I’m a soup-all-year-long type of person. Soup is tasty. Soup is filling. Soup freezes well. And this Chicken and Lime Soup is where it’s at. The clear broth is light enough for summer, and has a deliciously spicy, sour, and salty broth that will keep you coming back for more, and more, and MORE. If you want to change up your chicken soup game, this Chicken and Lime Soup is the way to go!
This Chicken and Lime Soup was inspired by a trip to a Mexican restaurant where I had the most amazing tangy Caldo Xochitl. I added more lime because I’m a lime fiend, and it gave the soup the perfect mix between spicy, salty, and sour – that same famous combo that makes Chinese hot & sour soup so delish. There’s just something about that flavor combination that tickles all the right parts of your tongue!
Make Your Chicken and Lime Soup Mild
The recipe as written is fairly spicy. The heat comes from the jalapeño pepper and the diced tomatoes with green chiles. If you’d like to make your Chicken and Lime Soup mild, simply skip the jalapeño pepper and use a 15 oz. can of regular diced tomatoes, or fire roasted diced tomatoes, in place of the tomatoes with green chiles.
Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles Substitutes
If canned diced tomatoes with green chiles are not sold in your area, you can use a 15 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes plus one 4 oz. can of diced green chiles. Or, leave the green chiles out and use a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. You can also dice up a fresh hatch green chile and sauté that with the onion, celery, and garlic in the beginning of the recipe.
Use More Chicken if Desired
Using only a small amount of meat in my recipes is kind of my calling card, so that’s what I did here. One chicken breast, shredded so you get a little bit in every spoonful, is all I needed. If you prefer more meat in your dishes, you can use two chicken breasts in this recipe without having to make any other adjustments.
Topping Your Chicken and Lime Soup
For me, topping soup with lots of stuff is half the fun, and you have a lot of topping options with this one. I wrote avocado into the recipe because I really feel like that topping is critical and really makes the soup flavors well rounded, but the rest are totally optional. When I have tortilla chips on hand, I like to use those like I would crackers in other soup, crushing them up so they can soak up that awesome broth. A little dab of sour cream would be awesome, as would a few pickled red onions.
Chicken and Lime Soup
Servings 6 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.21)
- 3 ribs celery (about 1/4 bunch) ($0.37)
- 1 jalapenño ($0.17)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 3/4 lb.) ($2.32)
- 6 cups chicken broth* ($0.78)
- 2 10oz. cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel) ($0.90)
- 1 tsp oregano ($0.10)
- 1/2 Tbsp cumin ($0.15)
- 1 lime ($0.22)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro ($0.40)
- 1 avocado ($1.50)
Instructions
- Dice the onion, celery, and jalapeño (scrape the seeds out of the jalapeño before dicing). Mince the garlic. Add the onion, celery, jalapeño, garlic, and olive oil to a large soup pot and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the chicken breast, chicken broth, diced tomatoes with chiles (with juices), oregano, and cumin to the pot. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and bring the broth up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the pot simmer for 45 minutes.
- After simmering for 45 minutes, carefully remove the chicken breast from the pot and use two forks to shred the meat. Return the shredded meat to the pot. Squeeze the juice of one lime into the soup (2-3 Tbsp juice).
- Rinse the cilantro and then roughly chop the leaves. Add the chopped cilantro to the soup, give it a quick stir, then serve. Slice the avocado and add a few slices to each bowl.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Chicken and Lime Soup – Step By Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion, three ribs of celery, and one jalapeño. Mince four cloves of garlic.
Before dicing the jalapeño, slice it in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out the white ribs and seeds. These are the hottest parts of the jalapeño, so removing them first will give you a little more jalapeño flavor and a little less heat.
Add the celery, onion, jalapeño, and garlic to a large soup pot with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add one boneless, skinless chicken breast to the pot (about 3/4 lb.). Then add 6 cups chicken broth (I use Better Than Bouillon so I can mix up any amount needed at any time).
Next, add two 10 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles. If you can only find 15 oz cans, you can use one. Or, if you can not find canned diced tomatoes with green chiles, you can either use diced tomatoes and one 4 oz. can of green chiles, or just use fire roasted diced tomatoes.
In addition to the diced tomatoes with green chiles, also add 1/2 Tbsp cumin and 1 tsp dried oregano.
Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and allow it to come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer for 45 minutes (lid on).
After simmering for 45 minutes, the chicken should be tender enough to shred. Carefully remove it from the pot to a clean cutting board, then use two forks to shred the meat into small pieces. Return the shredded meat to the soup pot.
Squeeze the juice from one lime (about 2-3 Tbsp) into the broth. To get the most juice out of the lime, I like to cut it in half, squeeze as much by hand, then insert a spoon into the lime and twist to squeeze out the rest.
Rinse the cilantro to make sure there’s no sand hiding in there, then give it a rough chop. You don’t have to take the time to carefully remove all stems. Cilantro stems are tender enough to enjoy. Stir the cilantro into the soup.
Slice the avocado and add a few slices to each bowl just before serving! Enjoy!
I have made this soup several times and it is easy and delicious, a household favorite! I added Mexican rice at the very end, after soup came off stovetop (cooked rice separately). Otherwise, the rice becomes mushy like porridge. I have used avocado when available. If not available, it is still delicious! I can not Thank You enough for posting recipe! I had looked high and low for a recipe that mimicked genuine Mexican restaurant soup.
I make this soup year a round because it is so good. I heat flour tortillas in skillet 30 (+/-) seconds both sides and serve with soup. It is so yummy!lll
Budget bytes I ❤ you. So many good recipes. Made this and added back beans and corn. Had crumbs of tortilla chips left from a bag and had those as a garnish. Easy and delicious! Even with a toddler climbing up my leg and a needy newborn. Thanks for all the great recipes.
This is delicious!! I added a few dashes of chipotle seasoning and some rice to it so that I could better copy the version from our local Mexican restaurant and it was soooo fantastic! Thanks!!!
fabulous
This is a favorite in our house. My husband (who is originally from Mexico) was so impressed with this soup! He asked me “when did you learn to make caldo de pollo?” I told him that I wasn’t trying to make it, but I somehow produced something he liked! lol. He even told me he liked it better than his mom’s which is a huge compliment!! :)
Thanks, Beth!
WOW! Tell him thank you for me! :D
Wow!!!! I have tried a few of your recipes and this is my favorite so far. The broth is to die for!!! The only thing I did differently was add a little more chicken because I had to use it up. This is a perfect recipe!
This recipe has become one of my favourites! Easy to make, delicious and satisfying. The only modification I have is not using diced tomatoes with chilies, mostly because I can’t find that and also because I have to watch the heat for my boyfriend. I’ve recommended to people looking for a quick chicken or soup recipe.
How delicious is this soup?!? SOoo delicious! This is my favorite soup thus far. Instead of putting jalapeño peppers I used cayenne pepper and used diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and garlic. It came out perfectly. I now have all my friends making this soup.. Thanks for sharing!
Made this for dinner last night and it was a total win! Couldn’t be any easier and great flavor! My boyfriend can be pretty picky with soups and he loved this. Can’t wait to make it again soon!
This is soooo full of flavor. I added a diced zucchini and a can of rinsed great northern beans. We served it with tortilla chips. Delicious!!!
This was pretty good, but it was mostly broth and onions and celery. I even used a pound of chicken breasts.
I think next time I will reduce the broth to 4 cups per batch and add a can of beans for more substance. Wonderful flavor though, I love the freshness of the lime.
OMG!!! THIS SOUP IS AMAZING!!! I’m trying to lose weight and I’m also on a VERY VERY tight budget. This soup cost me less than 7 dollars to make as I already had most of the ingredients at home. SO MUCH FLAVOR!! And very filling. I left out sour cream or tortilla chips and just put extra avocado to make it even healthier. I will definitely be making this all the time now!!
This really looks good I will make it tomorrow
How much carbs and protein?
This soup is delicious. I couldn’t be more pleased with it. I doubled the recipe (note: I probably should have used 10 cups chicken broth instead of 12 in doubling, but it’s still really good), had a heavy hand with the spices and lime, and served with tortilla strips (and avocado chunks per serving as suggested). It’s just great. I’m the only one eating it (my roommate’s a vegetarian), and I expected to freeze quite a bit of it, but I don’t think I’m gonna; I think I’m just gonna eat it three meals a day until it’s gone. Yum!