Chicken poached directly in the broth, shredded, and returned to a soup enriched with cream cheese. Low carb, and about fifty minutes.
Three ingredients are missing their names
Worth flagging, since the original ingredient list has gaps.
It reads “2 tablespoons or other neutral oil” with no oil named, then “2 teaspoons” and “1 teaspoon” with nothing attached at all.
From the method, these are avocado oil, minced garlic and cumin. The instructions reference all three by name even though the list does not. Those are what appear here, reconstructed rather than taken directly.
Temper the cream cheese
This is the step that makes the soup work and the recipe is right to give it its own paragraph.
Eight ounces of softened cream cheese goes into a medium bowl. Then you ladle a little hot soup over it and whisk vigorously until smooth, and only then does that mixture go into the pot.
Adding cream cheese directly to a pot of simmering broth leaves lumps that never dissolve, no matter how long you stir. Tempering it with a small amount of liquid first gets it smooth while the quantity is manageable.
Softened is a requirement rather than a preference. If yours is cold, a minute in the microwave gets it there, softened but not melted or hot.
Poach the chicken in the soup
Uncooked breasts added to the simmering broth and cooked twenty to twenty five minutes.
Two things happen at once. The chicken cooks gently, which is more forgiving than pan frying, and the broth picks up flavour from the chicken as it does.
Chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165F, which the recipe does not state. Twenty to twenty five minutes at a simmer gets a medium breast there comfortably.
The recipe warns against overcooking and that is worth heeding. Poached chicken past done goes stringy and it will not shred cleanly.
Let it rest before shredding
Transferred to a bowl or board and rested until cool enough to handle.
Resting lets the juices redistribute, the same as with any cooked meat. Shredding it straight from the pot loses that moisture onto the board.
Two forks is the standard method. A stand mixer with the paddle attachment shreds a batch in about fifteen seconds if you have one.
Simmer, not boil, once the chicken is in
Brought to the boil first, then reduced.
A hard boil toughens chicken breast and it agitates the soup enough to break the tomatoes down completely. A gentle simmer cooks the chicken evenly and keeps the fire-roasted tomatoes in recognisable pieces.
Fire-roasted tomatoes carry the smokiness
A 14.5 ounce can.
They have been charred before canning, which gives a smoky depth that plain canned tomatoes do not have. In a tortilla soup with no actual tortillas in it, that smokiness is doing a lot of the work of making it taste like what it is called.
The recipe notes you can leave them out to reduce carbs further, and says outright that it changes the flavour. It does, considerably.
The sodium
Around 1,435mg per serving, which is high even with low-sodium broth.
Six cups of broth plus one and a half to two teaspoons of added salt across the pot is where it comes from. Starting with one teaspoon and tasting at the end is the easy adjustment, since the cream cheese and toppings both add saltiness.
Jalapeños and heat
Two, finely diced, and the recipe gives clear guidance: one deseeded for mild, two with seeds for intense.
Heat lives in the seeds and the white pith rather than the flesh, so deseeding removes most of it while keeping the green vegetal flavour.
Serving
Avocado, shredded cheese, extra jalapeños, sour cream, lime wedges and plenty of cilantro. <p>Around 315 calories and 24 grams of protein per serving, with 8 grams of net carbohydrate. ## Shredding your own cheese The recipe recommends it and the reason given is carbs: pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch to stop it clumping, and that starch adds carbohydrate.
It also melts better. Anti-caking starch resists melting and leaves a slightly powdery texture in a hot soup.
Keeping it
Three days refrigerated. It thickens as it cools; loosen with broth and reheat gently, since a cream cheese soup can split if pushed hard. It does not freeze well for the same reason.
Keto Chicken Tortilla Soup
Description
A creamy low carb chicken tortilla soup with jalapenos, fire-roasted tomatoes and cream cheese.
Ingredients:
Instructions
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Heat the avocado oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When hot add the onion and cook 2 minutes until softened, then add the minced garlic and diced jalapenos and cook 1 more minute.
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Add the chicken broth, cumin and fire-roasted tomatoes. Stir well and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and add the uncooked chicken breasts. Cook 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F, being careful not to overcook.
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Transfer the cooked chicken to a bowl or cutting board and let it rest. Once cool enough to handle, shred it with two forks and set aside.
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Place the softened cream cheese in a medium bowl. Ladle a little hot soup over it and whisk vigorously until completely smooth.
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Pour the cream cheese mixture into the pot and add the lime juice, salt, black pepper and fresh cilantro. Return the shredded chicken and stir well.
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Ladle into bowls and top with avocado slices, cheese, additional jalapenos or sour cream as desired..
Note
The source ingredient list is missing three ingredient names, reading '2 tablespoons or other neutral oil', '2 teaspoons' and '1 teaspoon' with nothing attached. From the method these are avocado oil, minced garlic and cumin, and they are reconstructed here. Chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165F, which the source does not state. Temper the softened cream cheese by whisking a ladle of hot soup into it in a separate bowl before adding it to the pot, or it will leave lumps that never dissolve. Simmer rather than boil once the chicken is in. Sodium is high at 1435mg per serving; start with one teaspoon of salt and taste at the end. Deseed one jalapeno for mild heat. Keeps 3 days refrigerated and does not freeze well.
