Soup

Creamy Southwest Chicken Enchilada Soup

Creamy, cheesy Tex-Mex soup with a gentle kick. Built to feed a crowd.

Prep 5 min LOW 6–7 hours HIGH 3–4 hours Serves 8

Creamy Southwest Chicken Enchilada Soup, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

This is the recipe that turns a weeknight into something people remember. Creamy, cheesy, a little smoky, with enough chili and cumin to taste like it came from a restaurant that specializes in exactly one thing.

It makes eight servings, which is deliberate. This is a game-day recipe, a potluck recipe, a feed-the-neighbors recipe.

The real trick is the toppings. Set out bowls of cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips, avocado and lime, and let people build their own. It stops being soup and becomes an event.

Why you'll love it

Feeds eight without effort.

Made for crowds, game days and potlucks.

Toppings make it interactive.

Set out bowls and let people build. Everyone gets what they want.

Mild enough for kids.

There's chili powder, not chiles. The warmth is gentle.

Better the second day.

The spices settle and deepen overnight.

What's already in the packet

Cream cheese powderChili powderWhole milk powderCheddar cheese powderGround cuminOnionGarlicTomato powderSmoked paprikaChicken bouillonMexican oreganoBlack pepperThickener

Chili and cumin over a tomato and cheese base, with enough cream to round the edges off.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 6–7 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 3–4 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Check the thickest piece before shredding.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
4 cups Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Creamy Southwest Chicken Enchilada Soup

Pick your protein

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Rotisserie chicken, shredded

Chicken 165°F, ground sausage 160°F, beef cubes 190°F, cooked ham 140°F

Add vegetables

Canned black beansCanned cornDiced tomatoesDiced green chilesBell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Canned hominy

Diced onion (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; diced tomatoes, diced green chiles and bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen) at the start; canned black beans at the start, or the last hour if you want them whole; canned corn and canned hominy in the last thirty minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Diced onion (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, to soften into the sauce	Diced tomatoesDiced green chilesBell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)	These break down and give their flavour to the pot. Right for a gravy or a fajita, wrong if you want them to hold their shape.
Canned beans, drained and rinsed	Canned black beans	At the start for chili and stews, where they take on the seasoning and a few break down to thicken the pot. In the last hour if you want them whole.
Canned corn and hominy, drained	Canned cornCanned hominy	Last 30 minutes. Fully cooked already, so anything longer turns it to mush.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: diced onion (fresh or frozen), diced tomatoes, diced green chiles, bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen) and canned black beans. These need the full cook anyway.

Add canned corn and canned hominy when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Beans — use canned

Every recipe in this book that uses beans uses canned beans. Drain and rinse them, and they are ready to go. Do not substitute dry beans.

Canned beans are fully cooked during canning, so they are safe and they only need warming through. Dry red kidney beans are a different matter: raw, they contain a lectin called phytohaemagglutinin, and the FDA is explicit that a slow cooker does not get hot enough to destroy it. The toxin needs boiling at 212°F for at least ten minutes, and a crock pot on LOW often reaches only about 167°F — hot enough to soften the bean, not hot enough to make it safe. As few as four or five undercooked kidney beans can cause severe vomiting within a few hours. Canned beans have none of this problem.

Canned beans	Drain and rinse	Rinsing removes the starchy canning liquid, which otherwise clouds a soup and dulls the flavour.
When to add them	Start, or the last hour	At the start for chili and stews — they take on the seasoning and a few break down, which thickens the pot. In the last hour if you want them to hold their shape.
Canned baked or refried beans	Last 30 minutes	Already sweetened or seasoned. Added early they scorch against the crock wall.
Dry beans of any kind	Not in this book	If you want the savings, cook them fully on the stove first — soak five hours, drain, boil thirty minutes in fresh water — then use them in place of canned. Two cups cooked equals roughly one 15-ounce can.

One 15-ounce can drained gives about one and a half cups of beans. Most recipes here want one or two cans.

One or two cans of black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed, at the start. Rinsing matters here — the canning liquid is starchy and clouds the soup.

Corn

Canned corn	Last 30 minutes	Drain first. It is fully cooked already, so it only needs heating — added early it goes to mush.
Canned fire-roasted corn	Last 30 minutes	Same timing. Worth seeking out for the smoky note, especially in chili and anything southwest.
Canned hominy	Last 30 minutes	Drain and rinse. Bigger and chewier than corn, and what turns a pork stew into posole.

Pasta and noodles

**In the pot.** Add one to two cups of small dry pasta — ditalini, small shells or elbows — for the last twenty-five minutes, with one extra cup of hot broth per cup of pasta. Check at twenty minutes; it goes from firm to mush quickly. **Or separately.** Serve over rice instead, which suits this soup better.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Whisk the packet into the water before it goes in
Do not sprinkle dry powder onto liquid in the pot. Put the 4 cups in a jug, add the packet, whisk until there are no lumps, then pour it over. Cheese and cream powders dissolve properly this way and the sauce comes out smooth instead of grainy.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Add beans, corn or tomatoes now if you're using them.
2
Pour in the 4 cups of whisked liquid and stir once.
You dissolved the packet in the water already, so there is no powder to work in and no risk of lumps. One stir to settle everything.
3
Put the lid on.
And go do something else for six hours.

When about 30 minutes are left

Creamy upgrade

Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks.

It should give way immediately.

Stir well and ladle into bowls.

Then put the toppings out and let people go.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point

Cheese and cream powders settle against the hot crock wall and scorch into a brown ring. That ring then breaks up into the sauce and makes it grainy. One stir at the halfway point prevents it, and one is all you need — every lift of the lid costs about twenty minutes.

Swaps and add-ins

Add rice.

A cup of instant rice in the last 30 minutes makes it heartier.

Make it a dip.

Cut the liquid to two cups and serve it thick with tortilla chips.

Add heat.

Diced jalapeños or a can of chipotles in adobo. Add at the end.

Use rotisserie chicken.

Shredded, in the last hour. Cuts the cook to about 90 minutes.

Tips for success

Rinse the canned beans. The starchy liquid in the can clouds the soup and dulls the flavor.
Set out toppings, don't skip them. This soup is good on its own and outstanding with a topping bar.
Don't add salt before tasting. Bouillon plus canned beans plus cheese powder is already a lot of salt.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

A squeeze of fresh lime.

Non-negotiable in Tex-Mex. Six hours of cooking flattens everything and lime brings it all back.

Fresh cilantro, chopped.

If your table likes cilantro, this is where it belongs.

Crushed tortilla chips on top.

Texture. Everything in the bowl is soft, and crunch on top fixes that.

Serve it over

In bowls with tortilla stripsOver riceWith warm flour tortillasWith cornbread

Tomorrow night

Enchilada casserole.

Layer with corn tortillas and cheese, bake 25 minutes.

Loaded nachos.

Thicken it, spoon over chips, broil with cheese.

Southwest chicken bowls.

Over rice with avocado, corn and pickled onion.

Breakfast burritos.

With scrambled egg and cheese in a warm tortilla.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months. One of the better freezers in this book.

Reheating

Stove or microwave. Add broth if it thickened overnight.

Questions people ask

Recipe card