Hearty Barbecue Soup
 
 
THM:E, low fat, gluten/egg/dairy/nut free (use non-contaminated ingredients)
Author:
Serves: 15-18
Ingredients
  • 1 lg. onion (chopped)
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 29-oz. can tomato sauce
  • 3 c. water
  • 15.5-oz. can mild chili beans
  • -
  • 6-8 c. shredded cooked chicken breast
  • 2 15.5-oz. cans mild chili beans
  • 4 c. cooked brown rice (about 1½ c. dry rice)
  • 2 c. low-fat chicken broth
  • 1 c. frozen corn
  • 1 T. parsley flakes
  • 1 T. THM Super Sweet Blend
  • 1 T. prepared yellow mustard
  • 2 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. molasses
  • 1 tsp. liquid smoke
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. WATCH IT! This makes a lot of soup! I could barely fit it into a 6-qt. kettle, so if you have a bigger pot, you might want to use it so you don't have to stir as tentatively as I did.
  2. Dry sauté the onions and garlic in the kettle for just a bit to make them aromatic before adding the tomato sauce, water, and one can of chili beans. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth (or transfer to a regular blender to blend, then back to the kettle).
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer (uncovered) for 30 minutes to let the flavors settle out. Taste and add salt and/or more seasonings to taste.
  4. This makes a fairly thick, hearty soup, so feel free to thin it down a little with more chicken broth or water, especially when reheating. (The soup will thicken up after it sits in the fridge for awhile because of the beans and rice.)
Notes
Chili beans do contain a bit of sugar, but the ones we buy (from Aldi) have only 2g per serving, and you're not going to be eating nearly a serving in this soup so I look at it like the "1g sugar/serving condiment rule." The juice from the canned chili beans adds a lot of good flavor to this soup without having to get out half the spices in your cupboard, so keep that in mind if you omit them and use a different type of bean instead. I was going for quick and easy.
Corn is allowed in occasional small amounts in a THM:E setting for flavor. 1 cup is stretched over a huge pot of soup here, so you're only getting 1 T. or less per serving. I do like the little bit of sweetness it adds.
Molasses is allowed in small amounts (1/4 tsp. per serving) for flavor on the THM plan. Obviously one teaspoon is stretched over a lot of servings in this recipe.
Recipe by Briana Thomas at https://www.briana-thomas.com/hearty-barbecue-soup/