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Fiesta Chicken Chowder

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Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder has great flavor and is hearty enough for a meal.

Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder has great flavor and is hearty enough to serve as a complete meal.

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A couple weeks ago I shared my recipe for Dirt Pudding and all about a tour of our farm I had with Step from Indy Homeschool and her boys. Well I got to meet back up with them again but this time we went to the grocery store with Kim a Dietitian thanks to Indiana’s Family of Farmers. Our mission was to shop for the ingredients for one meal at three different grocery stores. Sounds simple right?

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I think I am a pretty good shopper. I grew up going shopping with my mom. I joke with her often that she taught me not to buy anything that isn’t on sale but, if it is on sale AND you have a coupon buy one in every color! 😉 I try to watch prices, buy things when they are on sale but let’s be honest, if I have both the boys with me my goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible and with as few casualties as possible.

We shopped at Kroger, Walmart and Fresh Thyme Market for the ingredients for Fiesta Chicken Chowder.

Walmart and Kroger were very similar and both have multiple options for each ingredient including multiple brand names and generic options. We learned that a lot of times the generic and the brand name product were processed in the same location. This is true for milk, you can learn more about where you can find out where your milk is from in this post.

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But, as with everything there can be some differences. Something that I learned with this recipe is that not all fajita seasoning is created equal. The level of spiciness was different with all three packages. Buying generic is often cheaper but we also saw that if you shop the sales the brand name can often be the same price. Which was good to see because there are a couple food items that I always buy the brand version of because I like the taste better.

I had never been to Fresh Thyme Market but I had often thumbed through their ad. They had great deals on produce but I happened to notice the size of their produce was much smaller than either of the other stores. I wouldn’t have noticed this if we hadn’t of shopped at all three in one day.

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Fresh Thyme lime on the left Walmart lime on the right.

They also had other sale items that were great prices but did not have the selection that either of the other stores did. What they did have was a great selection of bulk items including spices and specialty items. I wouldn’t recommend buying what I would call pantry staples there because the prices were a lot higher.

So how did the stores compare price wise?

*I should also note that I wasn’t able to buy all of the ingredients at Fresh Thyme market.

Fresh Thyme Market: $16.97*

Kroger: $12.01

Walmart: $11.79

I did not include oil and flour in my shopping list because those are both items that I would have on hand and the amount is so small that I didn’t feel it was necessary. I however did include the price for the whole package of rice but the recipe only used 1/3 cup so there is plenty of rice leftover. I fell that this kind of makes up for the price of the flour and oil.

I was surprised how close the prices were between Walmart and Kroger. Those are the two closest stores to me and the two stores I shop at the most.

Fiesta Chicken Chowder

Kim the Dietitian was great about pointing out the pros and cons to this recipe. Pros being it includes vegetables, dairy, protein and whole grains. Cons being that this recipe is most likely high in sodium. So if you are watching your sodium she suggested to make your own fajita seasoning mix and limit the salt.

Here is the Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup in case you haven’t ever seen it before. Note this is sold as a case so don’t purchase unless you need a case. Just wanted to provide a link to a picture in case you aren’t familiar with it.

For the most part this recipe is a dump and go one. I haven’t ever not cooked the chicken first so I do not know how that would turn out. And I always use brown rice so I am not sure if white rice would cook in the same amount of time or not.

This recipe was adapted from Taste of Home’s Fiesta Chicken Chowder.

Start by sauteing the chicken. Add the onion and garlic.

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Mix the soup and water until blended and then add all the remaining ingredients, except the cilantro.

Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder has great flavor and is hearty enough to be served as a complete meal.

Cover and cook in slow cooker on high for 4 hours.

Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder has great flavor and is hearty enough to be served as a complete meal.

It makes about 10 servings which is enough for 2-3 meals for us.

Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder has great flavor and is hearty enough to serve as a complete meal.
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Fiesta Chicken Chowder

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 envelope fajita seasoning
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 can 15 ounces black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can 14-1/2 ounces Mexican stewed tomatoes, do not drain
  • 1 can 11 ounces Mexicorn, drained
  • 1/3 cup uncooked brown rice
  • 1 can 4 ounces chopped green chilies
  • 1 can 11 ounces) condensed nacho cheese soup undiluted
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice

Instructions

  • In a large plastic bag, combine flour and fajita seasoning; add chicken. Seal bag and shake to coat.
  • In a large saucepan, saute chicken in oil until no longer pink.
  • Add the onion and saute until onion is tender; add garlic, cook 1 minute longer.
  • Add water and soup to a 5-6 qt. slow cooker stir until blended.
  • Add chicken mixture and all remaining ingredients (except cilantro) to slow cooker.
  • Cook for 4 hours on high.
  • Garnish with cilantro

So good! Are you looking for a great slow cooker soup recipe? This Fiesta Chicken Chowder recipe has great flavor and is hearty enough to serve as a meal.

 

Affiliate links were used in this post

Indiana’s Family of Farmers sponsored this post but all opinions are my own.

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