Go Back

Spanish Chicken, Chorizo and Rice Soup

Deborah
It contains our favourite Spanish flavours and is really warming and hearty.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Lunch, Soup, Starter
Cuisine Spanish
Servings 4 to 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 30g butter
  • 1 small onion 80g, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 medium red pepper 200g, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • 500ml water
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 100g white medium-grain rice I used basmati rice (see Notes)
  • 170g cooking chorizo sausage thinly sliced (see Notes)
  • 320g shredded skinless cooked chicken (see Notes)
  • 1 large avocado 320g, coarsely chopped, to serve (optional – see Notes)
  • 15g fresh coriander leaves to serve (optional – see Notes)
  • 2 limes halved, to serve (optional – see Notes)

Instructions
 

  • Melt the butter in a large soup or casserole pot (I used our 24 cm casserole) over a medium heat; cook the onion and garlic, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the onion softens. Add the pepper, oregano and spices; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until combined. Gradually stir in the stock, the water and tomatoes; bring to the boil, stirring. Stir in the rice; simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes (see Tips) or until rice is tender.
  • Meanwhile, heat a large oiled frying pan over a medium to high heat; cook the chorizo slices for 3 minutes or until browned. Drain on paper towel.
  • Add the chorizo and chicken to the soup; stir over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until hot. Season to taste.
  • Serve bowls of soup topped with avocado and coriander and accompany with lime halves (if using). We enjoyed ours with some baguette.

Notes

  • I used basmati rice and cooked it for 10 minutes at the end of step 1.
  • Cooking chorizo hasn’t been available in my local supermarket for quite a while now, so I used a cooked spicy chorizo sausage instead…it gave a lovely heat to the soup.
  • If you’ve got leftover chicken from a roast, that will work well, however poached skinless boneless breast or thighs are good too.  I used skinless boneless chicken thighs and before starting to make the soup I poached them in 500ml of chicken stock.   Season the chicken with salt and pepper then add to a saucepan on a high heat along with one chicken stock pot or cube and 500ml cold water.   When the water begins to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes (turning once, halfway through cooking).   Remove the chicken and set aside to cool on a plate before shredding to add at step 3 of the recipe.   Add the stock that the chicken was poached in to the other 500ml of stock, as 1 litre of stock is required for the soup.
  • The original recipe says to serve the soup with chopped avocado, fresh coriander leaves and fresh lime halves – I didn’t have any of these ingredients when making the soup for the first time, but decided to make it anyway…to be honest we didn’t miss them – the soup was delicious.
 
You might also like to try:
 
Keyword chicken, chorizo, red peppers, rice, sweet paprika