Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup -- The Sunday Drive That Always Leads Home

January 2019. I am twenty years old and I am moving to Birmingham. Not far from Prattville, forty-five minutes on a clear day, but a new place entirely. I found a room in an apartment with two other people, which is my first time living with others since the foster homes, and that fact is not lost on me. The apartment is on the south side of Birmingham near the UAB campus. The other two residents are a nursing student and a woman who works in tech. We have shared a kitchen. I have opinions about shared kitchens, which are mostly: I will be neat and I will cook good things and I hope for the same.

Biscuit traveled in the carrier in the back seat of the Civic and sang her displeasure for thirty-two minutes and then fell silent and stared at me through the door of the carrier with an expression of profound betrayal. We arrived. She investigated every room methodically. She found the kitchen windowsill. She sat on it. She decided this was acceptable.

The Sunday drive to Prattville is now the same forty-five minutes it was when I lived there, just from a different direction. I made the drive the first Sunday after moving in. Gloria had made chicken and dumplings, a cold-weather thing. I sat in her kitchen and ate and thought: nothing has changed in the important ways. I still know where the lard is. I still know which chair James sits in. I am still coming on Sunday. That is the through-line.

Gloria’s chicken and dumplings are hers and hers alone — I wouldn’t dare try to recreate them in a south Birmingham apartment with a shared stove. But the feeling they gave me, that particular warmth of knowing exactly where you are and who you belong to, is something I can reach for on my own Sundays. This slow-cooker chicken tortilla soup is the recipe I kept coming back to in that first year: set it before I left for the drive to Prattville, come home to something waiting. It’s not the same as Gloria’s kitchen, but it became mine — and that, too, is a through-line.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

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

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 packet (1 oz) taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Tortilla strips, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and sliced avocado for serving

Instructions

1. Layer the slow cooker. Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the black beans, corn, both cans of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and water.
2. Season. Sprinkle the taco seasoning, cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder over the top. Stir gently to distribute the seasonings without fully submerging the chicken.
3. Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and tender enough to shred easily.
4. 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 combine.
5. Season and serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top with tortilla strips, shredded cheddar, sour cream, and avocado as desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 870mg