Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup

Wow is all I can say. Made this for the 1st time last night and my husband and I both agree it was delicious. I decided to halve the recipe because I only needed to feed 2 adults and one child and even halfing it left us with plenty of leftovers for another meal. I did decide to do this in the crockpot though. Here is what I did based off of other suggestions: Minus olive oil, corn and beans, threw everything in my crockpot (chicken breasts whole) and set on low for 8 hours. Last 2 hours, I removed chicken breasts to shred (didn't take much as they fell apart from being in the juices), added chicken meat back in, 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained), and the corn. I did not use chili beans, whole tomatoes or sour cream as I prefer a lower in fat and calorie meal. I did use a fresh pico de gallo from the store instead of canned salsa and used fire roasted diced tomatoes. I topped our bowls with diced avocado and chopped cilantro and voila! For the kids I added crushed fritos and cheese, the soup was not too spicy for my 3 year old. So easy in the crockpot, I highly suggest making it this way. So much flavor, and I will definitely be adding this to the rounds with no changes.

Excellent recipe, and this is how I make it easier on myself. I use a supermarket rotisserie chicken with the skin removed and shredded off the bone. I saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil and then stir in a little flour to absorb the oil. Then I stir in 2 large containers of good quality chicken stock, and add the shredded chicken. I also use the diced tomatoes with the chiles already in them, and I double the amount and omit the whole tomatoes and tomato soup. I use a medium salsa that has black beans and corn already in it too. I also hold off on the sour cream and let each person top their own bowl with corn chips, sour cream, green onions and shredded cheese. Especially good cabin recipe, winter or summer. Yum!

I really liked this, but like others, I made changes: I left out the whole tomatoes and chili beans; used frozen corn rather than canned and tub of fresh salsa rather than jarred; I didn't have the patience to shred all the chicken, so I diced about half of it and it all broke up just fine; I spooned the sour cream on top of the serving bowls (good without, too) with sliced black olives--all yummy options! This definitely eats like a meal, but you can decrease the chicken if you're just looking for a side dish. Also, it freezes well. Everybody else may already know this, but I accidentally discovered that condensed tomato soup does a GREAT job cleaning electric stove elements and underpans. Those little discs in the middle of the elements are supposed to be silver! News to me!

WOW! WOW! AND WOW! This was the BEST soup I have ever made. It's the perfect blend of spice and thickness, and it's FABULOUS. My one suggestion is if you are health conscious replace the sour cream with plain fat free yogurt. In my opinion plain fat free yogurt tastes very close to sour cream when mixed in with things and it will save you alot of fat and calories!! Again, this was a great recipe!! :)

I LOVED this recipe! I've been trying to eat meals with low to no fat and came across this one. I love spicy food so this was right up my alley. I substituted the tomatoes for a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles like Lucky0372 did and black beans for the chili beans. PERFECT. Another thing, I just boiled the chicken for about 20 minutes, took all but 2 quarts water from the pot, then threw everything in and simmered for an hour. It was PERFECT. Very spicy! My husband and I sat on the couch eating the soup with a box of tissues in between us for our runny noses from the spice-lol! I've made this 4 times already and have only had the recipe for a few weeks. For me to make a meal more than once over that time is very rare, so it HAS to be good. I'll be serving this soup to my grandchildren! (Well, I may have to cut down on the spice for them-but I'm keeping it as is for me!

This soup has become a staple in our house, by far the best soup I ever tasted. We just had a birthday party for my son and we made this soup along with other foods, everyone left with the recipe as they truly loved it. I gave some to my neighbor & he asked for the recipe saying its the best soup in the world. When I make a dish I follow the recipe exactly the first time & make any changes the second time as I see fit. I can say I only made a 3 changes, one was by accident, we forgot the sour cream & I have to admit I didn't notice any difference so to save on unnecessary fat and calories we omit it from now on. I also omit the corn, first I don't notice it in the taste nor feel it adds anything but unnecessary carbs and calories. One other change I make is I add about 1/2 tsp of Ground Red (Cayenne) Pepper. This make a huge difference in kicking it up just a bit, if 1/2 if too much try 1/4 tsp but I suggest adding it if you like a little extra spice is all. It doesn't make it hot but it will clear your sinus's out... This soup has helped me lose weight as I have been cutting fat & calories in my diet so I eat a lot of this soup as it has a lot of fiber, low in fat and low in calories. Since I write down everything I eat and keep track of my caloric intake here are the nutritional changes should you omit the corn & sour cream. 199.4 cal. 1.5g Fat, 25.7g Carbs, 23.4g Protein 7.6g Fiber per serving. Enjoy...

This is a great recipe! I usually head straight for the 5 star rated recipes and, to do them justice, follow them to a “T” on the first go around. I’m no expert chef but I have been cooking for family and friends since I was 9 yrs old and as a California born and raised “Span-Mex-Rican” who’s been around Hispanic home cooking all her life, I’ve learned a thing or two about spicy cooking. I made some changes right out of the starting gate on this one. Omit the ½ Teaspoon salt – there’s plenty of flavoring (and sodium) in the bouillon Use 4 cubes of chicken bouillon (1 less than original recipe) Use 4 cloves of garlic (1 more than original recipe) Replace 2 (14.5 oz.) cans of peeled and diced tomatoes w/ 2 (10oz.) cans of “Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes w/ Lime Juice & Cilantro” Omit the 1 (14.5 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes all together Replace the 1 (10 oz.) can of condensed tomato soup w/ 1 (7.75 oz. can of “El Pato” – Mexican hot style tomato sauce) Replace the canned corn w/ 2 cups of frozen corn For the Salsa: I used “La Victoria Medium” For the Chile Beans: I used S&W Chile Beans (Pinto Beans, Chili Pepper, Onion, Garlic in Zesty Tomato sauce) Cook as directed except: add Chile Beans before the corn & “lightly” mash the tomatoes and beans in the pot. (This further releases the flavors of the beans & tomatoes into the broth and the smashed beans make for a creamier consistency…I’m not a big fan of whole beans or chunky tomato bits in my soup.) Then add all other ingredients

Catherine should submit this recipe into recipe contest! I made it last night with the following adjustments: 3 large breasts, 2 TBL chili powder. I just simmered the breasts for 20 minutes, sauteeed the onions, and then threw everything into the pot and simmered for an hour. My husband and I loved it and I have already given it to four people!

Man! This soup was awsome! It's chili made with chicken. At first bite I thought it would be better made with beef, but by the end of the bowl, I'd totally changed my mind. Chicken was the perfect meat in this. We're not fans of White Chili, but this just knocked our socks off. Ya gotta try it! Thanks Catherine!

My husband and I enjoyed this soup very much. I only used 4 chicken breast halves, but it was still awesome and the chicken was so tender. I also added an extra can of corn. Next time, I will omit the whole tomatoes. Thank you Catherine!

I have made this "soup" many times and each time i make changes to the original recipe. This time i wanted to make it less salty and lighter tasting while keeping the spice and heat. I used 6 chicken breasts and that was more than enough. I substituted low sodium chicken broth for the bouillon cubes and added 1 bay leaf and cooked the chicken per the instructions and in 40 minutes the chicken was 165. Next i chopped up 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 poblano pepper, 1 serrano pepper and 2 jalapeno peppers. I sauteed 1 jalapeno with the onions and garlic then threw the rest of the peppers in with the soup. The peppers gave the soup some nice color along with the heat. The heat will mellow overnight in the fridge if you're making it for the next day. I left out the the sour cream and the can of whole tomatoes, used 1/2 the chili powder and substituted "No Salt Added" diced tomatoes for the regular diced tomatoes. Also, i blew off the corn this time but i use frozen when i use it. The soup had a nice lite, spicy flavor without too much salt. This would be good in summer with some cilantro, a little lime juice and a margarita.

I made this last week and it was great! I love soups and this was at the top of my list. I left out the condensed tomato soup, because I hate the fake flavor of it, and used a can of Rotel Original instead. Added some fresh cilantro and a few dashes of hot sauce, topped with a dollop of sour cream and some crushed blue tortilla chips. I could eat this often!

My husband and I enjoyed this soup very much. I only used 4 chicken breast halves, but it was still awesome and the chicken was so tender. I also added an extra can of corn. Next time, I will omit the whole tomatoes. Thank you Catherine!

This soup was excellent and very tasty. My children and I enjoyed it very much. Since we didn't like our food spicy, I cut the chili powder to about 1 1/2 Tbsp. Also, I put a spoonful of the sour cream in each bowl of soup instead of putting the sour cream in the soup pot.

I made this last night for dinner and everyone really liked it. It is a very decent soup! We made a few slight changes though. I cut out the tomato soup and only used 1 large jar of salsa and 1 can of peeled and diced tomatoes. It was PLENTY of tomato for this recipe. You do not need more! I did not have any chili powder at home, so I used a Piri Piri spice mix which was perfect. In it was dried Bird's Eye chili, onion, paprika, sea salt, pepper, garlic, and cow's parsley. I cut out the extra onion and garlic powder, but I went ahead and added the fresh garlic, onion, and additional dried parsley. I used 3 teaspoons of the Piri Piri and 2 teaspoons of Cayenne Pepper. My husband and oldest daughter wanted the soup spicier, but my youngest daughter and I thought the soup had just the right amount of heat. The canned tomatoes were far too acidic tasting, so I also added a teaspoon of sugar as well. Then it was perfect! I couldn't find Chili beans, but a can of kidney beans and a can of white beans worked just fine. The sour cream was served at the table for each person to add to the soup themselves. I found that the serving size was absolutely correct. I have enough leftovers for all four of us to eat another bowl. I froze it for later use. Everyone agreed that the soup should get 4 stars. It was delicious. The only request I had was less chicken and more beans next time! Of course, this is a personal preference. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

Definitely a keeper. Nothing to knock you out of your chair, but darn good and with so many ingredients that you can keep on hand, it's a real go-to recipe. Used drumsticks instead of breasts. Replaced the can of whole tomatoes with another can of diced (think next time I'll omit one of the cans. it was very tomato heavy). Left out the soup, seeing how tomato-y it was. Added a can of hominy and replaced a can of chili beans with black beans. Didn't drain the corn (because corn is soooo tasty!). choose a good chunky salsa because it imparts a lot of great flavor to this. Put the sour cream as a dollop on each bowl, instead of mixing it in.

The best and easiest soup i've made!!! My husband had 3 bowls in a row and he never eats that much in one sitting!!

I really wanted to try this recipe, but didn't have a lot of time, so I used a crock pot. I followed the recipe as it pertains to measurement of ingredients, but modified the steps a bit for the crock pot timing. As the chicken, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and bouillon cubes were cooking in the pot (kept it on low setting), I prepared the second half of the recipe. After combining the sauteed onions and garlic with all of the good stuff (minus chili beans and sour cream), I just removed a bit of the broth from the crock pot and added everything else in, except the sour cream and chili beans. After 10 hours on low, and getting up to a fresh batch of soup the next morning, I shredded the chicken (basically falls apart anyway), added the sour cream, and chili beans. It is VERY good and super easy to make, especially using a crock pot!

WoW! WoW! yum! this is incredible! we added black beans and corn and served over rice only to take this recipe to the TOP! Very very good! Will be in our home for life.

good served with rice--sort of like gumbo or jambolya

Good but not the comfort food I was hoping for.

Being lovers of both white and dark meat chicken, I cooked a whole chicken subbing fresh parsley for the dried (I think dried parsley is vile stuff, and I always have fresh in my fridge). I used better than bouillon base instead of cubes, and thought the chicken came out great; I would use this method to cook chicken for salads or some other use. I wanted a soup, not a chili, so I used more of the broth in the soup, and used frozen corn. I skipped the whole tomatoes and used three jars of petite diced but my finicky teen thought it was "too tomatoey". Next time I will use two cans of crushed and one diced and she won't know the diff. I tasted it at the end, liked it as it was, so I skipped the sour cream, although I did put a dollop on the leftovers and it was good. Oh, and I threw in a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce that had been hanging around my fridge for a while. I will make this soup again...Excellent!

THIS IS AN AMAZING SOUP! Reminds me of chicken tortilla. Very easy to make. I like spicy food (not too spicy though) but after reading the ingredients, I was unsure how spicy this would be. So everything that I could add "hot" (hot salsa, hot canned tomatos, even added a fresh jalapeno), I did. It was WONDERFUL! It makes A LOT of soup though so I am giving it away and I am sure my friends and family will LOVE it as much as me. My Mexican boyfriend even said that it tastes like an authentic mexican dish he has had before, which is a huge compliment because he is a picky eater!

This recipe was very good! I followed it exactly except I did not mix in the sour cream. I ladled the soup in the bowls, put a layer of chipotle cheddar shredded cheese, chopped up green onions and a "dollop" of sour cream. It was fantastic! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome! I make a lot of good soups, and this one immediately became my husband's favorite. My seven year-old son also loved it. Thanks for a great recipe!

This recipe was excellent and makes enough for about a month but you will go through it quick enough. I made it for someone who was unwell and added some tabasco for some extra heat. It is a great change from the usual chicken soup.

Good,quick & easy

This soup is AWESOME! Definitely makes more than 8 servings, but that's okay because you'll love the leftovers! I added okra and use hot salsa and it turned out wonderful.

This was the best soup!!! Very spicy and full of flavor. It's also healthy if you substitute the sour cream for non-fat sour cream. It made so much and my husband and I will be eating this for a week - but it's so yummy that we don't care.

This make a lot of soup! Really good though.

My husband and I loved this soup! He said that I outdid myself with this one. Like other users, I added a cup of instant brown rice and used black beans instead of the kidney beans. I also used ALL of the water in which I cooked the chicken, not just the 5 cups the recipe called for. An all-around excellent soup.

Very tasty soup. It nice becaseu you can make it as spicy or mild as you want.

Great Soup! Very filling. I'm not a fan of kidney beans, so I used black beans instead. I also did not have enough broth after cooking the chicken breasts so I added regular canned chicken broth. Excellent!!!

Mmm this stuff is good! Definitely only needs 1 can of tomatoes, and I actually forgot the condensed tomato soup, so it's fine without that, too! I only used 3 chicken breasts and 1 quart of water, and this nearly filled my soup pot! Thanks, Catherine! I like that it's unique enough from the other soups I make to be added to my mix.

This is a GREAT soup...very thick, and stew like. My fiancee loved it. I made a double batch to freeze and even though he ate it several times during the week, he took the frozen containers out over the course of the next week to bring to lunch!! Yum!! Thanks Catherine!! It was easy and I will make it again!

This soup was awesome!!!!!!!!! My kids LOVED it. It tastes more like a taco than anything. I absolutely loved it. I would make it over and over and over. Thanks!

This soup was really good...I made half the recipe and plan on eating it over the next few days for leftovers. I personally didn't think it was spicy enough so I added a few drops of Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce to give it some good kick!

This was good. For ease and to save time I bought a rotisserie chicken from the store and shredded it, then just started with a base of onion and garlic sauteed in oil and added the rest of the ingredients. I would omit the tomato soup next time. There is already an incredible amount of tomatoes in this recipe and adding that gave it a flavor of, obviously, condensed tomato soup, which I felt took away from the flavor of the other ingredients, which went well together. I also used chicken broth in place of the water and bouillon.

I tried to emulate this recipe exactly but the day I decided to make it, realized I didn't have the ingredients precisely. Had a couple jars of almost half-full salsas of two different brands and swapped one of the cans of chili beans for a can of black beans, only had one can of diced tomatoes and added twice the amount of chili powder called for. Somehow, is still turned out phenomenal and I've never heard people speak so highly of my cooking before. Thanks for an awesome base for many more great soup ideas! Also, I didn't want the chicken to overwhelm the broth so I only used four breasts and so glad I did!

This soup is simply awesome, a new favorite in our house. Here are my modifications: I used 64oz. low sodium chicken broth instead of water & bouillon. In addition, I used 1 can ob diced tomatoes w/ green chiles instead of the whole peeled tomatoes. Finally, I used 2 cans of black beans instead of chili beans. Love this soup!

Absolutely yummy! I added a pound of sausage and a can of black beans and omitted the can of cream of tomato soup and the corn. This made way too much for two people, but I froze some and will enjoy when the weather cools down :))

WHile this soup had a long list of ingredients and was kind of time-consuming to make, I have to say that it had an OUTSTANDING taste. I used only 2 tbl. chili powder and it was perfect. Other than that, I followed the directions exactly. Delicious, really - impressed my guests. Appreciate the recipe.

This is SO good! I only made 1/2, and for 2 people, could probably get away with 1/4 of the original recipe. It makes a TON...but it's okay with me because it's absolutely delicious and makes great leftovers. Next time I'll probably add another can of corn, because I liked the nice sweet contrast the corn bites had, but other than that, wouldn't change a thing. I served with Jiffy cornbread muffins, which went very nicely with the soup!

Are you serious with this.........who comes up with these Recipes.....absolutely amazing!

Very good!

Love this!! I didn't change a thing, first time making it and my husband and I absolutely loved it!! Very good to dip some fresh bread in also! It was a little time consuming but VERY MUCH WORTH IT!!! Would def. recommend. Thanks so much for this fantastic recipe!

This was EXCELLENT! I used Lasvegas00's review as a guideline for cooking this in the crockpot, and it came out great. I added a little extra corn, and a little extra light sour cream, and used black beans instead of chili beans, but kept everything else the same. My only beef with this recipe is that the serving information seems way off base. I made this for myself only (since no one else likes spicy food), and figured I could take it to lunch for a few days this week. So I halved the recipe, which should have been 4 servings, but I have well over 8 LARGE servings of soup. I'm not sure how I'm going to eat it all, and wish I hadn't "wasted" all the chicken. Next time I will cut it in 1/4 for 4 servings. I should have known something looked off when the original 8-serving recipe called for EIGHT chicken breast halves... that is a TON of soup! Totally delicious, though :)

Great spicy soup for chilly fall night! I did saute the onions and garlic in a big pot until translucent. I also used a rotisserie chicken from my local grocery store. I used chicken stock and one can of tomatoes is plenty. Used frozen corn. I also topped with sour cream, tortilla chips and cheese. Thanks for a keeper!

This is a wonderful soup for guests. I added more beans (black and red) and doubled the amount of corn (using frozens rather than canned) and left out the whole tomatoes. I also cut down to 4 chicken breasts and 1 Tbsp chili powder, but added about 1 tsp of red chili flakes.

I made this for 6 people today. I only used 4 breasts insted of 8...I feel 8 would be too much chicken. I also used lowfat sour cream. Every single person LOVED it. I was told I "should can this soup and sell it", "this is the best soup I have ever tasted" "this is the best meal you have ever cooked". Everyone had seconds and some had thirds. There was only one serving left at the end of the night. I will def make this again.

This was a great recipe...easy to make and very tasty! I did substitute black beans and added a cup of rice. It also makes much more than the serving size indicated, but we don't mind these leftovers. It is now a family favorite!

Made for a teachers' luncheon and there were no leftovers! This is delicious!

Yum! I made a few changes of course: 1) Picked up a rotisserie chicken to skip that step. 2) Used several large fresh tomatoes instead of the canned. 3) Used one can of tomato sauce instead of tomato soup just because that's what I had and 4) Skipped the sour cream. Definitely a keeper!

Loved it! 8 chicken breast halves seemed like too much to me, so, I only used 5... I think using 8 would have left me with a pot of shredded chicken mush and very little soup. Next time I'd use 4 at the most. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. Next time I would omit the whole canned tomatoes completely. Very flavorful soup!

My family loved it. I added a cup of instant brown rice for extra fiber and thickness-that was great!

Yummo! I did may a few alterations however. I added a can of Rotel tomatoes, a packet of taco seasoning mix and a touch of cumin and it was fantastic!

YUMMMY!!! I actually adjust this recipe as a nacho dip. I use all of the recipe, except use a HOT salsa and replace the whole peeled tomatoes with one 10oz can of HOT Rotel diced tomatoes with habaneros. So its not so soupy, I use about 2-3 cups of broth and drain everything. Its really not that hot either, it has a really nice kick. Serve as a dip with shredded cheese on top and tortillas. (-:

Fabulous recipe. Only made small changes due to making it in a crockpot. First used only 1 qt of water, left out the whole tomatoes, added 1 tsp of cumin, used only 1/2 C of sour cream & added a couple handfuls of tortilla chips, crushed to thicken. My family loved it & asked to have the leftovers tonight!

I just made this soup for dinner tonight and it's wonderful - great flavor! I basically followed the recipe but used 1 can Rotel tomatoes in place of the regular and used black beans. I will definitely make again.

Love this soup but its NOT SPICY! I had to add cumin and cayenne to give it a kick. Otherwise I would have given 5 stars....its worth 5 stars with the spices.

Turned out great!

Everyone really enjoyed this recipe. It was different and tasted great the next day. Next time I would skip the whole tomatoes and double the corn. I reduced the chili powder by one teaspoon and it was still quite spicy.

This has become one of my all-time favorites. I found this recipe here about a year ago, and have made it a zillion times since then. Everyone LOVES it!

Holy Cow there's a lot of sodium in this recipe!

This is the best chicken soup Ive ever had!! Wow! I followed the directions pretty much to the letter, since I am such a novice with soups. Cubed chicken instead of shredding it, and served it with lots of cilantro and shredded cheese. Amazing! Great flavor!! I also made some julienned tortilla strips in the oven suggested by another review, and added those as a garnish. Will definitely be making this again and again!

Made this at the last minute and it was SOOO GOOD! A+++++

I followed the original recipe and it's excellent. Next time, I will use only 5 boneless chicken breasts and maybe add extra corn. This soup will become a regular at my home.

Made this with fresh serrano peppers instead of cayenne and a whole mesquite smoked chicken instead of breasts. The flavor was fantastic and everyone who tried it loved it. I say play with the recipe - you can't go wrong!

I have tried a bunch of soup recipes but this is the BEST! I typically only make soup in the fall/winter, so when summer comes to an end I can't wait for Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup! Its always the first one we have! YUMMMM!

I've never reviewed a recipe before...but this was awesome! We had a great organic bird for dinner, then as a I was making stock I came across this recipe. I just used the left over meat and stock. I didn't have any chili powder so I used a dash of paprika. It was also just fine without the bullion! Thanks Anuttaf. Great recipe.

"best soup i've ever had" is all i heard all night as neighbors came over lining up. best recipe ive seen on this site

WOW! I love this soup. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except I used my own quart jar of homemade canned tomatoes vs the whole/diced cans of tomatoes. I also left out the chili beans since I don't like them. Also, I took advice from another reviewer and served with cornbread muffins. Delicious! Will definably be making this one again!

Didn't follow the recipe exactly and it still came out fantastic. I kicked up the spice a little bit more by adding a little Texas Pete and Hot chili beans. I highly recommend this!

DELICIOUS!!!

Love this soup- though I think the boiling the chicken step is unnecessary. Whenever making chicken soup, I just buy a rotisserie chicken from the store, shred it, and use the carcass to make stock. This way, you can just sautee the onions, garlic, and whatever else (I like to add 1 green pepper), add the canned ingredients (buy spicy salsa if you like it spicy, mild if you don't), bring that to a simmer for half an hour, then add chicken and bring to simmer again until it's ready to eat. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir in a spoonful of sour cream and top with tortilla chips.

OUTSTANDING recipe...makes a lot and I feed 5. Next time I think I'll add some black beans too. I served it with corn tortilla's, shredded cheese & sour cream.

I used 6 chicken breasts which was plenty and next time will make without the whole tomatoes. Definitely a hit with everyone! Made enough to freeze another whole meal. Made a 2nd time and cut recipe in half. Left out the chili powder. It made PLENTY for our family of 4 with leftovers.

This was terrific. I made the following changes. Skipped the whole tomatoes, and topped the soup with green onion, avacado, diced tomatos and crushed tortilla chips. Yum!

This soup was excellent. I prepared it exactly according to the diirections. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Not very flavorful, would not make again.

Love the flavor of the soup. Next time I may add more corn and beans and substitute chopped tomatoes for the whole ones.

very disappointing...tasted like runny enchilada filling...such a waste of all that chicken

It's no surprise that this recipe got so many high ratings. As 1 writer suggested, I shortened the prep time by btowning the onion along with the cut up chicken breasts. It does not need the tomatoes at all. I did not add them because my guys do not like chunks of tomato in anything. Very flavorful soup!

Goood ! I tweak it a little by adding chicken stock no bouillon. some tomato paste and red and cayenne pepper also touch of cumin an lemon juice. to top it all of I fried some corn tortillas and sliced um into strips then light salt and lemon juice.. DELICIOUS

Delicious. I could have licked the bowl! I didn't use tomato soup because I didn't have any. I just substituted tomato sauce. Also used 1 can kidney beans and one can of black beans instead of chili beans as that's what I had on hand. Love this soup and I am not much of a soup eater. Everyone raved.

Wow this was really good. I basically used it as a starter and added/changed some things. I followed the same directions for making the broth, but instead I used 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves and it seemed like plenty. This is where I changed it. In a saucepan I added the olive oil, garlic and onions. I omitted the salsa and instead added chopped celery and carrots. While that was cooking, I shredded the chicken and reserved all the broth. To the garlic and onions I added 2 cans of peeled and diced tomatoes, the shredded chicken and ALL the remaining broth (I had about 6-7 cups. I actually omitted the rest of the ingredients and added a half of cup of rice. I let it simmer all together for about 45 minutes. Really amazing.

My family loves this recipe. We serve it with southern style cornbread.

This was "pretty good." Considering I basically live in the heart of the southwest (New Mexico) and eat spicy soups quite often (mmm, menudo), I'll try to be fair. I made this for my boyfriends family, following the recipe to a T. They said it was, "good." But I could tell that they weren't as impressed as they usually are with my food. Perhaps this would taste good to people up North. But, IMO - I wouldn't make it again, and I'm sending the leftovers to my mother to deal with, as there are plenty :P Makes more than 8 servings!

Nothing beats a giant pot of spicy chicken soup in the winter months. I think I would omit the whole tomatoes, I also only use 4 chicken breasts. Make a massive amount of soup, perfect for entertaining!

Great stuff! The only things I did to it were my typical little personal tweaks like pureeing tomatoes since I don't like the hunks, but that doesn't change the flavor any. (Meaning, in fact, I just used all whole tomatoes.) But all the spices, beans, etc. I did as is. I cooked the chicken originally in the crock since that's the easiest way to shred chicken, something I dislike doing. (And seem to do a lot anyway.) After that I transferred to my Dutch oven which fits more easily in the fridge. A good thing since there was plenty. I halved the recipe and I doubt the whole thing would've fit in the Dutch oven. This is easily at least 12 servings for the whole recipe, and I'm one who thinks a serving is a good big bowlful. I like the level of spiciness just fine. It was much like a tortilla soup. Blopped on some extra sour cream on top. I do have one issue, however: the prep time. It's like the first step doesn't exist, so if you think you're going to start this recipe and have it ready in 45 minutes like it says, think again. It doesn't say "cooked" chicken in the ingredients, so step 1 absolutely counts!!

I got very lazy and just threw all the ingredients into a crock pot and let it cook all day. I even used frozen chicken breasts and cut them up after being in the pot for a couple of hours. It came out so good I have to wonder if the original cooking recipe is any better! Doing this is as easy as it gets!

This was an excellent recipe. I halved it since there are only 2 of us, but we still had a lot left over. I left out the whole tomatoes per other reviews, and changed the order of things so that I only messed up one pot. I sauteed the onion and garlic in a large soup pot, added in the chicken to brown, then added the spices and stock. Per other reviews I only put in chili powder to taste (and ended up not using the full amount - it was still hot). Brought it to a simmer for 30 minutes and then added the rest of the ingredients (no sour cream) and let it simmer for 30 minutes, breaking up the chicken (instead of taking out and shredding it). Served with grated cheddar and crushed tortilla chips. It was excellent.

My husband and kids said this was the best meal I had made. Unsure how I feel about that however here goes my first rating. It probably would have been even better had I followed the recipe completely. Even so, only changes were one can of kidney beans instead of the chili beans, a small can of tomato paste instead of tomato soup (less sugar), and I used real garlic instead of ground. I will be making this many times over and perhaps add some more spice on a day the kids are out. Thank you!

I made this soup on Christmas Eve for my whole family along with a large pot of Chili. This soup was cleaned out and everyone loved it! I substituted black beans in place of the chili beans and I added some cumin. I will definately make this again! Next time I will cut back on the bouillon as it was just a bit salty for my taste.

Quick, easy and absolutely delicious! As I am sure many others have done, I made a few tweaks to this recipe to suit my own tastes, and it is absolutely incredible. In order to make this recipe less labor-intensive, I made it in a crock pot and let it cook throughout the day. Rather than sautéeing the onion and garlic, I just threw it all into the pot to cook. Tomato paste was substituted for the condensed tomato soup, as I don't like all of the ingredients I see on the label. I also chose to leave out the sour cream (although I'm sure it would be delicious). The verdict: a wonderful recipe that can be manipulated to your tastes and still turn out delicious!

EXCELLENT 5 stars

Wonderful soup! This spicy soup was a big hit at my house. Husband and three kids loved it!

Wonderful recipe. I modified based on prior reviews to make it a clean recipe. Halved it and it still made a lot. I used 4 frozen grilled chicken breasts and about 8 oz frozen grilled salsa which we always keep on hand. Started with the onions and garlic per the recipe, added 2.5 cups of boiled water with 3 chicken bullion cubes dissolved (microwave), salsa, 1 can petite diced tomatoes, 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes, 1 can corn, 1 can black beans, and 1/2 can condensed tomato soup. Then added the spices used in the chicken broth, also halved. Once it was combined well, I added the frozen chicken breasts and let it simmer covered on the stove for about 30 minutes. Then I took out the chicken breasts, shredded them and added them back to the pot and let it cook about 5-10 minutes more. Wonderful!

I wasn't as crazy about this as others have been - a lot of tomatoes for my taste.