May 4, 2017

Mexican Chicken Chowder


Happy Cinco De Mayo!  Today's recipe is one of my favorite work week lunches.  I'll make a batch of this soup on a Sunday and will enjoy it for lunch throughout the week.   It's a healthy soup with protein and veggies that is very filling, and it gets some spice from salsa.  Most chowders are traditionally thickened by cream, but this chowder is thickened by a puree of sweet potatoes and carrots.

Use your favorite choice of salsa for the soup!  I use 2 jars of salsa from Trader Joe's for the soup because they have some great varieties of salsa.

To make the soup, you cook chicken thighs, chopped sweet potatoes and carrots, salsa, and chicken stock.  Once the chicken finishes cooking, you'll remove the chicken and shred it.  You'll also scoop out 2 cups of the vegetables and add them to a blender with some of the broth and then puree.  This mixture will then "thicken" the soup and give it a chowder like thickness.    Once you return the thickener and the chicken to the soup, you'll add some spinach and cilantro.  Cook for about ten more minutes, and you've gone one delicious Mexican chicken chowder!

This chowder also freezes well, too.  It would make a great light dinner, too!

Mexican Chicken Chowder
Yields 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs
3 cups/24 oz. salsa of your choice
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (about 2 sweet potatoes)
2 cups peeled and diced carrots (about 4 carrots)
1 lime
1 tsp. sea salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chopped spinach
1 avocado, optional
Cilantro, optional

Directions:
Add the chicken, salsa, chicken stock, sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic, and salt to a large pot and heat over medium-high heat.  Once the soup reaches a boil, reduce the head to medium-low and cover for an hour.

After an hour, reduce the heat to low, and remove the chicken to a bowl.  Set aside to cool.  Meanwhile, scoop 2 cups of vegetables from the soup and place in a blender with 1/3 cup of the broth.  Puree the vegetables until smooth and then add it back to the soup.

Shred the chicken and add the back chicken to the soup with the chopped spinach and any desired cilantro.  Cook on low for ten minutes or until the spinach is wilted.

After the soup finishes cooking, squeeze the lime in the soup.  Serve with any desired avocado slices.

Source: Danielle Walker's Against All Grain

4 comments:

  1. Yum, great recipe!! I hope you had a good Cinco De mayo!

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  2. I've never heard it called Mexican chicken chowder but I'm a long way from Mexico. I would love this and everyone around here would call it spicy chicken soup. :)

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    Replies
    1. The pureed veggies definitely give it a thicker consistency - yum!

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