Smoky Spicy Chicken Tomato "Bisque" Recipe

If you equate bisque with elegance, it's for good reason. Besides being made with either lobster or shrimp, a bisque follows a specific technique that results in rich, complex flavor and a glossy, creamy broth. Unlike, say, cream of mushroom soup, a bisque isn't just a roux. A bisque starts first with a homemade stock that's simmered with the shells of the crustacean the soup features. The homemade stock is added to a buttery roux, and it bubbles with herbs, aromatics, and softened veggies. The mixture is then blended and poured through a fine mesh strainer for a smooth, glossy, and creamy soup. Then, of course, the buttery lobster is added for an extra-elegant garnish.

Though they are made similarly and have a comparative creamy look, tomato soup and bisque aren't quite the same. A bisque will always contain shellfish — but that doesn't mean we can't take some liberties with the ingredients, anyway. In this recipe written with developer Michelle McGlinn, we use the traditional French techniques of making bisque to make a smoky, spicy chicken tomato soup. It's creamy, smooth, spicy, flavorful, and rich, featuring the meaty flavor of homemade chicken stock and the brightness of bell pepper. Topped with cilantro and tortilla strips, the flavor is reminiscent of your favorite creamy, cheesy enchiladas. A bisque you can enjoy with guacamole and chips? We like the sound of that.

The recipe begins with a chicken stock, for which you'll need chicken, celery, carrots, onion, and oregano. Bone-in chicken will deliver the biggest flavor, but you can use any type of chicken you have on hand (we also like breasts and legs). For the soup itself, you'll need a stick of butter, onion, garlic, red bell pepper, all-purpose flour, chipotle in adobo sauce, whole peeled tomatoes (or tomato sauce), salt, pepper, and heavy whipping cream.

Make the stock: Combine the chicken, celery, carrot, onion, and oregano in a large pot. Cover with 8 cups water.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is pull-apart tender, about 30 minutes. Do not boil.

Remove the chicken from the pot. Remove the skin, shred, and reserve the meat.

Strain the remaining stock through a fine mesh strainer, pressing down on the solids. Reserve the stock.

Make the bisque: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.

Add the diced onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the flour and stir until a paste forms. Do not burn.

Slowly whisk in the reserved chicken stock until no lumps remain.

Add the chipotle in adobo, tomatoes, salt, and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the heavy cream and transfer the soup to a blender, working in batches, as needed. Cover the blender opening with a towel and blend until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender.

Pour the blended soup through a chinois strainer into a pot, using a ladle to push the soup through.

Return the shredded chicken to the soup to warm it through.

To serve, garnish with cilantro and tortilla strips, if desired.

Part of what makes a bisque unique is its use of homemade stock. Some recipes will even blend the shrimp shells into the soup for more flavor –- though, we don't recommend following this technique with chicken. If you have the time, you can simmer the stock for as long as 3 hours for a deeper flavor, skimming any fat off the top as it cooks. If you have the opposite problem — too little time — you can also shortcut it.

To shortcut this bisque, you can simply skip making the stock and use store-bought stock. Of course, this means you won't have the shredded chicken ready to add to the bisque. Instead of cooking the chicken in a stock, you can roast it in the oven at 425 F for 20 minutes. To do this, coat the chicken in oil, salt, and pepper, then roast in a baking dish until tender. Do this while the soup is cooking (around the same time as the 20 minute simmer), then shred the chicken and add it to the soup at the very end. You could even grill the chicken for extra-smoky flavor, or coat it in extra adobo sauce before roasting.

A chinois is a specific kind of strainer that is tapered downwards into a cone shape. It's used for soups, sauces, stocks, and even baked goods like lemon curd and lemon bars. While home cooks tend to opt for colanders instead of the awkwardly shaped French strainer, the cone shape is useful in the kitchen and can be used for all of the same purposes (and then some), most importantly bisque, which needs the fine strain and benefits from the conical shape.

Though useful, you don't necessarily need a chinois to make bisque, but you will need a fine mesh strainer. After blending, the soup will have small particles, some as small as the holes in a plastic colander. While it's totally fine to serve your soup this way, if you want the bisque to be completely smooth, you will need to use a fine strainer. One difference you might notice between a chinois and a fine mesh strainer, though: The soup may not be as glossy. That's because a chinois is able to filter the granular particles that the blender left behind, resulting in a super-smooth soup. For next-level soup, buy the chinois; we like the New Star Reinforced Bullion Strainer.