Chipotles en adobo add heat to this tortilla soup with black beans and corn. Each bowl is topped with crumbled chips, radishes and cilantro.
I’ve matured into being a soup lover. Since my mom wasn’t and still isn’t a soup eater, we didn’t have it at our house growing up.
One of my earliest soup memories was in high school. When we were just 16 and had drivers licenses, my friends and I would go out to dinner.
The places were usually chains because that was being a teenager in Cincinnati, Ohio. One of our favorites was a Mexican restaurant.
More often than not, we would go overboard on the free chips and salsa to start the meal, and we would be too full for dinner.
I have no idea what inspired me to order to tortilla soup one time, but I absolutely fell in love with it after the first spoonful.
Maybe it was the spicy tomato broth that got me or all the toppings mixed in.
After that, there was no going back. I always ordered tortilla soup, which was a good choice after consuming too many chips!
Every winter I have soup on almost a daily basis. When the frigid weather in Chicago seems like it’s never going to end, I need a warming pick-me-up.
Tortilla soup is a good alternative to my usual veggie puree-based soups.
Like most soups, I start by sweating the onions over medium low heat until they are translucent. It is a test of my patience to wait.
Then I add sliced garlic, chipotle en adobo and fine polenta. The polenta thickens the soups, so it is a little bit silky while still staying like a broth.
You can use either chicken stock or veggie stock depending on your preference.
That entire mixture gets blended, and after that, it’s back in the pot to simmer with black beans and corn.
For toppings, I like broken tortilla chip, radishes, lime juice and cilantro.
PrintChipotles en adobo add heat to this tortilla soup with black beans and corn. Each bowl is topped with crumbled chips, radishes and cilantro.
Adapted from Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers
I love a spicy soup!
★★★★★
Love this soup! but will forever call is labor soup – not because it was hard to make, but because I made it a bit spicy and had our baby boy, Jack, the next morning, one month ago today! Thank you!