Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hey friends!  I know what you’re thinking—“A recipe post from Jess?  I thought she always says that she ‘can’t cook’?”  Well, hold on to your hats because you’re right, I cannot, in fact, cook, but I did, in fact, make this delicious dinner the other night. 

The key to my success is the crockpot.  To the uninitiated, crockpots seem kind of outdated and boring, but they’re truly anything but that!  We received ours as a wedding gift and frankly, it sat in its box in our basement for longer than I would like to admit.  One day, inspired by Pinterest, we decided to crack that thing out of the box and give it a shot.  What do you know?  You can prepare tasty, (reasonably) easy meals with minimal effort as long as you have the forethought to set it up.

Now I know some people get fancy, searing meat and pre-cooking veggies, but my go-to crockpot meals literally involve opening cans or packages and dumping them in, turning the Ole Pot on and walking away.  I am willing to chop vegetables on occasion, but that’s the extent of it.  Who am I?  Ina Garten?  Luckily, there are so many great recipes that involve just these steps!

One of my favorites is the Pioneer Woman’s Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup.  I’m a sucker for anything with “tortilla” in the title so I knew this was a must-try after I saw Ree (or as my kid calls her “Lady Cooking”) make it on her show. 

This recipe couldn’t be easier.  First things first, gather your ingredients.  I added two cloves of garlic (what recipe doesn't need garlic?), frozen corn and a can of red enchilada sauce which we had on hand.  I omitted the chile in adobo in the interest of getting the kid to eat it.

Chop your veggies, season your chicken, dump in some cans of beans and tomatoes and turn that Bad Boy on high.  Then walk away for 4-6 hours!  You’re done!  Run errands, make conference calls, work out, binge-watch Alias reruns on Hulu while hoping your toddler stays asleep-whatever your little heart desires! (I’ll let you guess which one of these I did).  For what it’s worth, we’ve also thrown this together in the morning before work and just set it to low for 8-10 hours instead and the results are still successful.

Either way, when the time is up, here’s what you’re left with…

Delish and totally professional looking, right?  Once it's cooked, you can remove the chicken breasts and chop them, but I shredded them with a fork like Ree suggested for a more rustic look.  Finish it off with a lime juice, little shredded cheese, tortilla chip chunks and pickled jalapenos.  My husband added a little sour cream and we omitted the jalepenos for the kiddo.  

This will be a hit with everyone in your house, including the Tiny People.  It also makes great leftovers and freezes nicely, too.  If you want to go for Super Star Status, make this alongside Ryan’s No Knead Bread with a little chunked cheddar, chile powder and jalapenos mixed in.  

So break out that crock pot, follow along and thank me later.

-Chef Jess...Out!