Southwest Black Bean-Chicken Soup

This Southwest Black Bean Soup is chock full of black beans, shredded chicken and corn. There is huge flavor from the spices and fresh herbs, plus a little heat from the chipotle chilis. And, this soup has even more flavor-punch the next day! The cornbread mini-muffins are fluffy and moist inside and crisp on the outside, a perfect accompaniment for this nutritious soup.

4.91 from 11 votes

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Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 2 30

Total Time: 3 30

Servings: cus

Calories: 157kcal

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

For the Southwest Black Bean-Chicken Soup:

1 pound dried black beans
6 cups chicken broth
2 cans 14 ounces each diced tomatoes
1 large onion chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
1 red bell pepper coarsely chopped
1 canned chipotle chili pureed (see Notes)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried Mexican spice mix
10 ounces whole-kernel corn defrosted
2 cups cooked shredded chicken breast (see notes)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Sour cream and cilantro sprigs for garnishment

For the Cornbread Mini-Muffins:

2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup cream-style corn
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup white spelt flour or regular all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

For the Southwest Black Bean-Chicken Soup:

Sift through the dry beans to remove any small bean-size rocks. Place the beans in a bowl or pot, cover with cold water, and allow to soak overnight. Drain the beans and rinse them in a colander.
Add the soaked beans to a large soup pot or Dutch oven with enough cold water to cover them by 3-inches. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans for 30 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, onions, garlic, red pepper, chipotle chili and the dried spices. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. Add the corn and the shredded chicken, taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Bring the soup back to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
When the beans are tender, remove from the heat and stir in the chopped oregano and cilantro. Ladle into soup bowls and add a dollop of sour cream and a sprig of cilantro to each serving with mini-cornbread muffins.

For the Cornbread Mini-Muffins:

Preheat oven to 425°F spray mini-muffin pans with oil spray.
Beat eggs and oil on medium speed for 2 minutes until foaming. Whisk in yogurt and creamed corn until well combined. Set aside
Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add the wet mixture, stirring just to combine and no streaks of the cornmeal-flour mixture is visible.
Using a small-size cookie scoop fill each mini- muffin cavity of the prepared pan 2/3 full, transfer to the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, remove from the oven, transfer the muffins to a wire rack to

Notes

Two chicken breasts, poached and shredded. I used the breast meat from a rotisserie chicken. When opening a can of chipotle chiles I usually only need one or two of them. The remaining chiles are pureed and portioned into 2-ounce lidded containers and frozen for future use.I used a 24-cavity mini-muffin tin, this recipe makes enough batter for 40 cornbread mini-muffins. Be sure to re-spray the muffin cavities again for the remaining batch.

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