[Recipe] Tortilla Soup with Beans and Corn | Winter Comfort in a Bowl

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
— Edith Sitwell

It’s late February here in New Hampshire, and right on cue, I’m starting to hear the chatter. Perhaps you’re hearing it too, if you live in the northern U.S.? You know those conversations that happen at the bus stop, in line at the grocery store, at school functions:

“I’m sooo over this cold weather!”
“Another snow storm?! Ugh!”
“When will this end?!”
“I won’t survive if my kids are home from school for another snow day!”

We New Englanders love to talk about the weather all year round, but this time of year, there’s more complaining than discussing, and it’s not unusual to hear even born-and-bred New Englanders speak longingly about moving to Florida or California or a tiny Caribbean island where warm sun and cloudless blue skies are the norm, and no snow boots or shovels are required.

Throughout these conversations, which happen a lot these days, I’ll smile and nod politely, and although I’ll sometimes agree (“I know—I can’t believe the kids have yet another day off from school because of snow!”), inside my head I’m thinking, Am I the only person in New Hampshire who actually likes winter?

While nearly everyone else around me is dreaming of summer in February, I’m still fully embracing winter in New Hampshire. I have a love/hate relationship with summer, and for many reasons, I feel like I “survive” rather than embrace summer. But winter? Winter is my spirit animal, as the kids today like to say. Sure, I could do without the repeated rounds of kid-spawned illnesses that winter brings and the dry air that slowly and mercilessly wrecks my skin. And I could also do without winter’s cloak of darkness, which makes it difficult to drag myself out of bed most mornings, but once I’m up and outside, that brisk morning air wakes me up and invigorates me. And those cool gray skies with the promise of snow in the air make me embarrassingly giddy with anticipation.

I think my enjoyment of winter stems from my introverted, homebody nature: Winter gives me plenty of excuses to embrace this part of me, the part that adores cocooning myself in oversized sweaters and giant scarves and woolen socks, slowing down and staying in, curling up on the couch with a good book and a cozy blanket and snuggling with my favorite people. And it gives me plenty of reasons to spend time in my kitchen, whether I’m whisking up mugs of hot chocolate, baking cookies and muffins, or cooking up a big pot of soup, the ultimate winter comfort food.

I’ve said this before, but making soup is my favorite kind of cooking, and one of my favorite ways to spend time in my kitchen, especially on a snowy Sunday afternoon. But sometimes I don’t have time to (or just don’t want to) spend all afternoon in the kitchen making soup; sometimes I want soup right now, on a weeknight. And this is where my Tortilla Soup with Beans and Corn comes in to save the (cold and snowy) day.

Imagine a soup that has all of your favorite Tex-Mex flavors, but with a lot less work than making tacos or enchiladas or burritos, and you’ll get the idea: Hearty and filling from both black beans and pinto beans, balanced with the acidic tang of tomatoes, the sweetness of corn, and hints of smoky spice, this soup is quickly becoming a top contender for my boys’ favorite Taco Tuesday meal. And speaking of tacos, if you’re anything like my boys, the toppings are what really get you excited about taco night, and this soup is no exception. Tortilla chips are basically a non-negotiable topping for this soup; that crunchy element is key. You can certainly bake up your own, and I include instructions below, but, truth be told, most times we just top the soup with store-bought tortilla chips and no one has complained. Add a squeeze of lime juice, a sprinkle of cheese, a few slices of avocado, and/or a dollop of sour cream, and you have a hearty and comforting yet bright and flavorful soup that hits all the right textural notes. It’s practically guaranteed to liven up any cold winter night, warming you up from the inside out. It’s also a perfect snow-day soup: Most of the ingredients are pantry staples (canned beans, canned tomatoes, frozen corn), so I usually have all the ingredients already on hand, saving me a (potentially treacherous) drive to the grocery store, and it also comes together quickly, leaving me more time for parking myself on the couch under a warm blanket (my winter fantasy)… or sending the boys outside to play in the snow so I can get some work done (my winter reality).

With our hectic, hurried lives, it’s not always easy, or even possible, to slow down and truly enjoy winter, especially the seemingly endless winters here in New England. Instead, we find ourselves lamenting yet another snow day or cursing the weather that forced us to cancel our plans; by March, we’re researching homes for sale in Florida. But if we let go and lean in to winter, even if it’s only for a moment while we make a pot of soup or enjoy steaming mugs of hot chocolate or snuggle by the fire with our kids on an unexpected snow day, perhaps we can welcome these moments as opportunities to slow down, and maybe start to embrace, rather than simply endure, the season. At least for another month or so, when it’s almost April and the kids’ snow boots have seen better days and their snow pants have holes in them and one mitten has gone missing and if we have to shovel the driveway ONE MORE TIME, we will lose our (frozen) minds. But spring will come; it always does. Until then, at least we have soup. And hot chocolate. Or wine, if that’s more your style.

Tortilla Soup with Beans and Corn

 

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This soup strikes a perfect balance between being utterly crave-worthy (it’s like TACOS in the form of soup!) and delightfully healthful (it’s like tacos in the form of a VEGETABLE-PACKED SOUP!). It also accommodates a variety of dietary restrictions: The recipe is vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free as written; just be sure to carefully read the labels of the individual ingredients to ensure they meet your dietary needs. And of course, any toppings you add could affect the dish’s vegetarian/vegan and/or dairy- or gluten-free status, so choose your toppings accordingly.

All that being said, occasionally I’ll add some shredded chicken (from a cooked rotisserie chicken) to this soup to provide a little more heft and bump up the protein content for my two growing carnivorous boys (and one fully grown carnivorous husband), and sometimes I’ll use chicken broth if I don’t have any vegetable broth on hand. If you’d like to add some cooked chicken to this soup, I’d recommend adding it in with the beans and corn; you might need to simmer the soup just a little bit longer until the chicken is completely heated through. (You’ll probably need to add more broth to the soup as well, at least 1 to 2 cups more, depending on how much chicken you add.)

Per my boys’ preference for not-too-spicy foods, this soup is mildly spiced with cumin and oregano, but if you’d like a little more heat, feel free to add a pinch or 2 of red pepper flakes and/or a seeded and finely diced jalapeño pepper when you add the onion, etc.

Finally, this soup is really all about the toppings. I like to set out little bowls of toppings so each of us can top our soup with whatever we’d like. The corn tortilla strips are perhaps the most important topping; they provide a necessary crunch, so I urge you not to skip them! However, if you’re short on time, you can just crush up some store-bought tortilla chips over your bowls of soup instead. They’re a perfectly acceptable shortcut, and on a busy weeknight, I’m a big fan of anything that helps me get dinner on the table more quickly.

VEGETARIAN, VEGAN, DAIRY-FREE, GLUTEN-FREE

Author: Wholesome Family Kitchen

Serves: 4 to 6. (For my family of four—two adults + two hungry kiddos—I can usually get at least one dinner meal out of this batch of soup, plus a couple of smaller lunch servings the next day.)

Ingredients

• • 2 tablespoons olive oil
• • 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• • 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• • 2 stalks celery, diced
• • 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano *
• • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  
  
• • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (preferably fire-roasted)
• • 6 cups (48 ounces/1½ quarts) vegetable (or chicken) broth/stock, plus more if needed to thin the soup **
  
  
• • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• • 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• • 1½ cups frozen corn kernels
  
  
• • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste ***
• • 1 to 2 limes, sliced into wedges
• • Baked Corn Tortilla Strips (recipe below) or crushed corn tortilla chips ****
  
  
• Additional optional toppings:
• Shredded cheddar cheese or crumbled Mexican cheese (e.g., cotija or queso fresco), diced or sliced avocado, sour cream or Greek yogurt, chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, oregano, cumin, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper; sauté, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent and just starting to become golden, about 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, stirring continuously. Add the canned tomatoes with their juices, the broth or stock, and another pinch of salt. Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir the beans and corn into the soup, and simmer for another 10 minutes or so until heated through. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add more broth or stock (or even water in a pinch). Taste and add more salt and/or pepper if needed. Serve each bowl of soup with a squeeze of lime juice, a handful of tortilla strips, and any other desired toppings.

Notes

* Most dried oregano sold in grocery stores today is the Mediterranean variety, which is grown throughout the Mediterranean region (including Greece, Italy, and Spain) and therefore pairs well with dishes from this region. It will work just fine in this soup recipe, but if you can find it, Mexican oregano adds a more complex flavor that complements the spices in this soup, and in other Mexican dishes, especially well.

** I try to use homemade stock (chicken or vegetable) when making this soup; it really does make a difference in flavor. But, truth be told, sometimes I don’t have any homemade stock on hand, I’m feeling kind of lazy, and I want soup NOW. A good-tasting, all-natural, store-bought broth with recognizable ingredients is a perfectly acceptable substitute. I try to seek out a low-sodium variety so that I can better control the amount of salt in the soup.

*** A note about salt and soup: One of my best tips for making a flavorful soup is to season your soup with kosher salt throughout the cooking process (e.g., when you add the onion, celery, and carrots, then again when you add the rest of the ingredients), not just at the end. Doing so helps to keep your soup from tasting “salty,” rather than properly seasoned. And keep in mind that your stock or broth will likely be salty, so go cautiously. A pinch of salt at each stage is usually enough.

**** To make the Baked Corn Tortilla Strips: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Working in stacks of 2 or 3 tortillas each, use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to slice 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas in half crosswise, then into thin strips lengthwise, so you end up with strips roughly 2 to 3 inches long and about ½ inch wide. Add the strips to a large bowl and toss them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a big pinch of kosher salt. Arrange the tortilla strips in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring once after about 5 minutes, until the strips are lightly golden and crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool. (For best results, use fresh, high-quality corn tortillas that are pliable and not too dry.)


Recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s Mexican Chicken Soup recipe in Barefoot Contessa at Home.

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