Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

January in Alabama is cold in the way Alabama is cold—not the serious cold of northern winters, not the cold that claims the sidewalks for months, but a cold that means business for three months and then is gone, the cold that makes cast iron soup a necessity rather than a choice, that makes the house want to smell like something slow-cooked all day. I have had a pot on the stove most days this week. Soup, mostly—different soups, the rotation that Bernice kept through January and February: navy beans one week, split pea the next, then chicken and rice, then vegetable beef, then back to navy beans. The soup rotation is one of the things I didn't know I'd inherited until I found myself making it without deciding to, just reaching for the split peas because it was that week in January.

Destiny and Travis are planning the wedding. Not a long engagement—they both know what they want and they are not people who wait once they've decided, which is consistent with everything I know about both of them—so the wedding will be in some form this year, probably in the fall, probably small because of the pandemic, probably with the best food that this family can produce, which is to say: better than anything available at a catered reception in Birmingham. There will be no caterer at Destiny's wedding. There will be Loretta and Sister Agnes and the New Hope AME kitchen running at full capacity, because Simms children do not have their wedding receptions catered by strangers when they have this kitchen and these hands.

I wrote a post this week about soup and January and the soup rotation. About the inherited knowledge that you don't know is inherited until you're doing it without being told. About the grandmother in the split peas. Bernice is in the split peas. She is in every pot I reach for without thinking, in every choice my hands make before my mind decides. She is here. She is the kitchen. She always will be.

The split pea soup is Bernice’s, fully and completely, and I make it the way she made it — no shortcuts, no substitutions, her pot and her timing. But the rotation needs a neighbor, something that can carry the same slow, all-day warmth when it’s that other week in January and the house still needs to smell like something good is coming. This slow cooker chicken enchilada soup has become that neighbor. I put it on in the morning the way Bernice put things on in the morning — without fuss, with confidence, knowing the house will be ready by the time it matters.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 6 hours | Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
Shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, for serving
Sour cream and fresh cilantro, optional for serving

Instructions

Layer the slow cooker. Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes with their juices, and green chiles.
Add the broth and seasonings. Pour the chicken broth over everything. Sprinkle the cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder evenly over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Give everything a gentle stir to combine.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–7 hours or on HIGH for 3–4 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and tender enough to shred easily.
Shred the chicken. Remove the chicken breasts to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir it back into the soup.
Taste and adjust. Taste the soup and add more salt, pepper, or chili powder as needed. Let it sit on WARM for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to settle together.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheese, a spoonful of sour cream, and fresh cilantro if using. Serve with warm corn tortillas or tortilla strips alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup — The Pot That Keeps the House Warm