Our whole family looks forward to soup weather every year, but with the very warm dry winter and spring we’ve had here in Southern California this year, soup hasn’t made its usual appearance on our family table. I just don’t feel like a big bowl of hot soup when it’s beach weather outside. So, on the few cooler weather days we did have this spring, Jeff and I did get to at least experiment with a few new recipes, and this was one of our very favorites.
This Mexican Chicken Lime Soup has very few ingredients, yet is packed with flavor — it tastes like a chicken fajita in a bowl. Chicken and lime always pair nicely, and the spring-like flavors of fresh limes and avocado make this more of a spring soup than a winter soup. The spiciness can be dialed up or down to suit your preference by decreasing, increasing, or omitting the chipotles in adobe sauce (we of course, upped the heat). And best of all, this dish is simple and quick enough to throw together after a busy day at work.
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons sauce
- 6 cups fat-free chicken broth
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Juice of 2 limes
- Salt and pepper
- 1 hass avocado, thinly sliced lengthwise into 12 pieces
- Crushed tortilla chips
- In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, lower the heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 7 minutes.
- Increase the heat to high, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the chicken and cook, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chipotles and adobo sauce, then stir in the chicken broth.
- Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, skimming any foam.
- Stir in the cilantro and lime juice; season with salt and pepper.
- Place 2 avocado slices in each of 6 soup bowls and pour in the soup. Top with the tortilla chips.
Oh, that’s perfect!
I loved the flavors in this soup. I like heat and it turned out to be really spicy!!! After double checking the recipe I realized I was only supposed to use 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, not 2 cans of chipotle peppers in adobo. Ooops! Live and learn .