Smoked Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wife was craving chicken tortilla soup so the light bulb went on, how about smoking the chicken?

Here we go:

Brined some boneless skinless breasts in a basic brown sugar brine



Patted em dry after brining at hit them with some olive oil and 3 eyz rub



Onto the MAK @225 running Mesquite



After a couple hours and an IT of 155 ready to pull (these are going in a soup so I am not looking for them to be completely done)





Diced up and ready for the soup



Started the soup

Chicken broth, green chiles, diced tomatoes and chiles (Rotel), onion, and the chicken





Bring it to a boil and let simmer for about a half hour



After simmering add fresh cilantro, lime juice, cumin, frozen corn, and cayenne pepper and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Smoked Chicken Tortilla Soup Cont

While we're waiting for the soup to finish up start working on the tortilla part

Throw some tortilla strips in the deep fryer for garnish







Onto the Tortilla Chips





Now for the moment of truth

Put in a bowl, garnish with fresh Pico de Gallo, jack cheese, and tortilla strips (and of course a nice Mexican Beer)





This came out great, the smoke flavor from the chicken came through in the soup and blended well with the other flavors, definitely will try this again.

wow, i wished i lived closer to ya. and you drink beer too. nice food partner. nicely done carter.

Great looking soup Carter!

I know what sparky is cooking soon!

I like it!

Muy bueno! Looks great Carter!

CarterQ,
I made some chicken tortilla soup a few weeks back. Similar recipes. My original recipe has always been really good, but now that I have a pellet grill, I, too, decide that the recipe needed to be kicked up a bit. I spatchcocked a whole chicken, rubbed it with EVOO and seasoning it with Plowboys Yard Bird rub. I smoked it with hickory until it was done. After cooling, I stripped and chopped the meat and set aside. Next I added the carcass to a pot filled with sodium reduced chicken stock. The smokey flavor from the chicken really intensified the flavor of the stock. We invited neighbors over for "soup". Although I doubled the recipe, we almost ran out. Six people can eat a lot of soup! My garnishes were chopped fresh cilantro, a Mexican cheese blend, fried chip strips, and wedges of lime. This updated recipe will replace my old recipe, it's that good.

Art

Carter

That looks freakin fantastic.

I've got to try this one too.. looks wonderful Carter! Thanks for sharing your recipe!