00:37 And yes, we'll use the leaves later to finish.
00:40 We will also toss in a couple three bay leaves, depending on the size, as well as some dried
00:45 Mexican oregano, or oregano from anywhere, followed by some whole black peppercorns.
00:53 And then we'll fill our pot up with some nice cold fresh water.
00:56 And we'll turn our heat up to high, and we'll wait for this to come to a boil.
00:59 And while we wait, let me go ahead and toss in one possibly optional ingredient.
01:03 Alright, if you have them or can find them, I like to toss in a couple dried chilies.
01:08 And these are ancho, which I think are perfect.
01:11 And I'm tearing this one open, so you can see we removed the seeds.
01:14 And if you can't find those, you could always use a spoon of chili powder.
01:18 But either way, once this starts to boil, we'll reduce our heat to medium low, and we
01:23 will simmer all this for one hour.
01:25 And while that's happening, we can move on to make our crispy tortilla strips, which
01:30 is done by taking a stack of corn tortillas, and cutting those in half.
01:35 And then once halved, we'll cut across like this, every quarter inch or so, since that's
01:40 what I think the ideal width is.
01:42 But if you want them thicker, cut them thicker.
01:45 That is just you cooking.
01:46 And then once cut, we'll transfer those onto a Silpat lined baking sheet, at which point
01:51 we'll drizzle over a generous amount of vegetable oil, as well as a nice big pinch of salt.
01:57 And then we will give these a thorough tossing, until they're evenly coated.
02:01 And classically, these tortilla strips would be fried in a pan, or deep fried, which works
02:06 great, but it's kind of messy, and I think unnecessary, since these will come out just
02:11 as good in the oven, as long as you use a lot of oil, and cook them long enough.
02:16 And then once these strips are coated with enough oil, we'll go ahead and spread those
02:19 out as evenly as we can, at which point we'll transfer those into the center of a 350 degree
02:25 oven, for about 30 minutes, or until they're beautifully golden brown and crispy.
02:31 Oh, and if you can, give them a toss once or twice during the baking time, for a little
02:36 more even toasting.
02:38 And as long as you used enough oil, and these have cooked long enough, once they cool, they
02:42 should be very, very crispy.
02:45 And now that that's set, we can go back and check our chicken, which as you might remember,
02:50 we're simmering for one hour.
02:52 And then what we'll do at this point, is reduce our heat to low, and then we'll very, very
02:57 carefully transfer our chicken into a bowl.
03:00 And by the way, feel free to use a couple tongs, or tongs and a strainer, since you
03:04 want to be very careful that hot liquid doesn't run down the tongs onto your wrist.
03:09 But anyway, one way or another, we will safely get that in a bowl, and then we can carefully
03:13 pour any excess juice back into the pot.
03:16 And then what we'll do is let our chicken sit on the counter, until it's cool enough
03:20 to handle, since the next step in the process is to pull all the meat off the bones.
03:25 And there are two ways to do this, the very fast, super easy way, and the very slow, super
03:31 hard way.
03:32 And guess which way I'm going to do it?
03:34 Nope, I'm going to do it the fast and easy way, which involves pulling off the breast
03:39 meat, which is very quick and simple to do.
03:43 And then after the white meat, we'll grab the thighs and legs, and we'll pull the meat
03:47 off those bones.
03:48 But we're only going to worry about the big chunks that are easy to grab, since after
03:52 we do that, we're going to have plenty of meat for our soup.
03:56 And to me, it doesn't make any sense to spend another 20 minutes picking through this pile
04:00 of bones and cartilage and nooks and crannies, trying to get every last shred of meat, since
04:06 after we grab all the easy meat, we are going to add our bowl of skin and bone and scraps
04:10 back to the pot, which we are about to turn into an incredibly rich and super flavorful
04:15 chicken broth.
04:17 So this time at least, a little bit of laziness is an advantage.
04:22 So we'll go ahead and stir all that goodness in, at which point we'll let this simmer gently
04:26 for I'd say at least four hours.
04:29 And yes, we could just go for a couple hours, but the longer this simmers, the more flavor
04:34 we extract.
04:35 And if we're not trying to extract more flavor, what are we doing?
04:39 So we will basically let that simmer as long as we can, but we have one more step to do
04:44 about halfway through that simmering time, which for me was at about the two hour mark.
04:49 And that would be to add what I'm calling our charred vegetable salsa component.
04:53 So on a foil lined sheet pan, which we will lightly oil, we'll place down three or four
04:57 tomatoes and a couple onions that we've cut in half.
05:01 And yes, those I peeled.
05:03 I'm also going to do a sweet red pepper that I cut in half and seeded.
05:07 And then I finished up with a big old jalapeno.
05:10 And once we have these veggies arranged to our liking, what we'll do is pop that in our
05:14 oven under a broiler set on high for about seven to 10 minutes, or until everything's
05:19 beautifully charred and hopefully looks like this.
05:22 Oh yeah, this time we're going to have you burn something on purpose.
05:27 And if we wanted to, we could peel some of that charred skin off the peppers, but we
05:31 really don't need to, and maybe don't even want to.
05:35 Which is why I'm going to transfer everything just like this right into a blender, since
05:39 it's those charred bits that are going to add a beautiful smoky flavor to our soup.
05:44 Plus they also add a little subtle touch of bitterness, which I promise won't create any
05:48 off flavors.
05:49 But what it will do is make everything else taste better.
05:53 And then besides our charred veggies, we will also add some whole peeled garlic cloves.
05:58 Plus if we can, one whole chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, which I guess is optional,
06:04 and you can just put in a spoon of chipotle powder, but if you can get a can, use one
06:08 of these.
06:10 And that's it, we will add a little bit of water, at which point we'll blend this on
06:13 high.
06:14 And once that's been pureed nice and smooth, we will pour it into our soup pot, which has
06:19 been simmering on low for a couple hours.
06:21 Oh, and if you're doing the shortcut version, where you're not making your own chicken broth,
06:26 you would simply add this to your simmering store-bought chicken broth, and then proceed
06:29 with the rest of the steps as shown.
06:32 But anyway, once we stir that in, we will bring this back to a simmer, and then we'll
06:36 set our heat to medium-low, and we will cook this for another couple hours, during which
06:41 time you're probably going to see it reduce, and the color will darken and get even more
06:45 beautiful.
06:47 Which reminds me, you're going to be responsible for seasoning this with salt to taste, but
06:51 just be careful about adding too much too early, since this is going to reduce, which
06:56 will concentrate the salt.
06:58 So just something to keep in mind.
07:01 And that's it.
07:02 Once we've decided this has cooked long enough, we'll go ahead and pass everything through
07:05 a fine mesh strainer into another pot.
07:09 And once we've gotten all we can get with the ladle, we'll go ahead and pour the rest
07:12 carefully in.
07:14 And then using the back of a spoon or spatula, we will press out as much of that amazing
07:18 liquid as we can.
07:20 But pro tip, after about a minute or so, you're going to get tired of pressing and squeezing.
07:26 So what we can do once we've gotten most of it, is place that back on the empty pot, and
07:30 just let it sit and drip there for about 15 minutes.
07:33 And you might get a few more tablespoons, or more, that you can pour into the pot.
07:39 And now that all the solids have been removed, we can proceed to final production.
07:44 And while this is a very easy recipe, it is not a fast recipe.
07:48 So I will usually do this part one day, and then finish and serve the soup the next.
07:53 But either way, once we're ready to serve, we will bring this up to a simmer on medium
07:57 high heat, at which point we'll finish this up by tossing in some salt.
08:02 If it needs it, that's up to you.
08:04 Plus some ground cumin, followed by our pulled chicken meat, which we've kept in the fridge
08:09 of course, which we're probably going to want to shred into some nice bite-sized pieces.
08:14 And then I'm going to finish up with some freshly squeezed lime juice.
08:18 And I'm just doing one, since I'm going to serve this soup with some fresh lime wedges.
08:22 And then what we'll do is give all this a stir, and then we'll reduce our heat to low,
08:27 and we'll let this simmer gently for about 15 to 30 minutes before serving.
08:32 But of course, before you serve yours, do everyone a favor and give it a taste, to see
08:37 if it maybe needs a little more salt, or a little more heat, or a little more whatever.
08:42 And once we are happy with how it tastes, we will grab a ladle and serve up.
08:47 But before we do, let's add a nice handful of tortilla strips to the bottom of the bowl,
08:52 before we start ladling anything in.
08:55 And then once that's topped with as much chicken as we want, we'll go ahead and fill it the
08:59 rest of the way up with broth.
09:01 And that's it, once our bowl has been chipped and souped, we can move on to adding our delicious
09:05 garnishes, which for me will include some sour cream, or creme fraiche, or ideally Mexican
09:12 crema.
09:13 And then as long as they're ripe, I think we should definitely do some avocado, as well
09:17 as some freshly chopped cilantro.
09:20 And then I also like to add some cheese, or I sometimes Monterey Jack, or in this case
09:24 some crumbled cotija cheese, which is sort of like a drier, very mild feta.
09:29 And then we'll finish up with some more crispy tortilla strips, plus maybe one last touch
09:34 of cilantro, and one more crumble of cheese.
09:38 And then finally, we will mark our territory with a shake of cayenne.
09:42 And that's it, my chicken tortilla soup was ready to enjoy!
09:46 So I went ahead and squeezed over a little more lime, before I grabbed a spoon and dug
09:50 in.
09:51 And that, my friends, is one of the greatest chicken soup experiences known to man.
09:57 I mean, even without those crispy tortilla strips, this would be an incredible chicken
10:02 soup.
10:03 Very savory, aromatic, slightly spicy, and since we made that broth from scratch, so
10:08 beautifully rich.
10:10 But when you factor in the taste and texture of those tortilla strips, this all gets elevated
10:15 to a whole other level entirely.
10:17 And even though they're in hot soup, and do become a little bit flexible, believe it
10:21 or not, they still retain some crispiness, which is the real true magic behind this soup.
10:28 And yes, I was pretty reserved with the amount of tortilla strips.
10:31 Alright, if I'm not on camera, and don't care what this looks like, I'm probably tossing
10:35 in at least another handful.
10:37 But anyway, that kind of portioning is up to you.
10:40 I mean, you are after all the Althea, of your sopa de tortilla.
10:45 And speaking of healing, like all great chicken soups, besides the flavor and the texture
10:50 and the gorgeous appearance, enjoying a bowl of this just makes you feel better.
10:56 Speaking of which, I'm gonna feel a lot better when I turn off the camera, and I can eat
11:00 this properly.
11:01 Alright, this is definitely not something you want to eat from a distance, standing
11:04 at a counter.
11:05 Alright, we want to be sitting right in front of this, with our face right over the bowl.
11:10 So if you don't mind, I'm gonna sign off, and finish this up close and personal.
11:14 But before I do, let me say, whether you make this from scratch, or use some store-bought
11:19 broth and cook chicken, this really is one of the world's greatest chicken soups.
11:24 Which is why I really do hope you give it a try soon.
11:28 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe and much
11:32 more info as usual.
11:35 And as always, enjoy!
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