Finally, another soup post! If you missed the soup recipe that I made earlier this month, you may not know that this month’s Love bloghop theme is #souplove. This means that I’ll be sharing a few soup recipes throughout the month of February, including this incredibly flavorful one, right here. I’m pretty excited about it, I must say; enough to have run to Sprout’s to grab some ground cumin in the middle of making it! I mean, who runs out of Cumin? Clearly, that person is me, so I bought a bigger jar this time. 
In case you were wondering, it was SO worth it.
Way back in my freshman year of high school, I used to hang out in a little shopping center across from school with a group of punker kids after class was out. I basically had four options of places to eat at, mind you this was pre-veganism, there was Subway, a Donut Shop, a Mexican Food place and a Pizza spot. For the longest time I would always get the cheese enchiladas from the Mexican restaurant; cheese wrapped in a tortilla, topped with cheese and red sauce. Looking back at it, I cringe thinking of all of the greasy dairy in that thing. So, I set out to replace that memory with a lighter, more awesome spin on an enchilada.
The soup has a smooth tomato base, dotted with onions, corn, black beans and spinach. While the spices fill it with flavor, the tortilla strips add a different texture, and then there’s the creamy tomatillo avocado sauce on top. DELISH! Squeeze a little lime over it and garnish with cilantro and some baked tortilla strips to perfect the dish.
One Year Ago: Vegan Dessert & Beer Pairings
Two Years Ago: Spicy Tomato Cabbage Soup (Two years, say what?!)
Loaded Enchilada Soup
| Serves | 6 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 20 minutes |
| Total time | 50 minutes |
| Dietary | Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Main Dish, Soup |
| Misc | Freezable, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot |
| Region | Mexican |
Ingredients
Soup
- 3 Dried Ancho Chili Peppers
- 4 cups Water
- 2- 28oz Can of Whole-Peeled Tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 1 cup White Onion (Diced)
- 2 Cloves of Garlic (Minced)
- 1 cup Frozen Yellow Corn
- 1-15oz Can Black Beans (Rinsed and Drained)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- 2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- Salt to Taste
- 2 cups Baby Spinach
- 4 Small Corn Tortillas (Sliced into 1/2)
Sauce
- 1 1/2 cup Tomatillos (Chopped)
- 2/3 cups Avocado (Mashed)
- 1/3 cup Fresh Cilantro (Loosely Packed)
- 2 teaspoons Fresh Lime Juice
- 1/3 teaspoon Garlic Salt (or to taste)
Garnish
- 1 Lime (Sliced into wedges)
- Cilantro
- 1 Small Corn Tortilla (Sliced into 1/4)
Directions
| Soup | |
| Step 1 | Fill a small pot with the water and heat it to a boil, on your stove. Add the dried Ancho chili peppers to the water and cook until soft. |
| Step 2 | Save 1/3 cup of the reconstituting water and place it into a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic in, and saute until the onions are clear. |
| Step 3 | Puree the ancho peppers, whole-peeled tomatoes, and tomato paste together, in a blender until completely smooth. |
| Step 4 | Add the corn and black beans to the sauteed onions, and cook until the corn is no longer frozen. Pour the tomato mixture into the pot and bring to a simmer. |
| Step 5 | Stir in the chili powder, cumin, cocoa, cayenne and salt. Then fold in the spinach. Cook the soup until the spinach has become limp and has reduced in size. |
| Step 6 | Add the tortilla strips to the soup approx. 10 minutes before serving. |
| Sauce | |
| Step 7 | For the sauce, puree the tomatillos, avocado, cilantro, lime juice and garlic salt together until very smooth. You can either place a dollop of it on top of each bowl of soup, or put it in a squirt bottle for design making. ;) |
| Garnish | |
| Step 8 | Toast the tortilla strips in an oven or toaster oven until crispy and slightly golden. I broke them in half and put a couple of pieces on each bowl, along with a few leaves of cilantro and a lime wedge. |
You could also top this soup with some vegan cheese for a little added salt and texture; maybe next time I’ll do that and bring this a little closer to the enchiladas of my past. 
Check out some of the #souplove posts from other bloggers while you’re at it! 
Ooh, this sounds wonderful! I used to love tortilla soup in my pre-vegan days, but I’d kind of forgotten about it. The tomatillo sauce is such a nice addition!
I’d actually never used tomatillos before this, so it was pretty fun! I love how refreshing they are.
During high school, I ate a ridiculous amount of Taco Bell. I shudder at the thought of all the crap I ate on a daily basis back then!
This soup is totally calling my name! The cocoa powder is a really great idea too.
Oh gosh, so did I! Way too many chalupas, ugh.
The cocoa powder is pretty subtle, but I think it definitely changes the flavor just enough. I’m a fan!
This looks really good. I love enchilada soup, especially when it is “loaded”
I’m pretty sure that everything is better loaded! Well, certain exceptions to that rule, ha ha!
I used to love the bean burritos from Taco Bell, it was often a late night snack! This soup looks killer. I’ve got a mushroom soup to post this month that I hope to add to the blog hop.
That would be awesome! I can’t wait to see it, I love mushrooms.
This sounds so yummy Jackie! And I love adding cocoa to Mexican dishes, so nice! Thanks for such a great recipe!