We love all kinds of soups, but don’t always have broth on hand to make the base for a hearty one. Here’s a recipe that uses a can of soup from the grocery store shelf as the already flavored base, but becomes a filling meal for 3-4 when the other ingredients are added. The prep is simple – takes only ten minutes. Then depending on whether you have a cooked chicken on hand or uncooked chicken cutlets, use a crockpot or a large spaghetti pot, it will take anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours to cook.
Chin Bawambi, a previous contributor to our recipes and an enthusiastic cook, often uses a crockpot and this recipe was devised with that in mind. The Kerrian kitchen doesn’t have a crockpot, but we found that a spaghetti pot worked well for us. We just had to watch it and stir more frequently. He promises that no bodies wound up on the floor in his kitchen either, while he worked from home and created this delicious meal.
- One can tomato basil soup, Progresso
- 1/2 can Goya black beans (about one cup)
- 1 pound uncooked tenderloin chicken, cut into one inch chunks
- 1 teaspoon Montreal chicken seasoning
- 6 baby carrots, cut into one inch pieces (about one cup)
- 3 celery stalks, trimmed and diced, (about one cup)
- Use a crockpot.
- Pour tomato basil soup into the pot, then add black beans.
- Place the uncooked chicken chunks on top of the black beans.
- Sprinkle the Montreal chicken seasoning on top.
- Add carrots and celery and stir entire pot of ingredients until mixed.
- Cover and cook at medium high heat for first hour, then drop to low for another hour, stirring every 30 minutes.
- Celery and carrots should be fork tender when done.
- Serve with garlic bread.
- Variation: Chin reveals that the recipe also works well with beef as the meat ingredient.
If using a spaghetti pot on the stovetop, cover and cook on medium for the first half hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. For the rest of the time, drop the temperature to low and simmer until carrots and celery are tender, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
If using a cooked chicken, chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces, drop into the pot and mix with the other ingredients. Cook on medium heat until veggies are tender, about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
