Art's Tavern chicken jalapeño soup
I grew up eating at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor but moved away many years ago so attempted to recreate the delightful chicken jalapeño soup they serve on Wednesdays. Result: spicier than what they serve in Northern Michigan. Also delicious.
You'll be eating in: 45 minutes
Active time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded into bite size pieces
- 2tablespoons butter
- 2tablespoons flour
- 1onion, diced
- 1medium carrot, diced
- 2stalks celery, diced
- 3cloves garlic, minced
- 2jalapeños, sliced (use fewer and/or remove seeds for less heat)
- 2russet potatoes, diced into 1/2" pieces
- 4cups chicken stock
- 1/4cup cilantro stems, minced (optional)
- 1cup heavy cream
- salt to taste (start with 1 teaspoon - this depends on your taste, your salt, and how salty your stock already is)
- freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
Dice your chicken and vegetables - you don't have to be exact with any of these measurements. I like to have about the same amount of onion as carrot/celery combined. Potatoes keep well submerged in cold water if you're not going to make the soup right away.
Saute the vegetables
In a medium-large dutch oven or pot (4qt+), saute the onion, carrot, celery, and jalapeño in 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat until soft, about 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add in 3 cloves minced garlic and saute for 1 minute longer, careful not to burn the garlic. Mix in 2 tablespoons flour, coating the vegetables and mixing until no more raw flour is visible. The less time you cook the flour at this step the more thickening power the flour will have.
Cook the potatoes
Pour in 4 cups stock and add in the diced potatoes. Add additional liquid (water or stock) if needed to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fully cooked.
Make it creamy
Slightly mash the soup with a wooden spoon/potato masher or use an immersion blender to partially blend the ingredients, this helps achieve a creamy texture without adding too much additional cream. Slowly pour in 1 cup heavy cream, stirring constantly to help emulsify.
Add the chicken
Add in the diced chicken and cook for another 5 minutes to warm everything up.
Serve
Top with additional jalapeno and scallion and enjoy!
Notes
This is my interpretation of the Art's soup -- not Tim's recipe or an exact copy -- but I do hope it satiates your cravings.
Variations
For a vegetarian version, try a spicy potato and wild rice soup.
Substitutions
Jalapeños: This soup is spicy so be conservative with your jalapeños in the beginning, you can always add more spice later but you can't take it away. The cream also helps mellow the spice, so don't be too worried if you taste the broth before you add the cream.
Potatoes: You can easily substitute Yukon Gold potatoes for Russet.
Flour: I don't recommend leaving out the flour, it helps thicken the soup and deliver the right consistency. I haven't tested this recipe with other thickeners, but you could try corn starch/potato startch/tapioca starch for something gluten free.
Milk: You could try substituting half and half or regular milk for the heavy cream, but those are lower in fat so it won't add as much richness.
Storage
Keep in the fridge and eat within 5 days. Creamy soups don't freeze well: the dairy will separate from the rest of the broth. If you want to make a big batch and freeze some, I would freeze it before you add the cream and then add additional cream when you reheat it.