Green chile chicken soup is a hearty blend of roasted chile peppers, corn and shredded chicken. Serve with tortilla strips and it’s like your favorite enchiladas, in a bowl.
For a delicious depth of flavors, the green chiles are roasted, along with the onion and garlic then added to the chicken in a final step.
Recipe | Roasting the Chiles | Do You Need to Peel the Peppers?
Roasting the green chiles and other vegetables brings out the sweet flavors and allows them to cook until softened enough to run through a blender.
Ingredients
Since green chile peppers are the primary ingredient in this Mexican chicken soup, I decided on Anaheim for the primary chile pepper.
Anaheim Chile Pepper
Anaheim is one of the less spicy green peppers. You could use bell pepper, though, if you really want no heat at all.
The Anaheim chile is the type of long pepper that’s grown in California. It’s the same type of chile pepper grown in Hatch, New Mexico.
Hatch green chiles, though, are affected by the soil and weather in that region, making them spicier than their Anaheim cousin.
If you have Hatch green chiles available, you can use those instead. I may not use the Serrano in that case. I’m not sure. I’ve never been lucky enough to get my hands on a Hatch green chile.
Have a look at our Scoville Heat Scale to get an idea of the level of heat you want. Pick and choose any green chiles you like.
Add a Serrano Chile for a Little Extra Heat
I used one lonely Serrano and that was plenty enough heat for me. If you want more heat, try using two. They pack quite a punch so don’t go all wild on me there.
Roasting the Chiles
When you roast the vegetables under the broiler, the skin of the chiles will be blackened. The garlic and serrano will be blackened. The onion will have charred bits on it but it won’t be completely burnt.
The onion and garlic can go right in the blender. You will need to peel the charred skin off the peppers before you use them.
Sweating the Roasted Chiles
Once the green chiles come out of the oven, place them in a bowl immediately and cover with plastic wrap. This will allow them to “sweat” and the skin will peel right off.
Just as soon as you can handle the peppers, take them out and peel or rub off the charred skin.
Do you need to peel the peppers?
When you’re serving raw peppers, you don’t need to peel them. The skin is sometimes a little tough which provides a nice crunch.
You will find many roasted chile peppers in Mexican food, like this chile pepper chicken.
You roast the peppers under a hot broiler. Roasting sweetens the pepper but it chars the skin. You need to remove this skin because who wants to eat burnt pepper skin? Am I right?
Electric Blender
As you know, 24Bite has a lot of Mexican recipes. As with so many of our recipes, an electric blender is an essential appliance in the Mexican kitchen.
The roasted vegetables are easily pulsed in the blender to make sauces and soups.
Have a look at this Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System (aff link) at Amazon. It’s the one we use and includes the blender, a food processor bowl and two to-go cups.
Garnishing Your Soup
Serve this green chile chicken soup the same as you would tortilla soup. Here is a list of things I like to use for garnish.
- Queso fresco
- Red cabbage
- Radish slices
- Fried tortilla strips
- Avocado
- Jalapeno slices
- Cilantro
- Mexican crema or sour cream
Use your imagination and add your favorite toppings.
If you have extra Anaheim peppers, be sure to check out What To Do With Anaheim Peppers.
More Mexican Recipes to Try
We have lots of Mexican recipes at 24Bite.
- Chile Lime Shrimp Tacos
- Instant Pot Mexican Picadillo
- Cheese and Onion Entomatadas
- Chicken Tinga Tacos
Be sure to have a browse so you can add a new Mexican dish to your rotation every week.
Recipe
Green Chile Chicken Soup
Equipment
- Sheet pan (cooking sheet)
- Electric Blender
- Large cooking pot
Ingredients
- 4 Anaheim Peppers fresh
- 1 Onion
- 6 Garlic Cloves peeled
- 1 Serrano Pepper fresh
- 4 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 pound Chicken Breast boneless, fully cooked, shredded and chopped
- 14.75 ounces Del Monte Fire Roasted Corn drained
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin optional
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- ½ cup Half N Half
- 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese shredded
- Cooking Spray like Pam
Instructions
- Set oven to broil (usually about 550℉) and allow to preheat. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Wash Anaheims and Serrano. Remove stems from Anaheims, slice each pepper in half and place with skin side up on cooking sheet. Cut onion horizontally into four large slices and place on same cooking sheet. Place peeled garlic and whole Serrano on same cooking sheet. Place in oven on highest rack and allow to cook about 10-15 minutes. The peppers will be charred and onions will have a few charred looking bits. The garlic may be completely blackened so don't worry. That's what you are looking to find.
- Place charred peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to "sweat" for 10 to 15 minutes. They need to cool enough for you to be able to handle them easily. Once cool enough to handle, carefully remove the charred skin from each. It should peel off easily. Remove skin, seeds and stem from Serrano. Place all the peppers in an electric blender with the onions and garlic.
- Pour in 1 or 2 cups chicken broth in blender with the vegetables and process until smooth.
- In large pot, pour in pepper mixture from electric blender and any remaining chicken broth. In same pot, pour in shredded chicken, corn and seasonings. Stir. Heat on the stovetop on medium until boil then reduce heat to simmer.
- Stir in butter, then half n half, then cheese. Continue stirring until everything is fully melted and incorporated.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. All amounts are estimates and 24Bite® takes no responsibility for actual figures since calculations vary by packaging and supplier. Please calculate the amounts yourself based on package labeling if you have specific dietary requirements. 24Bite®, Kim Guzman or Christian Guzman shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result. 2019-2026 Kim Guzman and Christian Guzman. All rights reserved. 24Bite®
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Such a great soup!! Yum
Love a good soup recipe. Really delicious flavours!
Made it with pork instead of chicken as it was what I had on hand. Diced the pork and put it in a slow cooker for 4 hours on high with a tablespoon of olive oil and 1/4 cup chicken broth. Then added the pork and liquid from the slow cooker to the recipe when it said to add the chicken. Turned out amazing and the entire family loved it.
Great tip for charring the peppers in the broiler to remove the skins I had always done it by putting them directly on the gas flame on my cooktop. This was so much easier!
Yum! That sounds great. I may need to try that substitution as well. Thanks for visiting!
Am I missing the step to add the rest of the broth?
I think you’re correct. I must have missed that. Thank you so much for catching it. And, thank you for visiting!
It was delicious, no serrano pepper but I had pepper jack cheese, and I used 2 cups for dinner with company. A big hit!
That’s terrific! I’m so glad it worked out for you. I think I need to make it again as well. Have a great day!
Would diced canned diced roasted green chiles work? Thanks for your great website and tasty recipes!
Yes, but I’m not sure how many you would need. Have you ever seen the large cans of whole chiles? They’ve already been roasted, split and the seeds are removed. If you can find those, it may be a better substitute for you.
Excellent recipe and instructions were easy to follow. We had leftover rotisserie style chicken and used that; gave it an additional layer of flavor and less work!
That’s terrific! One of my favorite recipes. Sounds like a great addition. Thank you for writing!
Any thoughts on freezing this soup?
I’ve never had any problems with freezing this soup. I have kept it in the freezer for 3 or 4 months and it tasted just as wonderful as the day it was made.