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Put leftover chicken to work in this easy Mexican Chicken Soup recipe. It comes together fast, and it’s good for whatever ails you, even if it’s just a case of the Monday blues.
Similar to Chicken Tortilla Soup and Caldo de Pollo (Chicken Soup), this is among the most common of Mexican soup recipes. But in the USA, it feels like a classic “put your leftover Rotisserie Chicken to work” recipe. Remove the skin and bones, shred the meat, and you’re halfway to dinner. But it’s so easy to make, you’ll wish you had made it sooner!
I like this recipe because it’s light and full of fresh flavors but also very satisfying for the whole family. It’s an easy recipe to double, too. If you don’t have enough shredded chicken for double chicken, you can always stretch it with something else. Just pile in black beans or extra veggies like corn, potatoes, or zucchini. Leftover cooked rice, especially Mexican rice, is a nice touch too.
And don’t forget the toppings! Sour cream, cheese, sliced avocado, more cilantro, fresh lime juice, hot sauce, a sprinkle of chili powder, sliced fresh chiles, tortilla strips, it’s all good. And honestly, I love a handful of crisp shredded lettuce on top, too.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Chicken: If you don’t have any leftover chicken on hand, learn how to poach chicken breasts (it’ll be ready by the time you need to add the chicken to the soup).
- Cilantro: If you’re not a fan of cilantro, just leave this out entirely. Maybe sub a pinch of Mexican oregano.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, tomatoes and juice, jalapeño, cumin, and coriander.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in chicken and cilantro (if using). Season to taste (I like 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper). Serve, offering, cheese, sour cream, avocado, and tortilla chips or your favorite toppings.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 6 hearty servings of about 1 ½ cups of soup per person.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Cool and freeze leftover soup in freezer-safe containers for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Mexican vegetable soup: Follow the recipe as written but leave out the chicken and add way more veggies! Zucchini, cubed potatoes, and corn are a good place to start. Want to make it like they do in Mexico? Add your corn still on the cob! Cut each cob into 3 or 4 chunks and add them to the pot. Or you can buy them in the freezer that size sometimes, too.
- Albondigas soup (meatball soup): Add turkey meatballs to the soup instead of the shredded chicken, it’s absolutely delicious!
- Taco Soup: Made with ground beef, canned veggies, and taco seasoning, this Tex-Mex favorite is another delicious, hearty meal option.
Frequently Asked Questions
This Mexican beef soup is made with a bone-in beef shank.
This classic soup is made with chunks of pork or chicken, hominy (dried corn), chiles, and spices. Sometimes, you add a green salsa made with tomatillos and poblano peppers on top.
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Mexican Chicken Soup
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped (about 2 cups)
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
- 3 ribs celery chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes undrained
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 cups cooked chicken diced or shredded (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped, optional (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For serving:
- shredded cheddar cheese
- sour cream
- avocado peeled, pitted, and diced
- tortilla chips
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, tomatoes and juice, jalapeño, cumin, and coriander.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in chicken and cilantro (if using). Season to taste (I like 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper). Serve, offering, cheese, sour cream, avocado, and tortilla chips or your favorite toppings.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Chicken: If you don’t have any leftover chicken on hand, learn how to poach chicken breasts (it’ll be ready by the time you need to add the chicken to the soup).
- Cilantro: If you’re not a fan of cilantro, just leave this out entirely.
- Yield: This recipe makes 6 hearty servings of about 1 ½ cups of soup per person.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I really wasn’t expecting much. I didn’t think it would taste like the authentic Mexican restaurant we go to, but I think it was just as good. I added 1 can of Rotella besides the 14 oz. of diced tomatoes and it was delicious.
Really delicious. Exactly what I was looking for on a cold night. The only change I made-I used petite diced tomatoes instead of crushed tomatoes because of color. I wanted a distinct red color in addition to the green and orange.
So glad you loved it, Kristie! Take care! – Meggan
Perfect recipe!! All 8 of my kids loved it! Thank you!
Hi Jen, thank you so much for your comment! I’m so glad they loved it! – Meggan
I made this almost entirely by the recipe. I added two jalapenos one was sauteed with the vegetables and the second was added with the tomatoes. I added a 1/2 cup of black beans and lime at the end with cilantro. Incredible soup served with fresh avocado and optional cheese and sour cream! Great recipe!
Yum! Sounds delicious! – Meggan
Incredible! I was looking for the soup that I once had at an authentic Mexican restaurant. This one is better! I, like someone else mentioned, added lime and it took it over the top. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Cassie! So glad you loved it! – Meggan
Excellent! I have been looking for a recipe like this for a while; so glad I found this one. Easy, warm, and healthy! I added a cup of corn but otherwise no changes to the recipe. Thank you!
Sounds delicious, Elizabeth! You’re so welcome! Take care! – Meggan
I made this almost exactly as written (the only thing I did differently was to cook the carrots a few minutes to soften before adding the celery and onions) and it was amazing!! I will be making this again and again!
I’m so happy you love it, Cindy! Take care!
This soup is delicious!!!! I followed the recipe and added black chili beans and some lime juice. I only had dried cilantro. Served it over tostada chips topped with cheddar, avocado and sour cream. My husband and his brother had several bowls, and kept saying how great the soup is. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Hi Alice, sounds absolutely delicious! You’re welcome! – Meggan
Great taste! The spices are so complementary to each other. One of our favorites!!!
This was so simple and so delicious!
Thanks Carla! – Meggan
Awesome
Thank you! – Meggan
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have never tried this kind of soup before since mexican/american food is a bit less popular here in Europe . The soup is really excellent and will definitely be part of my regular receipes!
Need recipe
Delicious recipe! I do have a problem when stalks of celery are written down. It should be ribs, not stalks, for the celery. Ribs are the individual, stalks are the whole. As a home economics teacher this will throw off my students.
Great recipe! The flavors are amazing and well thought out. Thanks!
I 100% agree with you on that. I think it was a year ago that someone posed the question, did I mean the whole stalk or an individual rib, and that was the first time I realized I was wrong about how I was listing it. We’ve been trying to find all the instances of “stalks” on the site so we could fix them. Thank you for finding this one! -Meggan
Wow, you’re a snob! Who cares which term is used for celery? eat the soup and shut up!
Good to know. Nothing snobby about being precise.
Great recipe. I added green chiles, Bay leaf, more garlic, slightly more tomatoes, less carrots. Used left over homemade rotisserie chicken. Homemade tortilla strips and added thinly sliced scallions and radishes to the cilantro, cheese, sour cream garnishes. Served it with steamed rice. Delicious!
Saving this recipe forever! I loved it and will probably eat it all by myself, I topped with A little sour cream, avocado, more cilantro and jalapeños and made tortilla chips Perfect! I did make a smaller serving then the recipe called for and made my chicken stock added some mushrooms but cut them extremely small (just trying to get them out of the fridge) thank you for this recipe!
Made as directed except only had fire roasted tomatoes on hand a little less jalepeno a little more garlic for my wifes taste. It was awesome I will be making again. I used rotisserie chicken leftovers to make the broth and the left over chicken meat from the most recent purchase I may never have stock in freezer as I think it will be made directly into this recipe
Seriously so good… will become a staple in our home for sure!!! I could have eaten the entire pot myself! I added some fresh lime juice with the cilantro as a topping… Perfect!
I made this last night, and it was amazing! The only thing I changed was add more cumin (we love cumin!), 1 tbsp of Mexican oregano and the juice of 2 limes. The flavors today are even better (I had it for lunch) – simple, easy and delicious!