Ingredients
- 1 can (15 oz/470 g) tomato purée or crushed tomatoes
- 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1–2 jalapeño chiles, seeded and chopped
- 5 1⁄2 cups (44 fl oz/1.4 l) chicken stock, homemade or purchased
- 2 lb (1 kg) skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
- 3 limes
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 1⁄2 cups (15 oz/470 g) corn kernels (from about 5 ears)
- 2 small avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
- Tortilla chips for garnish
Directions
- In a blender or food processor, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño to taste, and 1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) of the stock and process until smooth. Pour into a slow cooker.
- Add the chicken thighs, the remaining 4 1⁄2 cups (36 fl oz/1.1 l) stock, the juice of 1 lime, the vinegar, cumin, bay leaves, 3⁄4 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of pepper. Cover and cook on the low setting for 5 hours. The chicken should be very tender.
- Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. Remove the meat from the bones, and discard the bones. Chop or shred the meat. Using a large spoon, skim away the fat from the braising liquid. Return the chicken meat to the slow cooker. Add the corn kernels, cover, and cook on the low setting until tender, about 30 minutes more. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
- Cut the remaining 2 limes into wedges. Ladle the soup into warm shallow bowls, distributing all the ingredients evenly. Garnish each bowl with some of the avocados, cilantro, and tortilla chips. Serve at once. Pass the lime wedges at the table.
More Recipes from The New Slow Cooker
• Slow Cooker Creamy Herbed Polenta Recipe• Slow Cooker Winter Vegetable Stew Recipe
This excerpt has been reprinted with permission from The New Slow Cooker by Brigit Binns and published by Weldon Owen, 2013. Purchase this book from our store: The New Slow Cooker.
Awaken your taste buds with a whole new approach to slow cooking. Brigit Binns brings you more than 100 classic slow-cooked recipes are updated for today’s cook, and are bursting with fresh, bright flavors and crunchy textures. From succulent beef to melt-in-your-mouth chicken to hearty legumes, The New Slow Cooker: Comfort Classics Reinvented (Weldon Owen, 2013) contains an irresistible array of recipes your family will love. The following recipe for chicken tortilla soup is excerpted from “Poultry.”
You can purchase this book from the Mother Earth Living store: The New Slow Cooker.
Serve this zesty soup with a tossed green salad for an easy weeknight supper. The creamy avocado, sweet corn and cilantro add a splash of color and fresh flavor and the tortilla chips deliver a pleasant salty crunch to the soup. If fresh summer corn is out of season, use thawed frozen corn kernels and reduce the cooking time to 15 minutes.
