March 7, 2022
Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n & Rice Soup
This Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n and Rice Soup is truly chick’n soup for the soul. The broth is smoky and flavorful with a touch of heat from the chipotles – while the chick’n, rice, and veggies add heartiness to the soup. Stir in a bit of vegan cheese shreds at the end of simmering for an extra creamy bowl of comfort!
Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n & Rice Soup
This soup is a combination of my favorite soups wrapped into one cozy bowl. Think taco/enchilada soup meets chicken and rice soup. It’s cozy, creamy, and hearty, with a fragrant broth flavored with chiles and tons of spices. The best part? It’s ready in under an hour, so you’ll have a comforting bowl of soup from pot to table in no time!
Grab a drink and let’s get to making the best Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n & Rice Soup!
what goes in Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n & Rice Soup (plus tips and substitutions)
This soup is quick, easy, and low effort! Basically all you have to do is blend the ingredients for the base of the broth, sauté, and simmer! Here are some staple ingredients you’ll need and their substitutions:
1. Dried Chiles
You’ll rehydrate and blend some dried chiles for the base of the soup broth. Chiles add a nice smokiness and depth of the flavor to the soup. For an even easier recipe, you can certainly substitute the homemade broth base for one 10-ounce can of store-bought enchilada sauce. If doing this, skip step 1. Add the can of enchilada sauce (in place of the broth base from the blender) into the pot with the bouillon cubes and water as stated in step 4 of the directions.
2. Vegan chick’n bouillon
I typically buy this in powder, cube, or paste bouillon form, then mix it with water to create a very flavorful broth. I can find artificial chick’n powder or bouillon at my local Asian market, specialty health food stores such as Whole Foods and Sprouts, or on Amazon. If you can’t access it, you can substitute it with mushroom powder, or vegetable bouillon. If using vegetable bouillon, I highly suggest using a powder or paste, as these are highly concentrated and will produce a much more flavorful broth.
3. Rice
the recipe calls for long grain rice, and while you can absolutely use short grain, wild, brown, jasmine, or black rice, please keep in mind that cooking times are different for each varietal of rice. I’ve only tested this recipe for long grain rice, so if you happen to use another type (especially wild rice or brown rice), you may need to cook it separately before adding it to the soup.
That being said, if you’re using long grain rice as the recipe calls for, you don’t need to cook it ahead of time. In fact, the soup is much better with uncooked rice because it soaks up all the flavor of the broth as it’s simmering!
The toppings!
If you ask me, the toppings for this soup are just as important as the soup itself. Here’s what I like to use, but feel free to go with whatever toppings you like!
- Fresh Cilantro: I apologize in advance if you have the cilantro soap gene ????
- Thinly sliced jalapeño: if you’ve been making my recipes for some time now, then it’s no secret I like a bit of heat. Thinly sliced avocados add the perfect amount of spice, without overpowering the soup!
- Avocado: The cool creaminess of the avocado is perfect in this bowl of soup!
- Tortilla chips or strips: I always make a batch of homemade tortilla strips while the soup is simmering (they’re just so much better!), but you can certainly opt for your favorite store-bought tortilla chips.
- Fresh lime: a squeeze of fresh lime right before serving adds freshness and a kick of acidity!
more soup recipes to try:
I know the temperatures are rising and the days are getting longer, but if you’re an year-round-soup fanatic like me, then here are more soup recipes you need to try!
- Vegan Birria Ramen
- Pesto Italian Wedding Soup
- Beer ‘n’ Broccoli Cheese Soup with Smoked Paprika Croutons
- New Manhattan ‘Clam’ Chowder
- Chick’n Tortilla Soup
Cheesy Chipotle Chick’n & Rice Soup for the soul!
I hope you love my vegan birria ramen as much as I do! If you try this dish and enjoy it, I wanna know! Snap a photo, take a video, or make a story and post it to Instagram, and tag me at @eat_figs_not_pigs and #EatFigsNotPigs. I love seeing your recreations of my recipes!
Til next time, friends!
xo!
Cheesy Chipotle Chick'n & Rice Soup
Ingredients
- • 2 dried California chiles
- • 2 dried New Mexico chiles
- • ½ cup chipotles in adobo sauce try to get most of the adobo sauce, and only 1-3 chipotle peppers
- • 1 ½ tablespoons vegan chick’n bouillon powder or 3 vegan chicken bouillon cubes
- • 2 tablespoons avocado oil divided
- • 1 pound vegan chick’n
- • 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- • ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper plus more to taste
- • 1 white onion diced
- • 2 pasilla peppers diced
- • 1 jalapeño pepper diced
- • 12 cloves minced garlic
- • 3 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano
- • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- • 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
- • 1 28-ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
- • 2 cups fire roasted corn I use frozen, but if you’re using canned, make sure to drain and rinse
- • 1 15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- • ½ cup long-grain white rice
- • 3 cups Mexican-style vegan cheese blend
Garnishes (optional):
- • Fresh chopped cilantro
- • Thinly sliced fresh jalapeño
- • Chopped avocado
- • Tortilla chips
- • Fresh lime wedges
Instructions
- Gently pull the tops off the dried chiles and remove as many seeds as you can. Put them in a bowl and cover with boiling hot water to rehydrate for 15 minutes. Drain and place them in a high-powered blender along with the chipotles and adobo sauce, bouillon powder or cubes and 1 cup of water. Pulse until smooth and set aside.
- Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chick’n pieces, season with the salt and pepper, and cook according to package directions, until heated through. Remove the chick’n and place on a plate. Set aside.
- In the same pot over medium heat, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, peppers and garlic, and season with the oregano, cumin, and chipotle chili powder. Sauté, mixing often, until the onion is translucent, and the garlic is fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Pour the broth base into the pot. Add 6 cups of water to your blender, cover it, and gently shake it to get all the excess broth from the sides of the blender. Pour that into the pot as well. Add the fire roasted diced tomatoes with their juices, corn, and black beans. Give it a good mix, bring to a light boil, reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove the lid, add the reserved chick’n pieces and rice, giving it another mix to incorporate. Cover and continue to simmer until the soup thickens and the rice is cooked, 20 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt if necessary. Off the heat, stir in the vegan cheese blend and continue to stir until melted through. Serve immediately with preferred garnishes and enjoy!
