Mexican Chicken Soup: The Broth. The Flavour. This is the one.
This Mexican Chicken Soup. It’s all about the broth. Oh, Mama!
The fixin’s enrich the meal and eating experience, but without this spectacular broth as the foundation, they would be fixin’s in a void, like so often is the case with a restaurant Mexican Soup.
I tasted a Rick Bayless Mexican Soup broth once and was nevermore the same. The lime is key. The aromatics: key.
The chicken? It is delicious, but I don’t eat meat, so I am fine removing it. The rest is all “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah”! Seriously and Sincerely.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Mis en Place
The fresh corn niblets and kidney beans are added at the end. These additions make the soup a full meal and contribute to the textural contrast.
Yet, the broth is sensational before they are added, if you are looking to just make the broth or a Mexican Chicken Lime Soup.
Love my grapefruit spook for deseeding hot peppers. I only used half. We are not lovers or spicy heat anymore.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Preparing and Sautéing the Aromatics
I can’t even. Love that I had the oregano and the cilantro in my garden. This combination of aromatics is one I would not have come up with on my own.
If you are not making this soup in a Thermomix machine, you can use your blender or food processor, but this is the consistency you want. It is already sautéed in the above images.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Making the Soup
Having ordered far too many “Taco Soups” or “Mexican Chicken Soups” and noting all of them lack lime, I have been scrounging and reading all sorts of recipes to get a good broth base. This is the one.
The lime juice and lime halves go into the sautéed aromatics with the chicken and broth to cook.
Mexican Chicken Soup: The Limes
The boiling hot lime halves are then extracted and cooled a bit to enable touching. Turn them inside out and squeeze the dickens out of them. Get every last bit of juice and juicy flesh available, sans seeds, back into the soup.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Finishing the Soup
Above, left: soup with corn and beans just added. Above, right: soup with corn and beans cooked for 4 minutes.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Garnishing the Soup
Prepare your garnish during the 10-15 minutes your soup cooks. Above is a generous portion for one bowl, only. I didn’t use quite all of it.
That broth. I cannot describe how delicious it is. The soup is substantial, but you can see from the spoonfuls above, that there needs to be a greater variety of colour and texture and flavour in this bowl
Fill 6 bowls generously with the soup. Take the fixin’s and portion them on top in quadrants: red across from one another and green across from one another.
Finely shredded cabbage mounded in the middle.
And toss those cilantro leaves over to one’s heart’s content.
Mexican Chicken Soup: Serving the Soup
Are you going to make it? Please let me know! Have you a favourite Mexican Soup recipe? Tell me why. I am never making another. Never looking further for a recipe. This is the prize. This is “the one”. I love it. It is a keeper and even Vanja has welcomed this one to the family!
Mexican Chicken Soup: Thermomix SOUPerSTAR Recipe
Mexican Chicken Soup: The Authentic Recipe and a Keeper! The broth is deeply fragrant, aromatic and complex. Satisfying, unforgettable and irresistible!
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 sprigs fresh oregano leaves only
- 4 sprigs fresh cilantro leaves and stems
- ½ fresh long red chili deseeded
- 1 small brown onion approx. 150 g, halved
- 1-2 teaspoons ground taco seasoning* to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Juice from 2 limes save halves
- 350 grams skinless chicken thigh fillets cut into cubes
- 750 grams water or organic chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon Chicken stock paste*
- 300 grams fresh corn kernels or 400 grams canned corn kernels rinsed and drained (300 grams after draining)
- 400 grams canned kidney beans rinsed and drained (340 grams after draining)
Ingredients for Garnish
- Cilantro leaves
- 190 grams fresh tomatoes finely diced
- 140 grams red pepper deseeded and diced
- 2 spring onions/shallots trimmed and cut into thin slices
- 240 grams avocado flesh only, cut into thin slices
- 180 grams cabbage shredded
- Lime wedge 1 ½ lime
- Ingredients to Optional Garnish served on the side
- Corn chips
- Sour cream
Instructions
Instructions for Soup with Thermomix
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Place garlic, oregano, cilantro (leaves, stems and roots), chilli, onion, taco seasoning and olive oil into TM bowl; chop 3 seconds on speed 7
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Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula; sauté 5 minutes at Varoma on speed1
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Add lime juice to TMbowl with lime halves; weigh in chicken, water and stock paste, then cook 10 minutes at 100°C on Reverse speed Soft
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Remove lime halves with slotted spoon; squeeze well back into TMbowl before discarding
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Weigh corn and kidney beans into TMbowl; cook 4 minutes at 100°C on Reverse speed soft
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Remove from heat and divide soup into 6 serving bowls; garnish as below
Instructions for Garnish
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Garnish each in quadrants: diced red tomato across from diced red pepper, sliced green avocado across from sliced green onion with finely shredded cabbage piled in centre
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Sprinkled with cilantro leaves and serve soup immediately with corn chips and sour cream
Instructions for Soup
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Place garlic, oregano, cilantro (leaves, stems and roots), chili, onion, cumin
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and olive oil into blender; pulse until minced as in photo
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Place minced aromatics into soup pan; sauté 5 minutes, stirring constantly
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Add lime juice with lime halves, chicken, water and stock paste; bring to boil, then reduce heat and cook at soft boil for 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times
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Remove lime halves with slotted spoon; squeeze well back into soup pan before discarding
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Add corn and kidney beans; bring to a gentle boil for 4-5 minutes, until fresh corn niblets are just tender
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Remove from heat and divide soup into 6 serving bowls; garnish as below
Instructions for Garnish
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Garnish each in quadrants: diced red tomato across from diced red pepper, sliced green avocado across from sliced green onion with finely shredded cabbage piled in centre
-
Sprinkled with cilantro leaves and serve soup immediately with corn chips and sour cream
Bart says
Valerie!!! I cooked this soup today and it so delicious!!! Really something different, the flavour of lime oregano garlic cilantro chilli and onion is amazing. This soup as well as the Italian wedding soup are so far the best!
Thanks Valerie for sharing those recipes!!
Valerie Lugonja says
Thrilled to hear this, Bart! And thanks for letting others know that it isn’t only me who thinks this recipe is a WINNER!
🙂
Valerie
Valerie Lugonja says
Bart!
I really appreciate it when you give me the thumbs up on a recipe. So many don’t take the time and it really builds the confidence of others that read this post and recipe to give it a go, too.
Glad you loved it as much as I and thank you!
Valerie