I Haz Crockpot ~ Chipotle, Black Bean & Chicken Soup

I only just discovered Cookin' Canuck last night but already it's one of my favorite blogs. In fact, 4 recipes from the site are already on my list to make this week. Yesterday I made Chipotle, Black Bean & Chicken Soup from that blog but I made some alterations. Please take a look at the original recipe before making mine in case you like any of the steps I skipped or changed.


Ingredients:

1 small onion chopped
3 carrots peeled and sliced
1 large can of black beans rinsed
1 teaspoon of lime zest
3-4 garlic cloves smashed
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 can of chiptole in adobo
(with seeds and membranes removed, finely chopped and use all the sauce)
4 skinless chicken thighs (bone-in)
2 14.oz cans of whole tomatoes (or 1 28 oz. can)
2 packets of Goya Chicken Bouillion
5-1/2 cups of water
juice from half a lime
salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup of rice
cilantro & fresh-squeezed lime juice for garnish

*You'll need a 6 quart Crockpot or Slow Cooker with the hour settings to make this.

Add chopped onion, sliced carrots, smashed garlic, rinsed black beans, grated lime zest, chipotle in adobo and dried oregano to the bottom of your Crockpot. The original recipe calls for a whole can of chipotle en adobo with all the peppers cleaned of their membranes and seeds. While this would take a considerable amount of the heat away I was still nervous that a whole can of the peppers would make my soup too spicy to eat. So I opted to use all the adobo (that's that thick smoky delicious sauce) and only half of the chipotle peppers, prepared to her instructions.

The original recipe does not call for lime juice or lime zest but I added it to bring a fresh flavor to the soup.

The original recipe called for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs that are pan seared before added to the pot. I'm making this recipe to use up some of my frozen skinless, chicken thighs so I opted to add the frozen pieces in without thawing or searing. I just didn't have time to defrost! Oops.

I added the thighs, whole tomatoes (with juice), lime juice, salt and pepper.

Instead of using 4 cups of chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups of water, I opted for 5-1/2 cups of water and two Goya packets of Chicken Bouillion. Since I'm on a tight budget and chicken broth can get expensive, I've been using Goya Bouillion instead. It's wonderful and I don't really miss the broth (the expense, the room it takes up, dealing with the cans/boxes, etc.). 2 packets makes up to 4 cups of broth.

I drown the whole thing with the water and the bouillion and I set the crockpot for 6 hours. At 5-1/2 hours I took out the chicken thights and removed the bones and cartilage. Then I shredded the chicken and put it back into the crockpot. I also added a half cup of rice to the soup, stirred and let that cook for the last half hour.

Serve yourself up a hot bowl of soup, spritz some lime juice over the top and add some fresh cilantro and dive in! This is one spicy soup and I'm glad I cut back on the chipotle in adobo. My beau Carlos and I ate it together and we were burning up. He says it's the second best thing I've ever made for him (after Pastel de Choclo). So this soup was definitely a success. Thank you Cookin' Canuck!