Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup
Starting off the week with a productive Sunday night in the kitchen is honestly one of the best feelings. If you kick off your week with a slow cooker and a rotisserie chicken, I guarantee you your week will go amazingly well, at least in the cooking department
One of my favorite slow-cooker and rotisserie chicken combinations is a chicken tortilla soup. Because sometimes soups just don’t feel like an entire meal, I also add carrots and cabbage to my version to make sure this soup stands on its own. Also more vegetables never hurt, right?
After making a big batch of this, I can eat this soup morning, noon, and night all week long topped with fresh avocados, sour cream, and herbs.
So next Sunday if you have 30 free minutes, I highly recommend you give this routine and recipe a try:
- Break down the meat of a rotisserie chicken, separating white and dark meat.
- Make this rotisserie chicken tortilla soup recipe with the white meat in a slow cooker.
- Package up the dark meat for later in the week. (Tacos? Quesadillas? Chicken salad? Our Guide to Repurposing Leftovers should give you some tasty ideas!)
- Throw the bones of the rotisserie chicken into a pot of water (about 3 quarts) to make a quick homemade stock. To the pot add 2 bay leaves, 1 quartered onion, 2 celery stalks, and 3 carrots. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Drain and use throughout the week.
In 30 minutes, you’re going to feel like such a champion. Make sure someone in your family gives you a gold star, because you’ll deserve it for being so damn smart.
Prepping Smarts
- Get your veggies chopped ahead of time, and this soup will come together very quickly. Watch the videos below to learn how to chop and slice like a pro:
How to Chop & Dice an Onion
Learning how to dice an onion correctly will save you so much time in the kitchen.
How to Slice Carrots
Learn how to slice carrots thinly for fast cooking.
How to Slice Cabbage
See how easy it is to break down a head of cabbage for slaws and soups.
How to Slice Avocados into Wedges
Learn how to peel an avocado and chop it into wedges.
Equipment Smarts
- Slow cooker – does all the cooking for you; the slow cooking melds all the flavors of the ingredients together wonderfully
Ingredients
- Garlic, minced – 4 cloves
- Onion, diced – 1
- Carrots, sliced thinly – 1/2 lb
- Green cabbage, sliced – 1/2 head
- Green chilies, chopped – 4 oz can
- White meat from rotisserie chicken, chopped – 1
- Chicken stock – 1 quart
- Fire-roasted tomatoes – 1 can
- Black beans – 1/2 can
- Frozen corn – 1 1/2 cups
- Kosher salt – 2 tsp
- Cumin – 1 Tbsp
- Thyme – 2 tsp
- Cinnamon – 1 tsp
- Cayenne – pinch
- Bay leaves – 2
- Burrito tortillas, sliced into strips – 2
- Canola oil – 1 Tbsp
- Green onions, sliced – 1 stalk
- Avocado, sliced – 1
- Sour cream – 1/4 cup
Instructions
Prep
- Garlic / Onion / Carrots / Cabbage / Green chilies / Green onions – Prep as directed.
- Rotisserie chicken – Chop up white meat into bite sized pieces.
- Night before or morning of – Toss all ingredients up until bay leaves into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Make
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice tortillas into strips. Toss in oil and spread out onto a sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt and toast in oven for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Season soup to taste and top with crunchy tortilla strips, sliced green onions, sliced avocado, and sour cream, if you desire.
