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!
A great twist on chicken tortilla soup, have made twice!
Thanks Madison!
Sooo good! Everyone loved it! So good for cold days. Will definitely be making it again.
Stay warm Victoria! :)
One of my favorite go to recipes. It is simple to make and incredibly delicious. I make it exact but I do make white rice on the side. Spoon a little bit into the bowl with the avocado then add the soup. Makes it a hearty dinner!
Love it with a little rice! Thanks Brittany.
This was so good. I made it on a whim today. It was spicier than I expected, but still really good!
Have to get the macros for this soup so I know if I can make it more often haha
Ha! Happy to hear it Alex!
Delicious! We were looking for a recipe for something similar to what we get at our local mexican restaurant and this is spot on. We make rice but do not add to the soup or it becomes porridge. We put the rice in the bottom of our bowls and top it off with the soup.
We love it! Thanks for the recipe!
Oooh great tip! Thanks Amy!
I just made this soup for dinner and my boyfriend (who doesn’t think soup is a meal) LOVED it! I halved the recipe and it worked perfectly (had leftovers for lunch, too)! I did not have yellow onion so I used red onion; and I did not have diced tomatoes with green chiles so I used a can of diced tomatoes and used 1 whole jalapeno instead of half. Great spice, loved the lime! The avocado is a must!
Love this! Thanks for sharing Jess.
Can you make this in a huge batch and freeze? Does it freeze well?
You can! It would freeze wonderfully.
Kelly, this has been my favorite soup for quite some time. I have a favorite local Mexican restaurant where I get their chicken lime soup and it’s almost as good as yours! Thank you for many good recipes. I appreciate your efforts!
Thank you Ann!
This is a favorite for my wife and I!
For style points; I’ve added a couple poblanos and Chipotle powder as well as chopping up the cilantro stems and letting them simmer the full time, reserving the leaf-parts for the end!
Yes have to add that little bit of flare at the end!
Any tips on adding rice to this?
I’ve never tried it, unfortunately! You’d probably want to do it toward the end, though, so the rice doesn’t completely break down during the cooking process.
Hi Beth!
Thank you for always making extraordinary dishes that are so delicious! You have saved my budget palate from destitution!
Quick question, if I decided to use rotisserie chicken, would I cut my boiling time down to 20 minutes? Or what would you suggest?
Yep! If you’re using pre-cooked chicken you don’t have to boil long enough to make the chicken shreddable. 15-20 minutes should be plenty.
Made this tonight. So good. Thank you.
Thanks Lauren!
Delicious!!! Thank you! :)
Hi Beth, Looks really good! Do you think I could add pasta to it an if so how much? Also could I add the dry pasta to the pot? Thanks, Shannon
Sure, I think you could definitely add pasta to this. :) I would probably add 8 oz. pasta, and I’d do it right after adding the shredded chicken back in. Then just let the pasta boil in the soup for about 7 minutes until it’s tender, then carry on with the recipe (adding lime juice, etc.)
Wondering…..could this be made in an instant pot?
I’m sure you could. I would try the soup function. :)
I just made it in the Instant Pot. I used 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs and did 15 minutes high pressure. Came out perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
Happy to hear it!