Southwestern Chicken Barley Soup

Total Time Prep: 15 min. Cook: 1 hour
Yield 12 servings (3 quarts)
Test Kitchen Approved
Kell Ferell of Alamo, North Dakota drives 80 miles round-trip every day for her job, so she needs quick, healthy dishes to fix for her family. "This is a huge favorite," she pens. "If I don't have leftover chicken, I simply boil or poach some chicken breasts. I use the cooking liquid to replace part of the water in the recipe to add even more flavor."

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
  • 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup medium pearl barley
  • 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles, drained
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 3 cups cubed cooked chicken

Directions

  1. In a Dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the water, corn, beans, tomato sauce, tomatoes, broth, barley, chiles, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer after 45 minutes.
  2. Stir in chicken; cook, uncovered, 15 minutes longer or until chicken is heated through and barley is tender.

Nutrition Facts

1 cup: 187 calories, 4g fat (1g saturated fat), 31mg cholesterol, 582mg sodium, 21g carbohydrate (4g sugars, 5g fiber), 15g protein.

Kell Ferell of Alamo, North Dakota drives 80 miles round-trip every day for her job, so she needs quick, healthy dishes to fix for her family. "This is a huge favorite," she pens. "If I don't have leftover chicken, I simply boil or poach some chicken breasts. I use the cooking liquid to replace part of the water in the recipe to add even more flavor."
Recipe Creator

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