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!
Illness prompted my choice of this recipe today … Love the flavour medley going on in this soup and definitely would enjoy as-is for a summer soother, but now that it’s fall, I should have realized I’d need more “body” – next time, I will definitely beef this up with some rice or beans :) I subbed out the jalepeno for a habenero, and that gave the level of spice my sick sore throat could handle today. All in all though, a perfect comforting cuppa that steps away from traditional chicken noodle if you want to explore something new :)
Sorry you aren’t feeling well! Great swaps though. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never commented before but I feel the need to tell you that I’ve been making this soup, proabably since about 2012 when you first published it and it is my single favorite soup ever. I’ve almost become known for it when anyone in my extended family is sick. Its simply the best. I’ve tweaked it a bit over the years and usually do it in a slow cooker, but it is so delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing Holly!
This is a FANTASTIC recipe. I substituted the celery for fresh okra and it worked well! Great budget soup! I will definitely make this again :)
Oh that sounds like a delicious swap. Thanks for sharing!
So.Much.Flovor.
Will definitely be making this again :)
Thanks Catherine!
Has anyone tried this in a slow cooker? Trying to decide if it would be feasible or not! :)
While I haven’t tried it, I think it would probably work well. I’d do 4 hours on high or about 8 hours on low.
Yes! I’ve actually been making this for years, mostly in a slow cooker. I usually saute the veggies on the stove then transfer it and all the other ingredients (except cilantro and lime) to the sloow cooker and cook on low for about 6 hours (sometimes longer) then shred and add the lime juice and cilantro. I absolutely love it. I usually add quite a bit more quicken, but I love how it comes out in a slow cooker.
I love this soup so much! I’ve made it twice now and my husband is a huge fan!! I make it with rice :)
I like adding rice to mine too!
Question- do you follow the instructions on the Better Than Boullion jar that says to use 1 tsp for every 8oz of water? I have heard some people say that is too strong and you should use half that amount. Please let me know!
Hi Alina, Yes I use the ratio suggested on the jar for Better than Bouillon (1 tsp BTB per 1 cup water). :)
This was delicious! Like other people suggested, I added black beans and some rice I had in the fridge. I also used the juice from two limes.
This soup was incredibly tasty. I cooked enough for two days and ended up having all of it, will definitely make again.
My modifications: no celery, no cilantro, an two tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon chicken soup base in addition to the chicken broth.
Thanks!
This was so easy and so delicious! Adding into the regular rotation.
My mods: added a chicken breast, skipped jalapeño, added ancho Chile powder.
Topped with: crema, avocado, crushed tortilla chips, cilantro
I skipped the jalapeño and added crushed dried chili and cayenne pepper instead. I also added about 1 cup of rice! Turned out amazing!!!
Easy and delicious!
My son makes fun of how much I make soup, but he tried this last night and immediately said “Wow this is so good mom- I know I am going to have a second bowl”. I think the lime really makes it a winner. I repeat others here by adding beans, hominy, or rice to stretch it out.
Instead of the tortillas, i cooked some brown rice and spooned about a 1/4 cup in mine. I have also seen some people cube potatoes and put them in the soup! This was a very yummy recipe! And it made plenty so that I could enjoy it for another day!
Garnish with fried tortilla strips and some crumbled queso fresco (Cotillo or Feta work, too)–you have what most Texans call Tortilla Soup. This clear version is much more common than thickened and overly flavored versions found mostly outside of the state.
That’s what I was thinking, this is what I think of as Tortilla Soup. I never order it at restaurants anymore cuz whatever that creamy cheesy thing with beans is they bring out it is not tortilla soup.
I make a recipe super similar to this (fry my own tortilla strips, roasted tomatoes instead of rotel, sometimes roasted corn, jack cheese as a garnish) a couple times a month. It’s the one dish that gets everyone to the table on the first call.
Oh yum!