sopa de lima

My wife, Adri, and I just got back from a week spent eating our way around Mérida and the rest of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Of all the things we ate, sopa de lima, the Mayan poultry and lime soup that's popular up and down the Yucatán, seemed most easily adaptable to cooking back home. It's also one of the simplest and most crowd-pleasingly delicious dishes we had.

Sopa de Lima (Yucat&#225;n-Style Lime Soup) Recipe

whole limes, plus 1 more lime for garnish

grapefruit

onion

Turkish bay leaves

cloves

cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican canela

allspice berries

black peppercorns

dried Mexican oregano

(960 milliliters) homemade chicken stock

Roma tomatoes

(90 milliliters) vegetable oil, divided

Hungarian wax pepper (or 1 small green bell

Kosher salt

corn tortillas,

cilantro

Use a vegetable peeler to remove four 2-inch strips of lime zest and two 2-inch strips of grapefruit zest. Juice limes and grapefruit, setting aside 2 tablespoons of each juice. (Reserve remaining juice for another purpose.) Set aside zests and juice.

For the Broth: Split onion in half from pole to pole and set one half aside. Place other half in a large saucepan. Add chicken or turkey, 4 garlic cloves, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, peppercorns, and oregano. Add chicken broth and top up with water until all ingredients are submerged. Heat over medium heat until gently simmering. Reduce heat until broth is steaming-hot, but not bubbling. Cook, turning chicken occasionally, until center of chicken registers 150°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. 

Using tongs, carefully remove chicken from broth and transfer to a bowl. Strain broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof container and add lime zests and grapefruit zests. (There should be at least 1 quart of broth; if not, adjust with water.) Set aside to steep.

Meanwhile, for the Sofrito: Thread remaining 4 garlic cloves onto a metal skewer and roast over the direct heat of a gas flame, turning, until garlic is charred on all surfaces, about 3 minutes total. Set aside. Using tongs, roast tomatoes over the flame until their skins bubble and peel back, about 30 seconds. Alternatively, roast garlic in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, tossing constantly, until charred on most surfaces. Remove garlic and add tomatoes and roast, turning constantly, until blistered all over.

Peel garlic and tomatoes and discard skins. Finely mince both. Finely mince remaining onion half. Heat 2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, tomatoes, pepper, and minced onion, season with a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until sofrito is completely softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.

Remove lime and grapefruit zests from broth and discard. Pour broth into pot with sofrito. Add reserved lime and grapefruit juice and season broth to taste with salt.

For the Tortilla Strips: Combine remaining 1/4 cup (60ml) oil and tortilla strips in a nonstick or cast iron skillet. Heat over medium heat, stirring and tossing frequently, until tortilla strips are mostly crisp all over, about 3 minutes. Transfer tortilla strips to a paper towel–lined plate to drain.

To Serve: Shred chicken or turkey meat into bite-size strips with your fingers or two forks. Discard bones and skin. Divide meat evenly between serving bowls and top with hot broth. Add a small handful of tortilla strips and sprinkle with cilantro. Cut half of final lime into wheels and remaining half into wedges. Add lime wheels to soup and serve immediately with wedges on the side.

There are many layers of flavor in this recipe for Sopa de Lima a chicken lime tortilla soup from the Yucatan state in Mexico. A healthy sopa recipe that is pure comfort food. Join me in my cocina! 

Sopa de Lima - MexicanChicken Lime Soup

chicken

chicken broth

onion,

garlic

bay leaves

cinnamon

¼ tsp Mexican oregano

tomatoes

green peppers

lime juice

avocado, diced *optional topping

vegetable oil

Add the pieces of chicken to a large pot and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper. Add the broth, ½ of the onion, 4 cloves of garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and oregano.

Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked through - approximately 20 minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces to a plate and when it is cool enough to handle remove the skin and bones and shred the meat. Set aside.

Strain and reserve the broth that remains in the pot and set aside.

Wipe out the soup pot and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Set over medium heat. Add the diced onion and green pepper, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper and stir well. Let cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until softened. Add the minced garlic and stir for 1 more minute. Add the broth back to the pot along with the fire-roasted tomatoes, stir, and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken back to the pot along with the fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Warm the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When it is hot, the tortilla strips, and fry for 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the tortilla strips are mostly crisp all over. Transfer the strips to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with crispy tortilla strips and fresh avocado chunks.

FOR THE TORTILLA STRIPS

This traditional soup is a delicious combination of lime-flavored broth, chicken and crisp tortilla. It&#039;s light, flavorful and perfect any time.

Sopa de lima - Mexican lime soup

lb chicken breast (1 medium-large piece)

chicken stock

water ((cold))

red onion

bay leaf

tsp Mexican oregano ((or Italian, if Mexican not available))

salt

pepper

red onion (approx 6tbsp once chopped)

Hungarian wax pepper (or banana pepper)

tomato (medium-large (1 tomato giving approx 3/4 cup once chopped))

garlic ((optional))

salt, pepper and Mexican oregano

corn tortillas (or 3 if smaller)

tbsp vegetable oil oil

limes

cilantro (coriander, approx)

Place the chicken in a pot and add the stock, water, onion, bay leaf, garlic (peeled but left whole), oregano and salt and pepper. Cover and place over a medium heat to bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender, around 20 - 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables for the sofrito. Mince the onion and pepper and finely chop the tomato and garlic, if using.

Once the chicken has cooked, remove the chicken and let cool a minute or two. Meanwhile, strain the broth and discard the other solids but keep all of the liquid. You can either strain it directly into another pot of around the same size, or into a bowl, clean out the original pot and transfer back.

For broth/chicken (and sofrito prep)

Cut the tortillas into thin strips - if using larger tortillas, cut the bigger strips in half (or you can cut the tortillas in half first then into strips).

Warm the oil in a medium skillet/frying pan over a medium heat. Add the tortilla strips and cook, spreading them out and turning as needed until they are crisp on all sides but not burnt. If you prefer, you can lightly brush/drizzle the tortilla strips with oil and cook in a medium oven for a few minutes instead.

If you have used the skillet for the tortilla strips, once they are cooked, remove them and drain them on kitchen paper. Then you can re-use the skillet for the sofrito.

For tortilla strips

Warm the skillet with a little extra oil, if needed, over a medium heat and add the onion and pepper. Cook for a minute then add the tomato (and garlic, if using). Add a little salt, pepper and oregano and cook for a few minutes, stirring now and then, until all the vegetables have softened but are not browning. Once softened, remove from the heat.

For sofrito

Add the sofrito to the strained broth and mix through. Shred the chicken and add this as well then cook the soup for a few more minutes to let everything mingle.

Meanwhile, squeeze 1 to 1 1/2 of the limes and thinly slice the remaining half lime. Remove the cilantro leaves from the stem and roughly tear or chop.

Add the lime juice to the soup (1 lime or 1 1/2 to taste and depending on how juicy the limes are). Mix through then serve the soup in bowls, making sure you distribute the chicken evenly, topped with some of the tortilla strips, some cilantro and a slice or two of lime.

To finish soup

I loved this recipe. I couldn't find Hungarian wax pepper, so I used the banana pepper instead and the results were perfect. I loved the homemade tortilla strips.

My husband fell in love with this soup when visiting the Yucatan. He loved it, loved the sofrito! So delicious!

Love the lime with the sofrito in this delicious soup! Yum!

https://mediavine-res.cloudinary.com/video/upload/t_original/v1647122101/mpe3ji98foemc99zcypc.mp4

Sopa de lima is a wonderfully easy, flavorful traditional Mexican lime soup from the Yucatán region. It's in some ways a kind of chicken soup, but with quite a different flavor profile - it's fresh with subtle depth, not to mention a yummy crunchy tortilla topping. So good.

Mexican lime soup

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Top 3 sopa de lima recipes from across the web

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Sopa de lima - Mexican lime soup

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Sopa de Lima (Yucatán-Style Li...