Sydney Eaton
- Jun 28, 2019
- 4 min read

Healthy Paleo Chicken Enchilada Soup

This Healthy Paleo Chicken Enchilada soup is a quick and easy meal that will make not only a delicious dinner but amazing leftovers too! Not only is it bursting with perfect flavor, it’s also one of my favorite easy, healthy/clean meals. This soup is even packed with nutrients to help boost your immune system!

It contains garlic, popular not only for its flavor but also for it’s affects on the immune system. Garlic has been proven to lower probability of getting a cold by up to 63% and can reduce the length of a cold by up to 70%. The onions are an amazing antioxidant which reduces inflammation and can act as an antihistamine. It is also is packed with carrots and sweet potatoes which are great sources of Vitamin A and Vitamin C, both important for the maintenance of the immune system. Spinach is a yummy leafy green superfood, bursting with vitamins, and minerals. Finally, the chicken contains cysteine, an amino acid that may help thin mucus in the lungs. Plus the chicken is packed with protein to fuel your body and give you some energy and strength. Amazing right?!

All that said, this Healthy Paleo Chicken Enchilada Soup is nothing short of a miracle, and a yummy staple you need in your recipe book! Follow along with the photos for additional tips and tricks, or see the full recipe at the bottom of the page.

Start off by peeling your carrots and sweet potatoes, and cubing. As well as peeling and chopping the white onion, and peeling and mincing garlic.

To make your life simple, many grocery stores sell sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions peeled, chopped, and ready to go for dishes and soups just like these! I highly recommend going for these options, as doing so can cut your prep time to pretty much just throwing everything in the pot! Although, with the garlic, I recommend choosing fresh garlic as many of the nutrients and flavor can be lost in the preservation process of jarred garlic. The best bet for both flavor and least amount of work is the garlic you can buy in pre-peeled packs. This way literally your one job is to mince garlic. Easy enough!

Throw olive oil, onion, and garlic, in a pot on high heat. Stir and brown for 1-2 minutes. You’ll want the contents of this step to be about this color above when you start adding everything else into the pot. No need to fully brown, as they will also cook in the soup for an hour!

Add everything else but the spinach into the pot. This includes: chopped sweet potatoes and carrots, whole chicken breasts, chicken broth, and green salsa. Set the timer, and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to keep the soup at a simmer.

A note on chicken broth- chicken broth can not only be high in sodium, but often have added sugars. Many people aren’t even thinking about sugar in chicken broth, but it can be there. Check the contents of your chicken broth to make sure there’s no added sugars, and while you’re at it, go for the reduced sodium option if it’s available. However, if you are sick, the regular sodium chicken broth might have added benefit to you. Salty chicken soup can have the same effect of gargling warm salt water- removing bacteria from the mouth, and throat, and providing some relief.

After 50 minutes remove chicken, and shred! Also, remove 1 cup of vegetables with a slotted spoon and blend with a handheld blender, single serving blender, or regular blender. This should be no issue for whatever blender you have as the vegetables should be fully cooked. This step of blending the vegetables isn’t necessary, but it does add a thickness to the soup that’s really nice.

Once all is blended and shredded, add back to the pot. Throw your 2 cups of spinach into the pot. Simmer the soup for 10 more minutes.

If you want toppings on your soup this is a perfect time to prepare them! I highly recommend avocado, as it’s a creamy topping that’s a great healthy replacement for sour cream or cheese that are really popular on enchilada soups. Plus avocados are packed with healthy fats which are amazing for your brain, your heart, and cell function!

After testing out this soup on my parents, they were raving about the green onions. They loved how their flavor mixed with the sweetness of the sweet potato and the spice from the green salsa. And of course, lime and cilantro are 2 of my favorite staples when it comes to Mexican themed foods. You really can’t go wrong! We also ate our soup with the Sea Salt Multigrain chips by Late July- some of my favorites! Super yummy to get some of the chicken and veggies on a wholegrain chip.

When I’m in the mood for a splurge I’ll add some cheese or light sour cream. (And all the paleo people gasped). Yes, these additions are not paleo, but I don’t always cook this soup because it’s healthy, and paleo. Sometimes I just make this soup as a treat- because it’s that dang good! Yum, yum, yum now I’m in the mood to make this all over again!