Southwest Chicken and Potato Soup

I seriously considered naming this "Good A#@ Soup", but decided against it. But, it is really good soup! Sometimes, I impress myself. The recipe says shredded chicken, but the chicken I used was from a crock pot chicken I made that is also super impressive (but not my recipe). I'll post on that chicken soon. But you can use any shredded chicken.

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth (divided into 3 cups and 1 cup)
2 cups water
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, diced
1 orange bell pepper, seeded, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
4 small celery stalks, peeled, diced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp corriander
2 Tbsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 bag small potatoes
1/2 can corn
2 cups baby carrots
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
1 lb. shredded chicken

First, let's dicuss the potatoes. I had no idea the variety of potatoes available at the regular grocery store. I was first so excited to see these little bags of baby potatoes:

Then I saw that there were different varieties of small bags of little potatoes:

There were also fingerling potatoes:

Which is what I almost bought until I saw these:

There are purple potatoes in there! I was so excited to try them. Maybe you all already know about the potato wonderland out there, but it was new to me.

How cute are they?

First, chop the bell peppers, onions, celery and saute them in a pan with cooking spray. Add garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, corriander and cook until vegetables are tender (about 10 min over med-low heat)

Add the cooked veggies to a stock pot with 3 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water. Chop the potatoes, and add potatoes, carrots and corn to the pot. I just cut the bigger potatoes in half and left the small ones whole since I was using little potatoes:

Bring the soup up to a boil. While the liquids are coming to a boil, make a roux. I used 3 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp flour:

Add remaining cup of chicken stock and whisk until creamy:

Add the roux mixture to the soup pot once boiling and mix well. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 3-4 hours until potatoes and carrots are soft. With last 30-40 min of cooking, add the can of Rotel and the shredded chicken. I used about 1 lb of shredded chicken that I had frozen from a previous recipe:

It did turn out a little spicy. I loved it, but it may have been a little bit much for the kids (wimps!) The only spicy element is the Rotel, so you could eliminate it or use the mild version (I used original) or use a different can of diced tomatoes. You could also make this in a crock pot if you weren't going to be home to have it on the stove all day. And there you go, some good a#% soup!

Enjoy!


Linking up here: