Chicken Enchilada Soup

This Chicken Enchilada Soup has been on my “recipes to add to the site” list forever! The last time I made it was not long after I created the deepfriedhoney Instagram page (I have ordered it from Chili’s quite a few times in the interim), before I was even posting cooking videos!

This recipe is similar to my Southwestern Chicken Stew, but it only takes 20 minutes to prepare. I highly recommend cutting a few corn tortillas into strips and frying those up for a topping. You’ll want to make a batch of my Fajita Spice Blend to season this with – it’s really good!

Chicken Enchilada Soup Ingredients

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe:

• Boneless skinless chicken: I use breasts, you can use whatever you want. Pulling the meat off of a grocery store rotisserie bird is an option, too.
• Garlic, yellow onion: You can cut down on time and effort by substituting garlic and onion powder for these. White or red onion would work as a substitute, too.
• Black beans, diced tomatoes with chiles, green chiles: Chili’s uses black beans, so I do too. Pinto beans are another tasty option. I use Rotel, but any brand of diced tomatoes is fine. I use hot hatch green chilies.
• Chicken broth, water: Chicken broth builds the main part of our Chicken Enchilada Soup, with water used to loosen as and if needed. You can use chicken broth for both purposes, just watch the sodium.
• Masa, enchilada sauce: I make my own enchilada sauce most of the time, but a can of red enchilada sauce will do just fine. Masa is corn flour used to make tortillas. You’ll find it in the international/Hispanic section. I prefer the Maseca brand.
• Velveeta cheese, colby jack cheese: If you’re not a Velveeta person you can substitute it with Boursin or cream cheese, or slices of amerikan cheese. We need something to give it that silky, creamy mouth feel.
• Fajita Spice Blend: My own recipe, and it’s yummy. It makes a hefty amount, so you can use it in a few recipes beore it’s gone.
• Vegetable oil, olive oil: You can use any oil you want.

How to Make Chicken Enchilada Soup

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe:

• Prep the Chicken. In a small bowl add your chicken, vegetable oil, and one tablespoon of Fajita Spice Blend. Use your hands or tongs to work the seasonings into the chicken, coating each piece evenly. Place a large saucepan or sauté pan over high heat and allow it to preheat for 2 minutes.  Add the chicken to the pan in a single layer – cook in batches if needed – and let cook undisturbed until the edges of each piece start to become opaque, about 4 minutes. Flip the chicken and sear on the other side for another 2–3 minutes. It’s alright if the chicken is quite cooked through, as it will continue to cook when we add back to the soup later. After all the chicken has been seared, transfer it to a bowl to rest. When it has cooled enough to handle go ahead and pull, shred, or dice the chicken into small chunks and set aside.
• Start building Chicken Enchilada Soup. Add the olive oil to the pan, followed by the diced onion. Sprinkle the remaining salt over them and let them sweat for a full minute. Stir, allowing their moisture to release the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. After a couple of minutes, they should have softened and starting to become translucent. At that point, stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
• Simmer and Finish. Spread the onions out into a single layer, then sprinkle your masa harina over them and stir. Stir continuously for about 3 minutes, until it’s very fragrant, and the flour is starting to toast. Stir in your chicken broth and enchilada sauce, and keep stirring until there are no more clumps of corn flour. Next, stir in the black beans, diced tomatoes, green chiles, remaining Fajita Spice Blend, and one cup of water. Add the Velveeta and the shredded or diced chicken and cover with a lid. Let cook for 5 minutes, then stir the melted Velveeta in until no more streaks remain. If the soup seems too thick, go ahead and add the second cup of water. Give it a taste and if you think the flavor has been diluted too much, you can add in the remaining Fajita Spice Blend. Reduce the heat to medium-low, stir in the shredded cheese, cover, and let simmer gently for 5-7 minutes. Dassit! You’ve got Chicken Enchilada Soup!

Obligatory Pinterest Graphics –

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