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This Mexican Chicken Soup is super easy to make, healthy, and packed with flavor. It’s my go to soup when I think I might be coming down with something. The heat from the chilies and the freshness of the lime juice always leave me feeling refreshed. I whipped up a batch last night in hopes of warding off bug that seems to be circulating at my office this week. Plus, with a coronavirus pandemic looming on the horizon, I think we should all stay home and snuggle up with movies and chicken soup.
Looking for more chicken soups and stew? Try my chicken tarragon stew or week-night chicken and lentil stew.
Notes on Mexican Chicken Soup
This soup is so easy to make. You basically put all the ingredients in a pot (including the whole chicken) and walk away for an hour. Then all you have to do is shred the chicken and garnish the soup with lime juice, avocado, cilantro and tortilla.
I recommend using an organic free range chicken for this recipe to enhance the flavor. I also like using rainbow carrots to add color.
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Mexican Chicken Soup
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
This soup has great flavor. The lime juice pairs really well with the chicken broth. It is very refreshing.
Ingredients
Soup Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped into eighths
- ½ small bunch cilantro, chopped (reserve other half for garnish)
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 1 cinamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 3 dried chili de arbol, stems removed
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 whole chicken (3 to 3.5 lbs)
- 10 cups water
Garnish Ingredients
- juice of 3 limes
- 1 lime cut into wedges for garnish
- remaining ½ cilantro bunch, chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped
- Tortilla chips or homemade tortilla strips (optional)*
Instructions
- Put all soup ingredients in a large soup pot or dutch over. Turn burner to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer partially covered for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and use tongs to turn bird (if it was not fully submerged). Simmer another 30 minutes.
- Transfer chicken to cutting board. After it has cooled, shred the meat and discard skin and bones. Return shredded chicken to pot (you may want to skim a bit of fat of the surface first). Add the juice of three limes. Heat through and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- Ladle soup into large bowls and garnish with chopped avocado, cilantro, and limes. You can also garnish with tortilla strips or chips (see notes).
Notes
I usually skip the chips with this recipe to keep it healthy but if you want to make tortilla strips you can try this easy recipe.
