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 know I have reviewed this before, because it is a work lunch staple. I will be making it soon. My tip for freezing is this: cool the soup, spoon into the container you will use to transport it to work (tupperware, glassware, mug, etc) then freeze it. Next, remove the frozen bricks of soup into a ziplock gallon bag, label, and pop back in the freezer. Plasticware is easy to pop frozen soup out of. If using glass, or other, a quick spritz of non-stick oven spray makes the mug or glass easier to pop out, or just run it under a warm faucet. Thanks Beth, so good!
Great tips Colleen!
This soup looks incredible! I can’t wait to make it in the fall!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I am also a soup all year person! People think I’m weird, but I find it to be one of the easier things to make, it freezes perfectly for days when you just need food and have no time/energy/inclination to cook, and it can be very healthy. I haven’t made this, but I plan to modify to my slow cooker vegetarian life like this:
-double the recipe in my 7qt slow cooker on high
-replace the chicken with pinto beans. 1 can is equivalent to your 3/4 lb chicken.
-Note: I’ve found that 1 lb dried beans=4 cans, so per recipe I would use 1/4 lb of dried beans. I’d also add a 1/2 cup of water because I’m not going to soak them first, just going to cook on high all day.
-veggie broth
-no cilantro because I think it’s yucky
I love how easy it is to convert so many of your recipes. You’re my go-to blog!
How do you freeze this?
I think the best technique here would be to cool it in the refrigerator so it comes down to a safe temperature quickly, as you don’t want it at room temp very long. Once fully chilled, then transfer to your freezer bags and pop it in the freezer. :)
I think the best technique here would be to cool it in the refrigerator so it comes down to a safe temperature quickly, as you don’t want it at room temp very long. Once fully chilled, then transfer to your freezer bags and pop it in the freezer. :)
This is one of my go-to recipes, especially if I’m feeling like I’m coming down with a cold. The spiciness helps to clear head congestion better than any OTC meds.
I love to add a can of black beans and a few handfuls of already cooked rice to stretch the soup out a little more. I top with cheese and extra sliced jalapenos for more heat.
Oooh great idea for the beans!
I’m not one to comment much… but here, I just HAVE to!
Since I stumbled over this recipe it’s become my go-to summer soup, it’s just perfect – the sourness of the lime perfectly balances out the fatty chicken-broth and the tomatoes give it a nice fruity flavour – I really am in love.
Even a friend who’s not much for soup loves it – so much so she now makes it every other week – it’s just that perfect!
I owe you quite a lot of thanks, this recipe changed soup for me …so – thanks! :-)
Oh yes, def making this.
This has been a favorite in my house for years now! I’m actually making some right now haha! I leave out the jalapeño but it’s so yummy!! We love it when we’re sick, on rainy days, and just here and there because it doesn’t rain enough here lol! Thank you for this recipe!!! It will be in our house until I grow old 🙂
Made this in the Crockpot for lunches all week. I just scaled up the recipe, added a few bay leaves, used Hot Rotel for extra spiciness. The flavor was fantastic. We cut up avocados when we actually ate lunch and put it in and it was so good. So glad I found this recipe. Thanks!
I love the flavor of this recipe. I recently posted a variation where I added black beans for extra protein, and hominy for fun. :)
My tip: save your chicken bones in the freezer and use them to make your broth. Much cheaper, healthier and tastier!
Added this to my winter soup rotation – good, healthy, easy. Thank you!
Really good, an easy go-to recipe with no complicated ingredients. Added more cilantro than recipe calls for because we are fans. Added tortilla chips on the side to finish out the meal.
We add a ton of cilantro too! Like 2 bunches haha!
My favorite soup recipe EVER! So tasty and healthy 🥰🥰🥰
I add chopped red, yellow & orange peppers & zucchini & carrots. I garnish with tortilla chips, shredded cheese & sliced avocado.
I may have reviewed this already but now I’ve been making it fore two years and it’s one of my all time favorite recipes! I make it almost weekly. It’s also great to make and freeze for later!