Smoky Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup
A brothy, smoky tortilla soup with tender cubes of sweet potato, fire roasted tomato and chipotle, finished with lime and a shower of fried corn tortilla strips.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo minced, plus 1 teaspoon of the sauce
- 1 28-ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 15-ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups frozen corn
- 1 lime juiced, plus wedges to serve
For the Tortilla Strips
- 6 corn tortillas cut into ¼ inch strips
- ½ cup neutral oil for frying
- kosher salt for salting the strips hot
Toppings
- 1 avocado diced
- ½ cup cotija cheese crumbled
- ¼ red onion thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
Build the Broth
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and minced jalapeno with a pinch of salt and cook 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.
- Clear a space in the pot and add the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika and the minced chipotle peppers with their adobo sauce. Stir in the oil for a full minute, until the paste darkens from bright red to brick, then stir it through the onions.
- Pour in the crushed fire roasted tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pot. Add the broth and the kosher salt and bring it to a steady simmer.
Simmer and Finish
- Add the cubed sweet potato only once the liquid is simmering. Cook uncovered 12 to 15 minutes, testing at 12, until a knife slides in with slight resistance. Stir gently and rarely.
- Stir in the drained black beans and the frozen corn and cook 3 minutes, just to heat through.
- Take the pot off the heat, then stir in the lime juice and taste for salt. Adding lime off the burner keeps it bright.
Fry the Tortilla Strips
- Stack the corn tortillas, cut the stack in half, then cut across into ¼ inch ribbons.
- Heat the neutral oil in a small skillet until a test strip sizzles hard on contact. Fry the strips in two or three batches for 60 to 90 seconds, until the bubbling slows and they turn pale gold.
- Lift the strips onto paper towel and salt them immediately while the surface is still wet with oil. Serve the soup in bowls and add the strips at the table, with lime wedges and toppings.
Notes
- Brothy, not blended: nothing in this soup gets pureed. If the cubes break down and the broth clouds, you have overcooked it.
- Cut uniformly: ½ inch cubes, all the same size, or half will be mush before the rest is tender.
- Add potato to simmering liquid: starting from cold gives the cubes longer to break down at the edges.
- Lime off the heat: lime juice simmered in the pot turns dull and slightly bitter.
- Salt the strips hot: salt applied once they cool slides right off.
- Store strips separately: room temperature, loosely covered, 2 days. In the fridge they go limp.
- Chicken version: stir 2 cups shredded cooked chicken in with the beans and corn, use chicken broth, and start with 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Freezing: up to 3 months. Leave the avocado and strips off until serving.