Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

After a few people asked for the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe I made the other day, I decided to offer it to all.  If you live in California or Utah, you may have been to Cafe Rio.  That place is delicious.  When we went down to California to visit family a few months ago, we went there and tried it for the first time.  The burritos were pretty good, but their Chicken Tortilla Soup. . . was amazing!  Since, then I have been craving it.  And about a week ago it just became too much. . . I needed some soup!  So, after scouring the internet I decided to give one a try and change it up a bit to make it taste more like the one I had.

So, here it is:

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

2 seeded, soaked ancho chilies (I found them at Walmart in the ethnic food section)

1 onion

2 tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

6 cups chicken broth

Rotisserie Chicken

8 corn tortillas

1/2 cup cilantro

Oil
Salt to taste

Directions:

Pull apart your Rotisserie Chicken and set meat aside. ( I had my hubby do this part  :)

Your ancho chilies will be dry, so run some hot water from the tap into a bowl and place your ancho chilies in the water to soak for a bit while you get the rest of the ingredients together.

Cut up your onion, tomato, and garlic and place in a blender.  Remove your chilies from the water, cut off and discard the stems, and add the chilies to the blender.  Puree until smooth.

Cover the bottom of a soup pot with olive oil or canola oil.  Heat over medium-high heat.  Add the puree and fry for a minute or two.  

Once you smell the amazing aroma of spices add the chicken broth, shredded chicken, and cilantro.  

Take 4 of your corn tortillas and tear them up into quarter size bits and toss into the soup.  Add salt.

Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for about an hour.

While, it is simmering, make your tortilla strips.  Take your other 4 corn tortillas and cut them into strips.  Place them in a pan with hot oil and fry them like you would taco shells.  Scoop them out with a spoon once they get a bit golden and transfer to a plate with paper towel.  Add some salt.

Ladle your soup into big sized bowls (you're going to eat a lot of it, trust me), and sprinkle with cheese and tortilla strips.

If you REALLY want it to be amazing. . . cut up an avocado and mush it up a bit.  Take a BIG scoop of Avocado and add it to your soup before you put on the cheese and tortilla strips.  This takes it from great to amazing!  :)

Enjoy!  Let me know how it turned out for you!