Hillstone-inspired Mexico City Soup

Last weekend, I re-organized all of our kitchen cabinets and was reminded of my husband’s funniest purchase of COVID-19 lockdown last spring: a 24-pack of canned corn! (Costco hoarding at its finest!) I sent him to Costco with a list of things and he came home with everything and a few picks of his own, including the canned corn! We don’t normally buy it, but he thought we would be able to use it. Fast-forward almost a year, and we still have SO much corn! (Get ready for a slew of corn recipes!) I thought it would be fun to re-create a Hillstone-inspired Mexico City Soup in an attempt to use up some of the corn!

This was my second time to make this soup and it is SO good! And, it is very filling for a meal, unlike most soups. It is perfect for dinner on a chilly night, and a great way to add more veggies into your dinner. Plus, you can freeze some and keep it for a night that you work late and don’t feel like cooking or getting takeout!

Need:
80 ounces Chicken broth
.5 Yellow onion
1 Green bell pepper
1lb Cherry tomatoes (you can also use 1 regular diced tomato)
.5 Small can of tomato paste
2 Cans of Hatch green chilies
2 Cans of sweet corn
4 Garlic cloves
3 Tablespoons of chili powder
2 Tablespoons of oregano
1 Tablespoon of cumin
2 Rotisserie chicken breasts, shredded
1-2 Cups brown rice, cook according to package directions
2 Avocados
2 Zucchini
2 Yellow Squash
Cracked pepper to your liking
Shredded Mexican Cheese to your liking

Hollyized Steps

Following the directions from the packaging, cook 1-2 cups of brown rice. (Whatever you don’t eat with the soup can be used in other recipes or as an easy side for dinner another night.)

Add a little olive oil to the bottom of your dutch oven. Then chop the onion and bell pepper and add to the dutch oven along with the cherry tomatoes on medium heat. (You can use diced tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes.) Use a garlic press to add in the four garlic cloves. Stir all the ingredients together and cook them until the onion and bell pepper are translucent and the tomatoes start to blister.

Add the two cans of the diced green chilies, including the liquid, to the dutch oven. Next, add in all of your dried spices–chili powder, oregano, and cumin.

Then add about 48 ounces of the chicken broth to the dutch oven. Using a small spoon or spatula, add half of the can of tomato paste to the soup. Stir to dissolve the tomato paste into the broth.

Next, take your shredded rotisserie chicken breasts and add them into the soup. (The Hillstone version of the soup doesn’t include chicken, but I added it to make this soup more hearty since it was our entire dinner.) Then, take two cans of corn and drain out all the liquid in the sink. Add the corn into the soup along with the rest of the chicken broth. Add a few twists of fresh cracked pepper into the soup, stir it and turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer for about 20-25 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, get started on prepping the toppings for your soup. Wash the zucchini and squash and then cut them into quarter slices. Mix them together in a bowl or container so that you get a mix of both when you grab a handful to add to your soup. You can also prep your avocado by slicing it.

Once the soup is done cooking in the dutch oven, serve it by adding 1-2 spoonfuls (about .25 cup) of brown rice to the bottom of the bowl. Then ladle 2-3 scoops of soup. Top with a handful of the zucchini and squash mixture. Add avocado and Mexican shredded cheese to your liking and enjoy a restaurant-like dinner safely at home! It is delicious!