Craving a delicious, comforting meal that won’t take all day to prepare? Look no further than our Easy Mexican Chicken Soup (Sopa de Pollo)! This flavorful dish combines tender chicken, vibrant vegetables, and traditional Mexican spices to create a warm and satisfying bowl of soup. Perfect for busy weeknights or when you need a comforting meal, this soup is as nutritious as it is tasty. Not only is it quick to make, but it also uses ingredients that most like can be found in your pantry.
Mexican Chicken Soup
This makes a huge pot of soup. Everyone loves having leftovers for lunch the next day. Don’t worry about the number of ingredients. This soup comes together quickly and I’ve included some time saving swaps below.
There’s lots of ingredient swaps for this recipe which makes it great for using up items that you currently have in your kitchen. Check out all the swaps below.
Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe.
Ingredients for Easy Mexican Chicken Soup
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs – you can swap out the boneless chicken for other types of chicken such as cooked, leftover chicken, leftover rotisserie chicken or even bone in chicken pieces.
- Onion – you can use sweet or white diced onion.
- Red bell pepper – I like to use red bell pepper for added color. But you can swap it out for a yellow, orange or even green bell pepper.
- Carrots – you can use any form of carrot…. large, baby or even shredded.
- Celery – you’ll need several stalks of fresh celery.
- Garlic – use garlic cloves or jarred minced garlic.
- Jalapeno – you can use a fresh jalapeno or canned, minced jalapeno. Litehouse brand now sells freeze dried jalapenos (look in the spice section of your local grocery store). I love using this stuff! No need to worry about getting the juice on your fingers and it tastes delicious.
- Vegetable Oil – you can swap out the vegetable oil for several tablespoons of olive oil.
- Diced Tomatoes or Canned Diced Tomatoes – you can use fresh or canned tomatoes. I like using canned fire-roasted tomatoes or Rotel canned tomatoes with added green chiles. Both are delicious.
- Corn – you’ll need a cup of fresh, canned or frozen corn.
- Black Beans – use rinsed and drained black beans or check out the swap below.
- Rice – use your favorite brand of rice for this recipe.
- Chicken Broth – you’ll want to use a flavorful chicken broth for this recipe. You can use canned broth or homemade chicken broth.
- Lime Juice – use fresh lime or bottled lime juice.
- Seasonings – Ground Cumin, Salt and Black Pepper.
Ingredient Swaps:
Vegetables – swap out the fresh veggies for frozen vegetables. You can also save time by looking in your local grocery store’s produce department for already diced celery, onion, pepper and carrots.
Black Bean and Corn Salsa – swap out the cup of corn and black beans with a jar of black bean and corn salsa. I have found this flavor of salsa at most local grocery stores.
Optional Ingredients:
- Fresh Cilantro – I love adding fresh cilantro to this recipe. If you are not a fan, I know not everyone enjoys the flavor, you can leave it out.
- Shredded Cheese – Everyone loves adding a bit of shredded cheddar cheese to their soup. You can also try Pepperjack, Montery Jack, Colby and Cotija cheese.
- Sour Cream – Add a dollop of sour cream to the top of your soup if desired.
- Tortilla Chips – add a few of these on the side of your soup for added crunch.
How to make Mexican Chicken Soup
In a large soup pot heat the oil over medium heat. Add in the onion, celery, carrots and red pepper. Sauté for approximately 5 minutes.
Add in the garlic and jalapeno. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Add in the chicken breast, chicken broth, rice, tomatoes, corn, black beans, cumin, salt and black pepper to the pot. Stir well to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice has softened and the chicken is cooked through. Stir occasionally while cooking to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Remove the chicken once it is cooked and cut it up or shred it then return it to the pot.
Add the juice of one lime and fresh cilantro (if desired).
Top each bowl with your favorite toppings as desired such as sour cream, shredded cheese, tortilla strips or even pieces of avocado.
Storing Mexican Chicken Soup
You can store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days.
This soup can also be frozen. I like to freeze it in lunch size servings. It’s a great dish to remove the night before I need it and then pack it into my work lunch.
Place the cooled soup in freezer safe containers (mark the containers with the date and name of the recipe) and freeze for 3 to 4 months.
Other chili and soup recipes you may like:
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Equipment
- Large Stockpot
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium Onion chopped
- 1 large Red Bell Pepper seeded and chopped
- 2 large carrots sliced
- 3 stalks celery sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 jalapeno seeded, chopped
- 16 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 6 to 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup Rice
- 15 ounce diced tomatoes
- 1 cup whole kernel corn
- 1 cup Black Beans drained, rinsed
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 tablespoons lime juice or the juice of 1 lime
Optional Garnishes
- fresh cilantro minced
- Sour Cream
- Tortilla Chips
- avocado slices or chunks
- shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large soup pot heat the oil over medium heat. Add in the onion, celery, carrots and red pepper. Sauté for approximately 5 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and jalapeno. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add in the chicken breast, chicken broth, rice, tomatoes, corn, black beans, cumin, salt and black pepper to the pot. Stir well to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice has softened and the chicken is cooked through. Stir occasionally while cooking to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Remove the chicken once it is cooked and cut it up or shred it then return it to the pot.
- Add the juice of one lime and fresh cilantro (if desired).
- Top each bowl with your favorite toppings as desired such as sour cream, shredded cheese, tortilla strips or even pieces of avocado.
Nutrition
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