Grilled Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• ~1 tbsp EVOO or similar neutral oil
• 1 large Vidalia (sweet onion), chopped fine
• 1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and chopped fine
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dehydrated garlic
• 3 quarts Chicken broth (12 cups or 3 standard boxes)
• 2-3 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (I used 6 thighs)
• 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, water drained
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp mexican oregano
• Homemade Lawry’s or similar seasoned salt
• Salt + Pepper to taste

Make Seasoned Salt or Use Lawry’s or XYZ

This is my homemade Lawry’s:

• 4 tbsp + 4 tsp regular table salt
• 4 tsp caster sugar
• 4 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp celery salt (Mccormick mixes the best)
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp corn starch*

I used roughly 2 tbsp of this for 6 thighs.

If you don’t want to make this, just use similar seasonings or your favorite season-all brand.

Take Thighs out of Packaging, Pat Dry

Use a sharp knife and remove the bones – if you need a guide to do this, here’s mine.

In my article I remove the bone + “knuckle” which is a bit of cartilage that will end up in your soup – it won’t render and will taste like a rubber band.

Once removed, season the meat side with the seasoned salt, flip over and then season the skin with the seasoned salt.

I like to wrap these deboned thighs into small “balls” I also don’t trim any of the skin because I use that to wrap around the thigh.

Due to how long we’re going to cook these, all the skin fat will render.

Get Your Grill to ~375-400F

Put the balled up chicken thighs in the center and allow to grill for ~1 hour.

All we’re looking for is the skin to be audibly crunchy when you press into it; You’ll notice parts of it look “puffed up” at the edges, almost like a fried pork rind.

The internal temperature should be ~200F+.

Once they’re done, allow to rest for ~10 minutes – prep the rest of the soup during this time.

The reason we can push the internal so high is because chicken thighs are dark meat which contains more collagen.

By pushing it to a higher internal temperature it will turn the collagen into a gelatin, making it more tender than if you went to 165f.

Here’s my tests that show this.

Grab a Pot and Add 1 Tbsp of EVOO

Take your vidalia and chop it fine.

Take your bell pepper, remove the seeds and chop it fine.

Set your burner to a medium heat and add your onion – season with salt and pepper and allow these to sweat for ~2-3 minutes before adding the bell pepper.

Allow these to cook for ~8 minutes total or until they have color.

Add 1 tbsp of Chili powder and 2 tsp of dehydrated garlic – allow to cook until fragrant (~30-60 seconds).

Add 3 Quarts of Chicken Broth to the Pot

I used 1 can of:

• Black beans (rinsed)
• Fire roasted tomatoes

Drain the water from both of these and add to the pot.

Take your chicken thighs and remove the skin (set aside for later) and shred completely and add to the pot.

Add to the pot:

• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp Mexican oregano

Bring this to a slight boil, then cover and reduce the heat. Allow to marry for ~15 minutes before eating.

Air Frying the Chicken Skin and Adding Toppings

Likely the skin has softened at this point – what I like to do is set my air fryer to ~350F and air fry the skin for ~3-5 minutes or until crisp again, then I crinkle over my soup.

As per the name of the soup – crinkle over the soup your favorite tortilla chips.

My family likes to add sour cream, some people like to garnish with cilantro or add avocado.