Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Two and a half years cancer-free. The milestone passed without fanfare because I've stopped counting milestones and started just living. The anxiety hum is there — it's always there, the quiet refrigerator buzz — but it's manageable. A three, maybe. Sometimes a two on good weeks. The screenings continue: every three months for the first two years, every six months for the next three. My next is in April. I'll go. I'll sit in the waiting room. I'll breathe through the fear. I'll get the results. I'll eat a cinnamon roll. This is the protocol.

Brett and Claire adopted a dog. A one-eyed Lab mix named Walter, age six, found at the Idaho Humane Society. Brett called me from the shelter parking lot and said, "We found our Hank," and I could hear Walter panting in the background and Brett's voice cracking, which happens when Brett is happy and doesn't know what to do about it. Walter is, by all accounts, the perfect dog for a man in a wheelchair: calm, gentle, content to lie at Brett's feet while he works from home, and equipped with one eye that looks at Brett with the devotion that only a rescue dog can offer — the devotion of a creature who was lost and found and knows the difference.

I went to see Walter on Saturday. He greeted Hank with the cautious respect of one scarred dog meeting another, and they lay on Brett's living room floor side by side, two imperfect animals in a room full of imperfect humans, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd seen all week.

Lily lost her first tooth. It came out during dinner — she bit into a carrot and yelped and held up the tiny white tooth with the expression of someone who has just witnessed a medical emergency. "MY TOOTH FELL OUT," she announced, as if the entire table hadn't watched it happen. I gave her a napkin. She demanded a mirror. She examined the gap with the thoroughness of a dental professional and declared it "awesome." The Tooth Fairy left two dollars. Lily found them in the morning and said, "I'm RICH," which at two dollars represents an aggressive definition of wealth.

I made slow cooker carnitas this week — pork shoulder, orange juice, lime, garlic, cumin, oregano. Shredded and served in tortillas with pickled onions and cilantro and avocado. A recipe from the internet that I've been wanting to try, and it was spectacular — tender, citrusy, the kind of meat that falls apart under a fork. Mason ate three tacos. Lily ate the avocado and one tortilla with nothing in it, which I'm counting as participation.

The carnitas were a success — three tacos for Mason is the highest possible endorsement in this household — but the slow cooker had already become my kitchen hero that week, and I found myself reaching for it again a few days later with this chicken tortilla soup. Something about a week that holds a dog adoption, a lost tooth, and a quiet anniversary all at once calls for a pot of something warm that you can walk away from and come back to when the house is ready to eat. This is that soup.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 6–8 hours (low) | Total Time: 6 hours 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can corn, drained
1 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Rotel)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup salsa (mild or medium)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and black pepper to taste
Juice of 1 lime
For serving: shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack, sour cream, sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, crushed tortilla chips, lime wedges

Instructions

Load the slow cooker. Place chicken breasts in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the black beans, corn, fire-roasted tomatoes, diced tomatoes with chiles, chicken broth, salsa, onion, and garlic. Stir to combine.
Season. Sprinkle cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and oregano over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Give everything one more gentle stir.
Cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours or on HIGH for 3–4 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir to incorporate.
Finish and serve. Stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle into bowls and pile on your toppings: cheese, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, and a generous handful of crushed tortilla chips.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup — The Week We Stopped Counting and Started Eating