Mexican Lime Soup

This Mexican Lime Soup is a bit like Tortilla Soup but with a lot of lime and some other fun and unique flavors. Learn how to make this authentic soup quickly.

This tasty Mexican soup has chicken and tomato plus lots of other flavorful ingredients, like lime!

If you’ve ever had tortilla soup like this one, it’s kind of like that. It’s topped with avocado. And of course, tortilla chips for crunch.

What Is Sopa De Lima?

Mexican Lime Soup, also known as Sopa de Lima, is an authentic Mexican recipe from the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. It may sound like lime is the main ingredient, but there’s actually lots of chicken and tomatoes in it too.

Plenty of lime juice does get added at the end though, and I like to serve it with lime wedges so people can squeeze in extra if they’d like. There’s also great flavor from onion, garlic, and habanero pepper.

Using Spices In Soup

This soup also has cinnamon and cilantro in it, which add a unique flavor to the soup. Which leads me to a great tip for making delicious soups.

Go into your pantry and find spices that you wouldn’t normally add to soup, like cinnamon. It changes the flavor completely and makes for a new and exciting meal.

Mexican Lime Soup (Sopa de Lima) in 15 Minutes

• Author: Christine Pittman
• Prep Time: 0 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Entrée
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Mexican

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DESCRIPTION

This soup is a bit like Tortilla Soup but with a big blast of lime. But it also has the warm flavors of cinnamon and cloves. A must try if you love Mexican food.
To make this soup in under 15 minutes, first read through the recipe and gather together all of the ingredients, tools, pots and pans that you’ll need. This is so that everything is at your fingertips. No need to prep any ingredients though. All of the prep is included in the instructions and counts towards the 15 minutes.
Yield: 8 cups.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 cups low or no-sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable or grape seed oil
• 1 small onion
• 1 habanero pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. oregano
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• ¾ lb. tomatoes (about 2 medium)
• ¾ lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 3)
• 2–3 limes
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 1 avocado
• Tortilla chips, for serving

Instructions

1. Pour the chicken broth into a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave it on high power for 6 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil. Peel and chop the onion and add it to the pot and stir. Seed and then mince the habanero. Add it to the pot and stir. Peel and mince the garlic. Add it to the pot along with the oregano, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Stir. Cook for 30 seconds and then add the hot broth. Cover and increase heat to high. When soup reaches a boil, reduce it to a simmer.
3. While the soup is heating, finely chop the tomatoes and thinly slice the chicken (about ¼-inch slices). Add the tomatoes and chicken to the soup.  Cover and cook until the chicken is no longer pink inside.
4. While the chicken cooks, juice the 1-2 limes to get ¼ cup of juice. Cut the remaining lime(s) into wedges. Roughly chop the cilantro. Pit, peel, and chop the avocado.
5. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the soup from the heat. Stir in the lime juice.
6. Ladle soup into bowls and serve garnished with the lime wedges, cilantro, avocado, and tortilla chips.