Crock Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup and Baked Tortilla Strips

So I made a regular old Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup a couple of weeks ago, and it was good, but it doesn't hold a candle to this version. I first made this Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup last summer when I was taking care of my family after their car accident and I wanted something that was quick and easy and I could put in the crock pot and not have to worry about while I was chasing toddlers and helping my grandparents... It was a huge success! Everyone loved it and even though I made a big pot full, it was all gone with zero leftovers, which never happens!

I have since made it probably 7 or 8 times and I have made it with a bunch of different variations... No matter what I have done to it, it has been delicious each and every time. I usually serve this up with a side of store bought tortilla chips if I am in a hurry. I am not, I make homemade tortilla chips or baked tortilla strips. Yesterday I made my own version of cool ranch doritos to eat with my leftovers and it was amazing together. The flavors really melded.






Crock Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 chicken breast
1 can black beans - rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn or 1 can corn rinsed and drained
1 can tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel works great too, but is usually in a smaller can), don't drain
1/2 packet Ranch dressing mix (or a few tablespoons homemade ranch dressing mix)
1 8oz block cream cheese
1-2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Add all of the ingredients except the yogurt to your crock pot. Give a quick stir, but the block of cream cheese will make it difficult to stir too much - don't worry about that. Turn it on low, cover, and forget about it until about 30 minutes before you want to eat.

Shred the chicken (which shouldn't be hard because it will be super juicy. I just stuck my spoon in there and barely stirred it around and it fell apart into perfect shreds!) and add the Greek yogurt. Give it a good stir and let it continue cooking for 30 minutes or until you are ready to eat.

Meanwhile, prepare some Cool Ranch Tortilla Chips or these homemade baked tortilla strips to serve on top. I also like to serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, and sliced avocado when I have the time and ingredients, but it is so good, it doesn't need the fixings to taste amazing.

Baked Tortilla Strips

5 small white corn tortillas
Olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cut your tortillas in to 1 inch strips. I stacked my tortillas up, then cut the sides off to square them up a bit. I sliced once down the middle (so the rounded edges were on the top and bottom, uncut), then in one inch increments perpendicular to my middle cut. My result was a nice pile of little tortilla strips.

I arranged them on the baking sheet, sprayed with olive oil cooking spray (you can just brush the olive oil on if you don't want to cheat like me), and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Bake for about 5-6 minutes on each side, then serve with soup, dip, salsa, whatever you can dream up!