Southwestern Cheesy Chicken Soup (Gluten-Free)

Do you love soup? I do! 

I hope you enjoy this fantastic soup recipe from Erin at Eat Real, Stay Sane!

If you need to modify for daily-free, replace the milk with coconut milk and leave out the cheese. It will still be broth-y and delicious. You can also replace the cilantro with flat-leaf parsley if preferred.​ 

Southwestern Cheesy Soup

This past Super Bowl we wanted to have a healthier get-together without sacrificing taste. We had chicken wings with a honey ginger glaze, salad, soup, all-natural ice cream and brownies (for Mom’s birthday), and Muddy Buddies.

So Muddy Buddies are not on the healthy list, BUT I did use homemade chocolate, healthy peanut butter, and organic powdered sugar. One thing that we do a lot in our house is rejigger junk food recipes to contain healthier ingredients. We just need to find a healthy alternative to Rice Chex. Um, probably not happening though.

The soup however, was a different story. It’s a cheesy chicken soup with Mexican-style flavors. It’s perfect for a winter day and definitely hearty enough to eat alone for dinner. AND it was perfect Super Bowl food because it was thick enough that we could scoop it up with our organic tortilla chips from Costco. Nacho city!

We love these kinds of recipes. Crazy delicious, with a little kick, and yet doesn’t taste healthy! Adding the rice to it changes the whole game and that’s how it turns from a nice side soup into a one-bowl dinner extravaganza.

It’s one of those holdover recipes from our pre-healthified eating days and yet a few tweaks make this a healthy staple in our non-processed household.

And just a note on the amaranth: it’s actually a type of grain, but it’s completely gluten-free. It’s got sort of a nutty flavor, so you can’t use it in recipes like cookies or brownies. For dinner-type meals where a slight flavor injection is welcome, it works great. For example, we use it in our onion ring recipe.
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Anyway, this recipe is probably our new favorite and we plan on making it about 37 times in the next month. Enjoy!
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Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Red bell pepper, seeded and diced (we actually used 1/2 green, 1/2 red last time and turned out great)
• 1 Poblano pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 Cup yellow onion, diced
• 3 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Teaspoon chili powder
• 3/4 Teaspoon cumin
• 1 Teaspoon coriander
• 1 Teaspoon unrefined salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon pepper
• 6 Tablespoons amaranth flour
• 3 Cups raw or whole milk
• 2 Cups homemade chicken broth
• 1/2 Cup rice of choice
• 1/2 Cup Pepper Jack cheese (bonus points for raw cheese)
• 1 1/2 Cup cheddar or Colby Jack cheese
• 2 Cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 large tomato, diced (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt the coconut oil and butter in large stock pot.
2. Add bell pepper, poblano pepper, onion, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper. Cook the mixture for 5-6 minutes until the veggies begin to soften.
3. Add the minced garlic and stir constantly for 1 minute.
4. Whisk in 3 Tablespoons of amaranth and cook for 2 minutes, stirring contantly.
5. Add broth and milk, whisking until smooth.
6. Add rice and let it simmer (not boil!) for 35 minutes, or until the rice is done. For this step, we kept the heat low and checked every few minutes and stirred.
7. Combine cheese with 3 Tablespoons amaranth in a bag. Then add cheese to the soup, stirring until completely melted.
8. Add chicken, tomato, and cilantro to pot and allow it to heat through, about 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Eat Well & Thrive!