Fall Recipe: Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup

Fall has officially arrived. The weather is cooling off, sweaters are coming out and weekends are spent watching football. There is one other great thing that returns with fall: soup. I love making soup. Soup is filling and full of flavor. It warms you up and it is relatively low calorie. Today I am going to share with you my Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe. This is a household favorite for us and I will teach you how you can make it mild or spicy based on the ingredients you will use.

Here is what you will need to make 6 servings of the soup:

• 2 cooked chicken breasts – shredded and lightly seasoned
• 2 green bell peppers
• 1 white onion
• Sliced green onion
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 can of whole black beans
• 1 can of canned corn (niblets)
• 1 can of Rotel tomatoes (mild, medium or hot based on your spice preference)
• 1 can of red enchilada sauce (mild, medium or hot based on your spice preference)
• ½ cup of cheddar jack cheese
• 8 oz block or jar of cream cheese (choose the light version if you are trying to make this dish healthy, you can’t really taste a difference)
• 1 can of chicken broth

Step 1:

Cook, shred and season 2 chicken breasts. Sometimes I cook my chicken in a crock pot throughout the day with chicken broth or if I am in more of a hurry I boil them in a pan until cooked through. To season the chicken I typically use Tony’s seasoning but anything with Mexican flavors will work! 

Step 2:

Dice your white onion and bell peppers. Also slice your green onions and set them aside in a dish.

Step 3:

In a large soup pot add green peppers and white onion along with oil. Mix up these veggies until they are well-coated in oil. Saute on medium until onions are starting to turn clear. Stir occasionally (this should take about 3-5 minutes)

Step 4:

While the onions and peppers are sauteeing you should open all of your cans so they are ready to be added when needed. Drain the corn and black beans of extra liquids. Additionally, measure out 1 ½ cups of chicken broth. You can also open up your cream cheese block packaging.

Step 5:

Add the enchilada sauce and cream cheese to your pot of peppers and onions. Keeping the stove on medium stir until cream cheese melts. It should look something like the following picture (Warning: this photo is not going to look crazy delicious but we are just getting started)

Step 6:

Once the cream cheese has melted you are going to add your black beans, the rotel, the corn and 1 ½ cups of chicken broth.

Step 7:

Stir well and add your ½ cup of cheddar jack cheese. So this is a very dense soup with lots of veggies and beans (it will kind of resemble the thickness of chili) but if the soup seems too thick, keep adding chicken broth ½ cup at a time until it is at a consistency you like.

Step 8:

Now you can  set the stove to medium/low and let your soup cook for 15 minutes. Stir the soup often and continue to add chicken broth if your soup is too thick.

Step 9:

Serve and enjoy! Top your bowl with extra cheddar-jack cheese and the sliced green onions. This recipe should make 6 good-size bowls of soup.

As I mentioned in the ingredients section, you can change the spice level in this soup by choosing the right Rotel and enchilada sauces. I typically use a medium enchilada sauce (must be red) and a hot Rotel can of tomatoes.

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do! If I am really hungry, I will eat the soup with a side of tortilla chips and guacomole. It makes for one of my absolute favorite meals! Happy Fall Y’all 🙂