(mellow electronic music)
- Hey hey, Taylor from The Girl on Bloor here,
and I am back with another delicious recipe
for you to try today, and I'm super excited
for it to be a restaurant copycat.
Now, I absolutely love enchiladas,
but I have no patience for the whole tortilla rolling thing.
I find I can never get my enchiladas just right.
They're super messy and time consuming,
and you need to dirty a bunch of dishes.
It's just not something
I have the patience to make very often.
On the other hand, enchilada soup,
it comes together in just one pot in under an hour,
and you can freeze the leftovers for another time.
It's seriously a huge meal prep win.
Now that is something I can get behind.
Today I'm making it a copycat
of the chicken enchilada soup at Chili's.
It's super high in protein
with lots of chicken and cheesy goodness,
and it's topped with tortilla strips and pico de gallo,
and it's much healthier than the version at Chili's
with mostly whole food ingredients.
With my version you'll save 80 calories,
and add eight more grams of protein per serving.
So it's just a, win-win all around.
You're going to have this soup on repeat, trust me.
Okay, let's dive in, and I'll show you how to make it.
First things first, you're going to dice up one yellow onion
and mince two cloves of garlic.
From there, you'll heat one tablespoon of olive oil
in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is nice and hot,
you'll add your onion and saute for a few minutes
until the onion softens and becomes fragrant.
From there, you'll add one pound of chicken breast,
then the minced garlic, one tablespoon of chili powder,
one teaspoon of cumin, one teaspoon of paprika,
then half a teaspoon of salt.
Give everything a stir, coating the chicken in the spices.
I recommend that you go
with chicken breasts for this recipe,
but you could also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs,
and the cook time will be about the same.
The chicken thighs will have more flavor,
but they also have more calories and fat content,
so that's just something to keep in mind.
Once that's nice and seasoned in the pot,
you'll add one small 398 milliliter can of crushed tomatoes.
Can sizes vary in the U.S. and Canada,
so if all you can find is one of
those large 796 milliliter cans,
just be sure to use only half of it.
Then you can freeze the rest of the tomatoes
for another recipe in an airtight container.
Finally, you'll add one can of green chilies,
one tablespoon brown sugar, and four cups of chicken broth.
Bring all of that to a boil,
then cook for 25 minutes over medium-low heat.
You're looking for a slow simmer here.
You'll be using this combination
of crushed tomatoes, chilies, and brown sugar
instead of canned enchilada sauce.
This ingredient combo contains less preservatives,
but still gives you that same taste
with healthier ingredients.
You want the green chilies
for the heat that they bring to the soup
without becoming too overwhelming spice-wise,
and you want the brown sugar
to just cut the acid in the canned tomatoes.
Now that your soup is cooking,
it's time to add our secret weapon,
and what makes this soup so reminiscent of enchiladas.
You'll be adding one cup of masa harina,
also known as corn flour, to two cups of water,
and stirring until completely dissolved.
This ingredient can usually be found
in the baking aisle of your local grocery store,
and it really is the key flavor in this soup
while acting as a thickener.
Masa is a maize dough that comes from ground corn,
and it's used for making corn tortillas
along with many other Latin American dishes.
It is one of the key flavors
in this enchilada soup that you get at Chili's,
so you don't wanna skip it.
I've linked to some in the caption of this video
in case you'd like to order it online,
but you should be able to find it in most grocery stores.
Now, because we don't want any lumps
or inconsistent texture with this soup,
it's best to dissolve the masa in water ahead of time,
otherwise you'll end up with clumps.
So go ahead and give that a good whisk,
and then set it aside
for when your soup is mostly done cooking.
We're basically now just waiting for the chicken
to get fully cooked in the broth so we can shred it.
While you wait, you can also
take this time to prepare the cheese.
Grate one cup of cheddar cheese,
and set that aside with the masa mixture.
You can also start preparing your toppings.
I've listed out a whole bunch of ideas
in the caption of this video,
but the main two toppings I like to add to this soup,
and that Chili's adds to theirs,
are tortilla strips and pico de gallo.
Now you can buy a store-bought
pico de gallo for this recipe,
or you can make your own pretty easily.
When I'm feeling lazy, and that is often,
I will rely on Mad Mexican's pico de gallo
that you can find at most Toronto area grocery stores.
Now I know Toronto isn't the center of the universe,
but it is where I live,
so I can't vote for any other brands of store bought pico,
but I've noticed many different grocery stores
carrying their own version, so be on the lookout for those.
If you want to make your own homemade pico de gallo,
I'll show you how easy it is.
Chop up a beef steak tomato,
then dice up a red or white onion, add them to a bowl.
Now finally, chop some cilantro, juice half a lime,
and then add in a pinch of sea salt.
Stir everything together, and you've got pico.
Now about this time, your chicken should be fully cooked
and ready to be shredded.
Remove your chicken with a pair of tongs,
then shred with a fork and knife.
Add the chicken back to your pot,
then you'll stir in your masa mixture and cheddar cheese.
You'll cook the soup for another five minutes
just to ensure everything is smooth and combined,
and the flavors mingle together.
Just look at this creaminess.
Now that your soup is ready,
you can ladle into large bowls and then add your toppings.
Sprinkle on some of that pico,
then finish with the tortilla strips.
Serve right away with some tortilla chips,
and you are ready to go.
The leftovers we'll keep in airtight containers
up to five days in the fridge,
or you can freeze the soup
for up to three months for another time.
I recommend storing
individual portions in glass containers.
Then you can reheat right from frozen in the microwave
for seven minutes or so, stirring partway through.
And just like that, you've got yourself covered
for the next time you have a Chili's craving.
Just make sure you leave the toppings
off the soup when storing,
and this applies whether you're storing
in the fridge or freezer.
I like storing all the portions of the soup separately,
just so I know exactly how many leftovers I have,
and then it does motivate me to eat everything up.
Plus, individual portion sizes just make life easy.
There's less mess to clean up.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make
this delicious creamy chicken enchilada soup.
It's a healthier restaurant copycat
that I just know you're gonna love.
Who knew you could pack so much flavor into one little bowl?
I've linked to the full recipe in the caption of this video,
and if you're looking for more healthy restaurant copycats,
I've also linked to the archives on my site,
so you can get some more dinner ideas.
I'd like to think that I'm the copycat queen,
so I'm sure there's a hidden gem you'll find on the site.
Anyways, thanks so much for hanging with me here today.
If you like this recipe, be sure to subscribe to my channel
to get more healthy dinner ideas,
and I will see you here again next week.
(mellow electronic music)