Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe showed up in my email from Allrecipes one day and I thought I would give it a try. Now, I have to admit that this wasn't my favorite taco soup, but it was good and still went fast in my house! I threw it in the crock in the morning and dinner was done when Pat came home for the night. 

A couple of notes:

1. I doubled the tortilla strips and am happy I did. They really added to the soup. The original call for the seven tortillas wouldn't have made enough though.
2. I made the tortilla strips in the morning and it gave them a chance to firm up by dinner that night.
3. Add cheese, sour cream, lime wedges and/or chopped green onion. Whatever your heart desires. It really added to it.
4. Pat doesn't like bay leaves so I omitted it. I thought it did fine. If you don't mind them though...be sure to add it. 
5. I used a quart of chicken broth versus the water/broth. I really like a strong flavored soup and that is what it produced.

In my opinion, this is a soup which would freeze well. It has gone on my roster of soups to make in Fall and freeze for quick lunches and dinners.

So, here we go!:

Ingredients:

1 pound cooked chicken breast, shredded

1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed or diced tomatoes (which I used)

1 (10 ounce) can RED enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced or 1 t. jarred garlic

2 cups water

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 ounce) package frozen

corn

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

 

Tortilla Strips:

 

7 corn tortillas

Kosher Salt

vegetable oil

 

Directions:

 

Soup:

 

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

 

Tortilla Strips:

 

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C)

 

2) Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.

 

3) Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt

 

4) Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

 

To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.  Garnish as desired.