Delicious, Fast and Easy Chipotle Lime Chicken Soup

Are you looking for a quick, healthy, easy and delicious soup recipe to add to your rotation? You’ve come to the right place! This chipotle lime chicken soup is so easy and tasty. You can adjust the spice level easily by reducing or omitting the jalapeño.

I love recipes that are quick for those evenings when I need to get something the table fast….you know, so we’re not eating at 8PM..

We love to eat soup in the fall and winter. I’m not gonna lie, I even sneak it in during the summer on occasion. This soup really hits the spot anytime!

Ingredients For Chipotle Lime Chicken Soup

Chicken– I usually buy a rotisserie chicken for this soup. You can shred it and split the chicken between two different meals or use it all in this recipe for an extra meaty meal. If you want to cook your own chicken, cook up a couple of chicken breasts or 3-4 thighs with your preferred method of cooking.

Oil and Butter- I pretty much only use olive oil or avocado oil and butter for pan cooking and sautéing. It’s difficult to keep up with what’s good for you and what’s not, but I KNOW I can’t go wrong with avocado oil AND it can handle the higher heat cooking. Oftentimes, I use olive oil for low to medium heat, stovetop cooking. Generally, I also add a little butter because it adds so much flavor.

Onion- I tend to like the sweeter varieties of onions rather than the generic white or yellow ones. The sweeter onions are often not quite as strong and don’t leave me tearing up while making dinner! I like my onions diced a little on the larger size, but if I’m making dinner for my son-in-law, I dice them as finely as I can, haha!

Peppers- With 12 different varieties of peppers growing in my garden, I always have a variety of flavors and spice levels to choose from. I really like the flavor and spiciness of jalapeños for this recipe. In addition, Anaheim or poblano peppers aren’t very spicy (to our family at least!) and add a nice flavor dimension. If your family, or you, are averse to spicy foods, feel free to simply dice a green sweet bell pepper instead.

Dried spices- These are all flavorful, common and traditional southwestern spices. I buy my most often used spices in bulk. By buying in bulk, I can get organic herbs for about the same price as those little tiny jars of overpriced organic spices at the supermarket. I store my herbs in mason jars with tight fitting lids to keep them fresh. I highly recommend you find some ancho chili powder. It’s absolutely amazing!

Chicken broth- I buy the organic chicken broth from Costco. It’s inexpensive compared to other organic chicken broths and it’s a great tasting broth.

Diced tomatoes- Once again, I like the canned organic diced tomatoes from Costco. You can dice one or two fresh tomatoes in place of canned if you want. This is a super versatile recipe.

Whole kernel sweet corn- Use any can of whole kernel sweet corn that you have and just dump in the whole thing, including the flavorful juice from the can. I do tend to stick with organic varieties as much as possible. You can also use fresh corn if you want! Just cut the kernels from one or two ears of corn and throw them in.

Black beans- Drain and rinse your black beans before putting them into the pot.

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce- These come in a little can and can be found in the Mexican food section of your grocery store. They are a little spicy so if you don’t like the spicy heat, just use one. Don’t leave it out though because this is key for the depth of flavor and deliciousness that you want. I use three whole peppers and dice them finely. Yum!

Lime- Juice one-half of the lime and cut the rest into wedges.

Toppings- Avocado, sour cream. cheddar cheese, an extra drizzle of lime, and tortilla strips are the optional toppings for this soup. I highly recommend all of them. Toppings really take this chipotle lime chicken soup over the top. That being said, you don’t have to skip this recipe simply because you don’t have a ripe avocado. It’s still delicious without it!

Instructions:

1. Using a large pot or Dutch oven, heat up avocado oil and butter over a medium heat. My stove runs a little on the hotter side, so I use a setting slightly lower than medium heat. Let this heat up for about a minute or so and add your diced onions and fresh peppers. Sauté them until the onions get translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Turn down your burner if they start to brown too much.
2. I like to add all of my spices to one small bowl. Once your onions and peppers are cooked to perfection, sprinkle the spices over them and cook for an additional 30 seconds or so, until the spices become fragrant.
3. Add broth, diced tomatoes, corn, drained black beans, chicken and chopped chipotle peppers. Bring to a boil and then let simmer with the lid on for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Turn off the burner and stir in the lime juice.
5. Serve with toppings. Enjoy!