Time to try a Soup Nazi soup. Just to see what it's like. Well, the answer is excellent. Follow these step by step photo instructions a great chicken chili. There will be soup for you.
The Story
I'm calling this a "copycat" recipe since I can not confirm it is original. If you Google Soup Nazi recipes, you will get four different recipes that are repeated in many places. I chose the Mexican Chicken Chili. It's a tomato spicy chicken soup. It will take some time but not a lot of work.
The "soup nazi" was made famous by the comedy series "Seinfeld" in the 1990s. While we all enjoyed the show, the chef that the character was based on was not a fan of the treatment. The story is more involved, but I will just stay that his soups were famous before the show and are wonderful.
While I usually don't do recipes with this many ingredients, it wasn't that bad with a little planning. Print the recipe and go shopping. But you will have most of the spices already.
This soup relies on two things for its great flavor. First, we create a great fond when cooking the chicken. This is a Maillard reaction and creates great flavor. We then use the soup to deglaze the pan to incorporate that flavor. Second, we simmer to reduce the volume at the end. This will concentrate the flavor.
My Rating:
A 5 for taste but I'm nudging it to a high 4 due to the number of ingredients.
📋Ingredients
The Chicken
The recipe calls for 1 pound of chicken, but with this much soup, I prefer a little more meat so more like a pound and a half for me.
You can use skinless chicken breasts or thighs. Cut into filets to make cooking easier and to make more fond at the bottom of the pot.
All the Other Ingredients
There are a lot of ingredients. Print the recipe card and mark off ingredients as you add them. Also, it makes an excellent shopping list.
On a spicy scale, this is about a 3 out of 10, so some of you might want to spice it up a little by adjusting the cayenne pepper.
📖Chicken Chili/Soup Recipes
Low Fat High Taste Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Salsa Verde White Chicken Chili a la Crock Pot
Crockpot Southwest Chicken Chili
Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
🔪Instructions
Clean and filet 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast.
Heat 1 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Cook until internal temp of 165°. Do NOT clean pot.
Let chicken cool for 20-30 minutes and then hand shred.
Knife skill time: prep the carrot(sliced), celery(chopped), potato(chopped), onion(diced), jalapeno(diced), parsley(chopped) and garlic clove(minced).
Put all ingredients into the uncleaned pot and bring it to a boil then decrease the heat to a simmer. Work the fond into the liquid with a wooden spoon.
Cook uncovered for 4 to 5 hours stirring frequently.
The color will change from red to brown. The soup will thicken and reduce by about 40 %.
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📖 Recipe
Soup Nazi's Mexican Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 1-1 1/2 lb chicken breast - or thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 potato - peeled; chopped
- 1 onion - small diced
- 1/2 carrot - sliced
- 1 stalk celery - diced
- 1 jalapeno - diced finely
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley - chopped
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 10 cups water
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup frozen yellow corn
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
- 15 ounce red kidney beans - plus liquid
- 1/4 cup diced canned pimento
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon basil
- 1/8 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
- Clean and filet the two chicken breasts. Heat 1 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Cook until internal temp of 165.
- Do NOT clean pot. Let chicken cool for 20-30 minutes and then hand shred
- Knife skill time: prep the carrot(sliced), celery(chopped), potato(chopped), onion (diced), jalapeno(diced), parsley(chopped) and garlic clove(minced)
- Put all the ingredients into the uncleaned pot and bring it to a boil then decrease heat to a simmer. Try to incorporate the fond in the pot into the liquid.
- Cook uncovered for 4 to 5 hours stirring frequently. The color will change from red to brown. The soup will thicken and reduce by about 40%.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Do not cook this in a non-stick pan. You need the fond to help the flavor the soup.
- The original recipe calls for 1 pound of chicken, but with this much soup, I prefer a little more meat so more like a pound and a half for me. Thighs will be fine also.
- On a spicy scale, this is about a 3 out of 10 so some of you might want to spice it up a little by adjusting the cayenne pepper.
- Good refigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
- Serving size is about 12 oz.
Nutrition
Editor's Note: Originally Published November 3, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos and a table of contents to help navigation.
Joan E. Ronck
Ummm....soup looks & sounds yummy. But it's SEINFELD, not STEINFELD. :)
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Joan,
Welcome to the blog and thanks for the correction. I thought I fixed that but I must have missed something. I will do it now.
This soup is excellent. It is one of those things you need to do at least once (I have done it about 6-7 times).
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Val
The soup was very good but the chicken was very dry and tough after hours of cooking. Next time I’ll put it in for the last few minutes of cooking.
DrDan
Hi Val,
Welcome to the blog.
I can see that happening with the cooked chicken. You could use thighs instead or your idea of adding near the end should work.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
DjAcucrack
Great recipe. I've made this soup three times. The last time I did it I deglazed the bottom of the dirty pan with the water it makes the soup much tastier. Directions if you want to try. After you take the chicken out. Heat the pan back up while you shred the chicken. When It gets hot add 1/2 cup or 1 cup of water and let the rapid boil of the water work loose some of that great flavor at the bottom of the pan. Use a spatula to work some of the flavor at the bottom off and then add the rest of the ingredients. This works great with sauces, I use redwine for beef based sauces and white wine for cream sauces.
~Chris
Hmmm ... the one I found for Mulligatawny had no meat. It had eggplant, cashews, pistachios, potatoes, etc. It was also an all day project, but well worth it! Can't wait to try this one.
Dr Dan
Thanks, it is worth the time. Think of the 4-5 hours as you would if doing pulled pork, you can do a lot of things during that time. It's just finding the right time slot. I though about the Mulligatawny but no meat...
Chris
This sounds exceptionally good, Dr. Dan. A long cooking soup but well worth it from your description.
~Chris
Funny you should ask about the Soup Nazi - I just recently tried the Mulligatawny. It turned out great! Sounds like I'll have to try this one now too! :)