Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup

I found this soup on allrecipes, and the reason I tried it was because it had literally over 900 reviews and got 5 stars. It was also rated one of the top soups on the site. It makes a LOT of soup! I had my largest pot out and could barely fit all the ingredients in the pot. In fact, I waited until it cooked down some before adding the sour cream which caused it to have little visible white specks of sour cream in it. So, it didn't come out in the picture as pretty, but trust me, it tastes good. In fact, all 5 of my family members liked it. :-) It's really not that spicy. It does have some kick to it, but all my kids ate it just fine. I stayed pretty close to the recipe. Next time I think I will only use 1 tbsp olive oil to saute the onions and garlic in instead of 3, and I will use diced tomatoes instead a can of whole tomatoes. I ended up taking out the whole tomatoes and dicing them up since my kids won't eat big chunks of tomatoes. I could have easily halved this recipe and had leftovers still, but now we have lots of soup in the freezer for another quick night leftover meal. :-) This might look like a lot of ingredients, but about half of them are spices.

Ingredients

2 quarts water (8 cups)

8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 tablespoon onion powder

5 cubes chicken bouillon

3 tablespoons olive oil (I would reduce this to 1 tbsp next time)

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (16 ounce) jar chunky salsa (I used mild)

2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes (I used petite diced)

1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes (I would use petite diced tomatoes instead next time)

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream (use light if you prefer, and omit if need dairy free)Directions
In a large pot, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Shred chicken.

In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato soup, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, shredded chicken and 5 cups broth (I used it all b/c after cooking down, the broth was about 5 cups). Simmer at least 30 minutes.

Another way you could do it is in your crockpot. Only use 5 cups of water instead of 2 quarts. Throw everything in your crockpot, cook on low 7-8 hours, remove chicken, shred, and throw back in your crockpot. Stir it up good and enjoy! :-)