Chicken Tortilla Soup

Melissa’s Healthy-ish Chicken Enchilada Chili (inspired by others)

August 30, 2017 Comments Off on Melissa’s Healthy-ish Chicken Enchilada Chili (inspired by others)

Finding the Chicken Enchilada Chili Recipe

My boyfriend, Chris, and I ate at Cafe Zupa’s in Maple Grove, Minnesota. I’d been there before and loved the fresh, healthy food options, service, and chocolate covered strawberry they serve with meals. Chris tried and loved their Chicken Enchilada Chili.

I wanted to recreate the soup at home. After Googling “Zupa Chicken Enchilada Chili”, I found a great recipe by 5 Boys Baker. You can view it here.  I’ve never followed the directions completely. In the 5 Boys Baker version the recipe instructions say to put the chicken breasts and enchilada sauces into a large slow cooker for several hours on high.

When it comes to chicken I’m a paranoid chef. I always cook it separate from everything else until it’s done. I don’t care if it’s totally irrational. So, using 1 Tbsp of olive oil, I season and cook the chicken breasts in a saute pan. For seasoning I use just a bit of salt and pepper.

Then, while the chicken breasts are cooking over medium heat (3 minutes on one side, 3 minutes on the other side, flip back to the original side, cover and cook for 10 minutes), I grab the biggest pot we have and start making the soup over medium heat. First I mix together the enchilada sauces, then I start mixing in everything except the sour cream. Once the chicken is completely cooked, I chop it into small squares and mix it in.


Altering the Recipe and Making It My Own and Healthy-Ish

Chris and I have both started counting calories, so I made some changes to the recipe:


Chicken Enchilada Chili Ingredients

    • 14 ounce package of Just Bare Chicken Breast Tenders
    • 2 10 ounce cans Old El Paso Medium Red Enchilada Sauce.
    • 1 10 ounce can Old El Paso Mild Green Enchilada Sauce.
    • 1 tsp. Paprika
    • 1 Tbsp. Tone’s Hot Chili Powder
    • 2 15 ounce cans of Bush’s Best Black Beans, drained and rinsed.
    • 2 10 ounce cans condensed Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
    • 1 can Ro-Tel Tomatoes with Green Chilis
    • 1 can Green Giant WholeKernel Sweet Corn with 50% Less Sodium, drained.
    • 1 cup of Crystal Farms Reduced Fat Mexican 4 Cheese Blend
    • 1/2 cup of Daisy Light Sour Cream
  • 1 5.5 oz bag Food Should Taste Good Gluten Free Blue Corn Tortilla Chips (https://amzn.to/2FAGLdP) 

Cooking Directions

I do top it with just a little bit of the Crystal Farms Reduced Fat Mexican 4 Cheese Blend and about five of the Food Should Taste Good Gluten Free Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. My toppings add about 90 calories to the soup.
Once everything is cooked and as piping hot as I like. I pull the pot off the burner and whisk in the sour cream. Done. It’s so easy and Chris thinks I’m a cooking wizard.

To calculate the nutritional information, I used MyFitnessPal.

mmcnallan

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