Chicken Tortilla Soup - Max and Erma's Copycat

ACTanksley's Note:

This is an excellent copy cat recipe of the soup that is served at Max and Erma's restaurant food chain. This is my Dh's favorite soup. The cilantro is optional I make it without it. This recipe makes a lot and is wonderful as leftovers. Next time I'm going to half the recipe as it's only the two of us.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 8 mins
• Prep Time: 8 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 (15 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cream of celery soup
• 2 (15 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cheddar cheese soup
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 4 1/2 ounces green chilies
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 medium onion
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (to taste)
• salt and pepper
• 4 chicken breasts
• 8 ounces tortillas
• vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a large pot mix all soups until they appear to be somewhat smooth and well mixed.
2. Then add the remainder of the ingredients to the salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a full boil and reducing heat to simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally.
3. While the soup is simmering cut the four chicken breasts in to small chunks. Cook them in a separate pan. Once the soup has simmered for an hour add the pieces of the cooked chicken to the soup. Let the soup remain on simmer for another hour. (This is a good time to see if you need to add more chili powder). Continue to stir the soup making sure nothing sits at that bottom of the pan for a long period of time.
4. While the soup cooks the last hour, cut however many tortillas you want into thin slices. Take about 1/3 of them and throw them into the soup and allow them to cook with the soup. The remaining you can lightly fry in the oil until they are golden to place on top of the soup when it's done.
5. Enjoy.

Reviews

[Laura in Normal]

great recipe! I am from the Chicago area, and love Max and Ermas, but hardly ever make the trip up there to have it. I made this soup for a potluck, and while I was weirded out by all of the canned soup, the end result tasted amazing!

[Chef #1131537]

I have been ordering this soup at Max and Erma's for over 5 years, and this recipe is dead-on for the real thing! My family loves it. It freezes well, too, for a quick meal after work.

[sun33082]

This was very good! I've only had max and erma's soup twice but loved it both times. I just can't remember it enough to know if it's a good copycat or not. But like i said, the soup is very good! The creator of this recipe needs to update the nutrition info though because I halved the recipe and I would say that alone would make 6 servings. I came up with each serving having around 400 calories. Definitely not 1319.