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a bowl of tasty tortilla soup

tortilla soup

5 from 5 votes
Make a "soup bar" for this one. Everyone can customize their soup by adding crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, hot peppers, diced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, and sour cream. Serve with chips and salsa. A hearty, simple meal.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 6 bowls
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 small zucchini
  • 1 jalapeño or Fresno pepper (optional)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 5 medium tomatoes
  • 1 pint your favorite salsa
  • 15 ounces canned whole-kernel corn
  • 15 ounces your favorite canned beans
  • 1 cup dry red lentils
Garnish with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, diced avocado, diced tomato, fresh cilantro, sour cream, a lime wedge, and additional hot peppers.

Method
 

  1. Clean and chop the onion, peppers, and zucchini. Add to a large soup pot with the olive oil and seasonings. Cook and stir over medium heat until the onion begins to soften, about five minutes.
  2. Clean and chop the tomatoes. Drain and rinse the beans. Add to the soup pot along with the broth, corn, and salsa. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.
  3. Ladle into bowls and garnish as desired with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, diced avocado, diced tomato, fresh cilantro, sour cream, and additional hot peppers.

Notes

  • Turn up the heat if you like. Adjust the type and quantity of hot peppers to your preferences.
  • I used corn with no salt added, so I did not drain it.
  • Add cooked shredded chicken if you like. For a group, you can always offer it separately in case there are vegetarians.