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This roasted tomatillo chicken soup with roasted tomatillos, poblano peppers, jalapeño, and aromatics, slow cooked with bone-in chicken breast, and creamy white beans. This tomatillo white bean chicken soup is packed with flavor and the perfect hearty soup.
What are tomatillos?
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What are tomatillos? Tomatillo’s are Mexican husked tomatoes, bright green in color. Tomatillo’s are less sweet than regular tomatoes, but more acidic. To prep tomatillos, peel the husk off and discard, there will be a sticky film on the tomatillo, just rinse under water to remove. You can sauté, grill, or roast them which will bring out their delicious flavors and mellow the acidity.
Peppers
What type of peppers are used? The peppers will be the base of the tomatillo chicken soup. Whole poblanos, your peeled tomatillos, a jalapeño, yellow onion, and garlic. Roasting these ingredients bring so much flavor out of them and gives them a smokey flavor note. Because garlic roasts quickly, leave them off until halfway through.
How-to roast peppers
- Broil peppers, tomatillos, and onions on high for 10 minutes (flipping halfway through) or until well charred.
- Cover the pan with foil and allow to steam for 5 minutes. This makes it easier to peel the skin off the poblano peppers.
- Peel all the skin off the poblano peppers and discard.
- Remove the seeds and stem from the poblano pepper and jalapeño and also discard.
Making roasted tomatillo pepper sauce
Add the roasted tomatillos, poblano peppers, jalapeño, onion, and garlic into a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute until fully smooth.
Chicken
What kind of chicken to use? For this recipe I used bone-in chicken breast. The chicken is going to cook in the soup, prior to removing and shredding. The bone gives the soup an extra rich depth of flavor. You can also use boneless chicken breast or even thighs, use what you have on hand.
Starting the base of the soup
- In a dutch oven or soup pot add in avocado oil, chili powder, smoked paprika, ground cumin, kosher salt, and black pepper. Stir and allow spices to bloom for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Next, add in the blended roasted tomatillo sauce
- Stir to combine with spices
- Pour in chicken broth and allow to come to a boil. Once boiling, add in the bone-in chicken breast and cover. Allow chicken to boil for about 20 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken is 165F. Time will be dependent on thickness of chicken and if you’re using a bone-in (will take longer to cook than boneless).
Beans
A great way to add creaminess and thickness to a soup is to add blended beans. I use cannellini beans because they are buttery smooth and creamy, so they are perfect for blending. I add 1/3 cup of broth from the soup to help blend the beans smooth. Set aside, the blended beans will be added once the chicken is done.
Shredding chicken
As mentioned before, you want the thickest part of the chicken breast to register 165F on a thermometer. I shred my chicken breast with two forks, but everyone has their own preferred method. Discard the bone.
Finishing the soup
To finish the roasted tomatillo chicken soup, add in the shredded chicken, blended beans, two cans of cannellini beans, and chopped cilantro. Stir and allow flavors to meld for 5 minutes and beans are warmed through.
Cilantro: Not a fan of cilantro? you can easily substitute flat leaf parsley in this recipe.
How to serve roasted tomatillo chicken soup
This tomatillo chicken soup is amazing on it’s own, but the toppings are what make this soup a home run. Crumbled cotija cheese, fresh diced avocado, fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of lime finish this soup off. Make sure not to skip them!
Storing and reheating the soup
- Storing: To store this soup, store separate from toppings, in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Keep in refrigerator for 4 days.
- Freezing: To freeze, allow soup to fully cool, and transfer into freezer safe container or ziplock (and store flat).
- Reheating: To reheat from refrigerator, use microwave until warmed through or warm through on stovetop. To reheat from freezer, allow to defrost in refrigerator, then warm via microwave or stovetop.
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Roasted Tomatillo Chicken Soup
Ingredients
Soup Ingredients
- 6 tomatillos (husk removed, rinsed under cold water)
- 2 poblano peppers
- 1 small yellow onion (peeled and quartered)
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1.5 quarts low sodium chicken broth
- 2 pounds bone-in chicken breast (or 1.5lb boneless)
- 3 cans cannellini beans (drained and rinsed, (set 1 can aside))
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Soup Garnish
- Crumbled cotija cheese
- Diced avocado
- Cilantro
- Lime wedges
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Equipment
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Instructions
- Turn oven broiler on. Line a quarter baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and place poblano peppers, peeled tomatillos, jalapeño, and quartered onion on sheet with space in between. Broil for 5 minutes, then flip ingredients oven and add garlic coves. Broil an additional 5 minutes until peppers are charred.
- Remove from oven and cover with foil to steam for 5 minutes. Remove foil and peel poblano peppers, discard skin. Remove stem and seeds from poblanos and jalapeño, discard.
- Add roasted elements into a blender and blend on high for a minute until smooth. Set aside.
- In a dutch oven or soup pot, over medium heat, add in avocado oil. Add cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir and allow spices to bloom for 1 minute.
- Pour in the roasted tomatillo sauce and stir to combine with spices. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Use a measuring cup and remove 1/3 cup of soup liquid.
- Once boiling, add in whole bone-in chicken breasts and cover. Cook for 20 minutes or until internal temperature of thickest part of chicken reaches 165F.. Time will be dependent on thickness of chicken and if you're using a bone-in (will take longer to cook than boneless).
- While the chicken is cooking, we are going to blend 1 can of the cannellini beans. Drain/rinse beans and add them to a cup or bowl. Pour in 1/3 cup of reserved soup liquid and blend with an immersion blender till beans are smoooth. Set aside.
- Once chicken is fully cooked through, remove and shred on a cutting board, discarding the bone. Lower the heat to simmer, return chicken into the soup, add blended beans, as well as the 2 cans of whole beans, and chopped cilantro.
- Stir to combine all the elements and allow flavors to meld/beans to heat through for 5 minutes.
- Serve with crumbled cotija cheese, fresh diced avocado, fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of lime finish the soup off. Enjoy!
Notes
Tomatillos
- To prep tomatillos, peel the husk off and discard, there will be a sticky film on the tomatillo, just rinse under water to remove.
Chicken
- For this recipe I used bone-in chicken breast. The bone gives the soup an extra rich depth of flavor. You can also use boneless chicken breast or even thighs, use what you have on hand.
- I shred my chicken breast with two forks, but everyone has their own preferred method.
Beans
- I use cannellini beans because they are buttery smooth and creamy, so they are perfect for blending. You can also substitute northern beans.
Cilantro
- Not a fan of cilantro? you can easily substitute flat leaf parsley in this recipe.
Storing/Freezing/Reheating
- Storing: To store this soup, store separate from toppings, in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Keep in refrigerator for 4 days.
- Freezing: To freeze, allow soup to fully cool, and transfer into freezer safe container or ziplock (and store flat).
- Reheating: To reheat from refrigerator, use microwave until warmed through or warm through on stovetop. To reheat from freezer, allow to defrost in refrigerator, then warm via microwave or stovetop.
Made it today for the first time and definitely making it again. Family loved it especially since it’s so cold outside. Perfect comfort soup.
My last review should have been 5 stars!
Made for first time today and my house smelled amazing and it tasted even better.
Will be in the rotation this winter.
Delicious! Warming and filling. Great alternative to chili on these cool autumn days and nights! I bumped up the smoked paprika, cumin and chili powder to 1/2 tablespoon for more flavor. Just a little heat from the jalapeno. Yum!
This is the BEST recipe!! We used leftover roasted pork, delicious! Added to our rotation!
This is one of my absolute favorite recipes now!! I have made it so many times now, at least once a month, that I can pretty much just make it without even referring to the recipe, which is huge for me! Loveeee this recipe and have shared it with so many people. A must try!
This was so good! Very creamy. The only change I made was using Anaheim peppers because that is what we had in our garden. I would (and will) definitely make this again!
Can you use pork fir this recip?
Hi Vicki, I have not used pork in this recipe myself but I do think it would pair well with the flavors. Pork does have a different temperature to doneness than chicken, so just keep that in mind. Pork is cooked better low and slow, so it remains tender not tough.
We used leftover roasted pork – diced up up, it is delicious!