Sopa de Tortilla (Tortilla Soup)
By Annie PetitoPublished on August 6, 2024
Time
1¼ hours
Yield
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
You can use homemade or high-quality store-bought chicken broth in this recipe; our favorites are Swanson Chicken Stock and Better Than Bouillion Chicken Base. It's important to use ripe tomatoes, as they contribute color, flavor, and the bulk of the moisture for blending. Epazote brings a distinct herbal flavor to the soup; if you can't find it, use six sprigs of fresh cilantro. Pasilla chiles (also labeled “chile negro”) are long, skinny, and very dark in color; if they’re unavailable, use ancho chiles. Kitchen shears are best for cutting the dried chiles. Do not be tempted to use store-bought tortilla chips, which don't have the same crunch or flavor and tend to fall apart in the soup. This soup is traditionally eaten as a course in a larger meal; otherwise, we like it for lunch or as a light supper.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack 3 to 4 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Arrange tomatoes, onion wedges, and garlic on prepared sheet. Broil, turning occasionally, until garlic is charred in spots and has softened, 3 to 5 minutes; onion is lightly charred on 2 cut sides and has softened slightly, 5 to 8 minutes; and tomatoes have spotty charring, skins are beginning to burst, and flesh is soft, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Peel garlic and transfer to blender with tomatoes and onion. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of blender jar halfway through blending.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add tomato mixture (it will sputter) and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened and reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in broth and epazote. Bring to boil, then adjust heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, to meld flavors, about 15 minutes. Discard epazote and season with salt to taste.
- While soup simmers, add oil to small saucepan until it measures about ½ inch deep and heat over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Add one-quarter of tortilla strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Using spider skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer strips to prepared sheet and season with salt to taste. Return oil to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining batches of tortilla strips.
- Return oil to 350 degrees. Add half of pasillas and cook until puffed and darkened in color, 10 to 15 seconds. Working quickly (they burn easily), use spider skimmer to transfer pasillas to prepared sheet beside tortilla strips. Repeat with remaining pasillas. (Tortilla strips and pasilla rings can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week).
- To serve, place about ½ cup tortilla strips in each bowl and ladle soup into bowls; pass garnishes, fried pasilla rings, and remaining tortilla strips separately. (Diners should crumble fried pasillas into soup.)
Time
1¼ hoursYield
Serves 4 to 6Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Brothy sopa de tortilla is a humble Mexican staple often served as a course in a larger meal. For our version, we started by dry-roasting ripe plum tomatoes, wedges of white onion, and garlic cloves under the broiler until spottily charred to give them smoky complexity. We then blended them and fried the puree until reduced by half to evaporate moisture and concentrate its flavor. We added chicken broth and fresh epazote, one of the essential herbs of the Mexican kitchen, to the pot and simmered the soup to meld its flavors. While the soup was simmering, we fried thin strips of corn tortillas until crunchy and golden and thin rings of dried pasilla chiles until puffed and crisp. After ladling the soup over some of the tortilla strips to ensure the strips were dispersed throughout the bowl, we garnished it with ingredients that added contrasting flavors and textures: the fried chiles, lime wedges, queso fresco or panela, creamy avocado, Mexican crema, raw white onion, fresh cilantro, and hot sauce.
Want more? Read the whole storyBefore You Begin
You can use homemade or high-quality store-bought chicken broth in this recipe; our favorites are Swanson Chicken Stock and Better Than Bouillion Chicken Base. It's important to use ripe tomatoes, as they contribute color, flavor, and the bulk of the moisture for blending. Epazote brings a distinct herbal flavor to the soup; if you can't find it, use six sprigs of fresh cilantro. Pasilla chiles (also labeled “chile negro”) are long, skinny, and very dark in color; if they’re unavailable, use ancho chiles. Kitchen shears are best for cutting the dried chiles. Do not be tempted to use store-bought tortilla chips, which don't have the same crunch or flavor and tend to fall apart in the soup. This soup is traditionally eaten as a course in a larger meal; otherwise, we like it for lunch or as a light supper.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack 3 to 4 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Arrange tomatoes, onion wedges, and garlic on prepared sheet. Broil, turning occasionally, until garlic is charred in spots and has softened, 3 to 5 minutes; onion is lightly charred on 2 cut sides and has softened slightly, 5 to 8 minutes; and tomatoes have spotty charring, skins are beginning to burst, and flesh is soft, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Peel garlic and transfer to blender with tomatoes and onion. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of blender jar halfway through blending.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add tomato mixture (it will sputter) and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened and reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in broth and epazote. Bring to boil, then adjust heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, to meld flavors, about 15 minutes. Discard epazote and season with salt to taste.
- While soup simmers, add oil to small saucepan until it measures about ½ inch deep and heat over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Add one-quarter of tortilla strips and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Using spider skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer strips to prepared sheet and season with salt to taste. Return oil to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining batches of tortilla strips.
- Return oil to 350 degrees. Add half of pasillas and cook until puffed and darkened in color, 10 to 15 seconds. Working quickly (they burn easily), use spider skimmer to transfer pasillas to prepared sheet beside tortilla strips. Repeat with remaining pasillas. (Tortilla strips and pasilla rings can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week).
- To serve, place about ½ cup tortilla strips in each bowl and ladle soup into bowls; pass garnishes, fried pasilla rings, and remaining tortilla strips separately. (Diners should crumble fried pasillas into soup.)
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