What came first, the idea for the soup or the Tortilla? Who knows? But I am certain of one thing: the origin of the Easy Tortilla Soup is very hard to pinpoint. Some historians, however, trace the first Sopa de Tortilla to the Mexican central state of Tlaxcala. People were preparing it way before the Spanish Conquistadores set foot on Mexican land.
In its simplest, most basic form, Tortilla Soup combines fried tortilla cut in bite-size pieces. Tomato and dried chilies flavor the chicken or beef broth. Then the tortilla strips are dropped in the broth when ready to serve. The delicious garnishings on top are the tasty finishing touch.
Easy Tortilla Soup is extremely simple to make and all, or most, of the ingredients are pantry staples. It will be ready in a jiffy. Really, you will savor your soup in 30 minutes tops, from prep to soup-in-mouth.
And good news! We are slashing many of the calories from the tortilla strips by baking them instead of frying them. That is, in fact, our only departure from the original recipe.
And there is more good news! If you are on a time crunch, you can always use commercial baked tortilla chips, crumbled into smaller pieces and no one will be the wiser! This tip is a great time-saver, although do make sure your tortilla chips are not fried in order to keep the calories in check.
Now, a word regarding the dried chilies. The milder dried chili pepper you can use for the broth is Guajillo. Oh, you can take the heat, can you? Then go ahead and use Chili Pasilla or Chili Ancho in lieu of the Guajillo. If you, on the other hand, have mastered most levels of the Scovile Scale, you can then use Chile de Árbol instead.
If you make your own tortilla strips for the soup, bake them while the broth simmers. Furthermore, you can add chicken or beef meat to your tortilla soup to make it a full meal too.
Easy Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 1-2 units Guajillo chilies (or Pasilla, or Ancho or Chiles de Árbol) seeded and soaked for 10 minutes in very hot water
- 3 units ripe Roma tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 unit red or white onion
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil divided
- 3 cups baked tortilla chips (from 4 – 5, 6" diameter tortillas), or commercial baked tortilla chips see recipe for instructions to bake your own
- 2 sprigs epazote optional
- For garnish:
- 1 1/2 cups cubed queso fresco
- 1 unit avocado, cubed
- chicharron, Mexican, sour or table cream
Instructions
- Prepare the tortilla strips: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut 4 – 5 soft corn tortillas into 1/3" strips and then cut the strips in half, crosswise. In a bowl, toss them with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and coat them completely. Transfer the strips to a baking sheet and arrange them in a single layer. Bake until strips are crisp and lightly browned, 12 – 15 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- While the tortilla strips are baking in the oven, process in the blender the soaked chilies with the tomatoes, 1 cup of the chicken broth, onion, garlic cloves, chicken bouillon and freshly ground pepper, until smooth. Heat the remaining tbsp of vegetable oil in a pot and pour the tomato/dried chili mix in the pot; cook for 5 minutes. Drop the epazote sprigs, if using, into the pot. Add the rest of the chicken broth to the pot and simmer for 10 more minutes.
- When ready to serve, pour some of the tomato/chili broth in individual bowls, drop some tortilla strips and top with the cubed cheese, the avocado, chicharron and dollop some Mexican/sour cream. Enjoy!
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