Spicy Chicken and Cabbage Soup

What Makes This Soup So Interesting?

This spicy Chicken and Cabbage soup is loaded with so many vegetables, it will remind you of grandma’s. Almost. Adding roasted chile peppers brings some spicy excitement to this classic comfort food.

This recipe is easy enough for a beginning cook and interesting enough for the gourmet home cook. It’s a healthy soup for anyone looking for some jazzed-up clean eating healthy dinners.

Flavor Profile and Benefits

• Comfort Food: Just one bite is all it takes to remind you of why a chicken soup is one of the most comforting soups one can make. We’ll sear the chicken first to create Maillard Reaction. It’s that crusty, toasty flavor that elevates anything from steaks to a simple slice of toasted bread.
• Rich Broth: An easy rich flavored broth is made by simply simmering purchased chicken broth with Mexican oregano, bay leaves and Chinese Mustard.
• Spicy Heat: No boring chicken cabbage soup here. New Mexico green chile peppers bring some heat along with a surprise unique hot flavor using Chinese Hot Mustard.
• Healthy Veggies: Chock full of healthy vegetables and hearty with cubed potatoes.
• Why Cabbage In Soup? It’s hearty texture adds bulk, it’s low in calories, impressive with nutrients, and budget friendly, it’s a perfect addition to brothy soups.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Broth: We’ll make a deep flavored base for this soup using chicken broth, Mexican oregano, bay leaves and Chinese mustard for some pungent, spicy heat.
• Chicken Breast: Seared golden for Maillard reaction flavor, then cubed and added to the soup.
• Cabbage: Regular green cabbage sliced thin or chopped.
• Starchy Vegetables: Cubed potatoes make this a hearty soup and corn brings a Southwestern feel. Use a russet potato, or Yukon Gold. Yukon gold potatoes don’t need to be peeled, bringing more vitamins, minerals and fiber.
• Chile Peppers: I used roasted Hatch Chile Peppers with a medium heat level.
• Basic Soup Veggies: Onions, carrots, bell pepper and garlic are basic soup ingredients, somewhat of a Mirepoix.

Ingredient Variations

• Chile Peppers: You can control the heat of this soup by using roasted Poblano Peppers, which can be milder than New Mexico Hatch chile peppers. The beauty of cooking with chile peppers, is that you can choose mild, medium and hot chile peppers to customize to your heat tolerance.
• Chinese Mustard: Please don’t skip using this, as it brings a unique zingy flavor of heat. You can substitute with Chinese mustard powder, or even regular mustard powder. All of these options have an interesting heat element.
• Cabbage: I used regular green cabbage, but feel free to use Napa Cabbage or Savoy Cabbage. They’ll work well in this soup.
• Pro Tip: Corn: When shopping for this recipe, I had planned to pick up a bag of regular frozen sweet corn. Frozen corn, rather than canned corn, is packaged at the peak of freshness. However, I found a package of Birds’s Eye Fire Roasted corn. I think it’s smoky flavor is a perfect choice for this soup if you can find it. You can also use canned corn.
• Chicken: Swap out cooked chicken for cooked turkey. A great way to use up left over Thanksgiving turkey. Ground chicken or ground turkey also works well here.

Step by Step Instructions – It’s Easy

1. Step 1: Heat two tablespoons of neutral oil in a heavy skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Sear the chicken breasts until golden on each side.
2. Step 2: Remove to a plate, let cool, then cut across the grain and then into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

3. Step 3: Add the 8 cups of chicken broth to a large soup pot. Add Mexican oregano, bay leaves, and the Chinese mustard. Let the broth simmer over very low heat, uncovered for 30 minutes
4. Step 4: Add another two tablespoons oil to the fry pan and add the chopped onion, bell pepper and carrot. Saute, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant: 30 seconds to one minute.

5. Step 5: Add the potatoes and cook, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes.
6. Step 6: Add the vegetables, chicken, corn, chopped roasted chile peppers and cabbage to the broth. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

7. Step 7: To serve, ladle some soup into your favorite soup bowls. I prefer shallow white bowls for presentation. The vegetables stay visible and don’t sink to the bottom. Add some grated cheese to the top, chopped cilantro and serve with tortilla chips for crushing. Offering a squeeze of lime will brighten the flavors.

Serving Suggestions and Pairings

• Sides: For a heartier meal, serve this soup over white oven rice. A loaf of crusty bread is always welcome. A small bowl of Mexican Pickled Red Onions would be a nice treat.
• Wine: Serve an off dry white wine like Riesling. A Pinot Noir won’t clash with the spice and a peppery, rich, fruity Zinfandel will match the bold flavor of this soup.

Storage and Reheating

• Refrigerator: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• Freezer: I’m not a fan of freezing these types of soups because it will compromise the texture of the vegetables and especially the cabbage. I have frozen cabbage style soups and am simply not pleased with the soup once it’s thawed and reheated.
• Reheating: Reheat individual servings in the microwave. The 50% power feature is your best friend. Place soup in a microwave safe bowl. For a gentle, no-splatter method, reheat in 30 second increments at 50% power until hot. You can also reheat in a sauce pan, over low heat on the stovetop.

More Spicy Chicken Soups

I consider soups to be my specialty, so don’t miss my soup category. You’ll find lots of recipes, including one of the most popular on my site for Taco Soup. Let your can opener do the work for the 7-can easy recipe that will feed that hungry family and with lots of leftovers.