Mexican Chicken Soup is flavorful soup made with lime, cilantro, onion, and a jalapeño to spice it up!
It is topped with a fresh slice of avocado and served with a side of rice.
You can find it at your favorite Mexican restaurant or make this Instant Pot Spicy Chicken Soup recipe to enjoy at home.
Mexican Chicken Soup
Our family LOVES Mexican food. We eat at our local restaurant, Mi Casita almost once a week.
They have great street tacos and enchiladas so it is hard to steer away from those...
However, one day I was fighting a nasty cold and ordered their Mexican Chicken Soup. I couldn't believe how delicious it was.
The spicy flavors makes this the perfect soup to fight a cold, but is delicious enough to eat any day of the week.
It has become one of my favorite dishes.
I love this soup so much I had to create this Mexican Chicken Soup recipe to share with my readers.
Watch how to make
In the restaurant, they serve this soup with a side of rice.
You can add or not add in the rice. We are all currently watching our waistlines, so it is great that the rice is optional.
Without the rice, this naturally is a delicious Whole 30 soup, Paleo soup, or low carb soup!!! And it is low in calories...
Or you can make my low carb Mexican cauliflower rice! It will be delicious with the soup.
Steps to make
Follow these easy steps to make.
- Turn on Instant Pot saute setting.
- Sauté celery, onions, jalapeño, and garlic in the olive oil. Cook until tender.
- Add chicken, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, and cumin.
- Cover and lock the lid. Cook on manual High pressure for 10 minutes. Natural release 15 minutes and quick release after.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the soup and shred the chicken.
- Return the shredded chicken. Add lime juice and stir. Add in fresh chopped cilantro.
- Serve soup with a slice of avocado.
Can you freeze it?
This pressure cooker Mexican Chicken Soup freezes well, so it is great for meal prep.
Just store in an airtight container and freeze.
When you are ready to cook, defrost, reheat, and top with your fresh toppings!
It is also perfect to bring over to a sick friend.
I only add one jalapeño in the recipe just to give it a little heat.
However, I chop up a few fresh ones to serve on the side for those who like that extra kick.
Besides being a big bowl of warm comfort fresh jalapeños help open those sinuses, and the limes are full of vitamin c!
Notes
****I only add one lime to this recipe because not everyone likes a strong lime flavor. HOWEVER, when I make it for myself, I add in 2 limes.
Because you add the lime juice in at the end, you can taste it with one lime and decide if you want to add in the additional lime.
Or you can serve it with slices of fresh lime for those who want to add it in additionally.
Enjoy!
For more great Instant Pot recipes, try:
- 15 Minute Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken
- Instant Pot Gumbo with Shrimp and Sausage
- Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Instant Pot Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
Mexican Chicken Soup- Instant Pot Spicy Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breast
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 jalapeno, diced
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes with chiles
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 lime, sliced for garnish
Instructions
- Turn on Instant Pot saute setting.
- Sauté 2 chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped onion, 1 diced jalapeño, and 4 crushed garlic cloves in 2 tbs olive oil. Cook until tender.
- Add 1 pd chicken breasts, 14 oz canned tomatoes, 6 cups chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon cumin.
- Cover and lock the lid. Cook on manual High pressure for 10 minutes. Natural release 15 minutes and quick release after.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the soup and shred the chicken.
- Return the shredded chicken. Add juice from 1 lime and stir. Add in fresh chopped cilantro.
- Serve soup with a slice of avocado.
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
I LOVE Mexican food too! I saw this on FB yesterday and I knew I had to check out! This looks amazingly delicious, Katie! I love lime too so would definitely be adding extra...and top with lots of avocado and cilantro.
Mike
Nice and easy and good
Has a nice little kick to it
Will make again?
karrie @ Tasty Ever After
So happy you posted this because I LOVE Mexican chicken soup and don't have an Instant Pot recipe for one! I'm going to make it Sunday night so we can have lunch leftovers for Monday.
Tina
I'm going to boil the chicken first on stove top for 30 to 45 min, and then add everything in. Since I dont have a crockpot.
You think it would still taste good?
Katie
Yes. It will be just as good. I am not sure on the timing on the stove top, but if you cook it long enough for the chicken to easily fall apart, it will be perfect. The Instant Pot just makes everything quicker and easier.
Shasta Andersen
This was perfect! I can't believe how much I loved it. Super simple, super fantastic.
Eileen
I really loved this recipe! I was inspired by Lalo's soup and came across this! I do not have an instant pot, so I crock-potted the chicken in lime juice, salt. pepper. cumin and garlic for 3 hours. Cooked up the broth and veggies separate then combine the meat. Very tasty, thank you for sharing!
Starla Grimes
I just made this and it’s very healthy with good flavors. I do not like celery so I put in a frozen bag of cauliflower rice with the chicken cycle. It’s delicious!
Donna Pena
I made this over the weekend and have to make another batch today because my family absolutely loves it! I love that it's a quick and super easy soup that does not involve a lot of prep work. AND IT"S DELICIOUS! I serve it with Mexican rice and top it with onions, cilantro, lime and avocado. With a side of corn tortillas. YUMMY!
Sue
This was my first Instapot recipe and we were so pleased! We halved it cause there are only two of us and we had to sub some ingredients due to Covid and not wanting to shop. We used 1 chicken breast, cup of chopped yellow pepper, fresh chopped tomatoes (3/4 cup) red pepper flakes (no jalepeños in the house,) and 1/4 cup bottled lime juice. Everything else as stated, but half. It was so tasty. Tried it with rice, without, with tortilla chips, and with sour cream— every combo was yumzola. Thanks so much for the great recipe.
Esther
This was very flavorful and easy to make. Next time I would add a can of black beans and a cup of frozen corn as I felt like it could use a little more substance. I didn’t have jalapeño but it was still quite spicy, I think because the tomatoes I used had diced chilis.
Shelly
Had soup just like this in Puerto Vallarta at a resort buffet, I couldn't get enough of it. This recipe is just like that amazing soup...Thank you for creating this recipe!
Becca
I agree with Eileen- this is very reminiscent of Lalo’s! I used chicken thighs because they’re what I had on hand. Also added Mexican oregano - hoo wee! My only suggestion would be to sauté the chicken before the veggies so they can soak up all those brown bits from the pot. Definitely add the lime at the end so it doesn’t get bitter. Your timing recommendations were spot on! Thanks for the recipe!
Allison
Delicious! I added squash and cauliflower like our local Mexican restaurants does. I also used a whole chicken instead of just breasts. This was exactly like the soup I love so much and order all the time. So happy I can now make it at home.
Mommy2b2daniel
Excellent flavor, loved the recipe. I omitted the tomato (personal preference). I also didn’t sauté the jalapeño and onion first. I cooked the chicken in the broth and seasoning and after done I turned the instant pot to sauté and I added onion and jalapeño with shredded chicken back to broth and let simmer for about 20 minutes and then added cilantro. I like my vegetables with a little bit of texture to them. Thanks so much for a great recipe. Will definitely make this again.
PJ
This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. We used to order the soup all the time at our local Mexican restaurant. I've never run across anything that replicates it quite like this, maybe it's the cumin. I don't know but the soup is fantastic and so easy to make
Aimee Young
We have a famous local place we go for this soup. Over the years, the containers have gotten smaller and our visits less frequent. I made this in hopes it might be somewhat similar but expected it wouldn’t be nearly as good as our favorite. WOW, both my husband and I thought it was BETTER than our favorite Mexican soup restaurant! I doubled the recipe so we have left overs. I had some for breakfast today - it is THAT good. Thank you!!!
Kay
This one is a hard one for me to judge. I followed all the steps and ingredients, but the soup was quite bland. I had the lime, cilantro, avocado, corn chips...but still something was missing. Not sure if it was because of the instant pot or not. Will try to boil it down a bit more.
Katie Crenshaw
You don't eat corn chips with this soup. I think you are confusing this soup with Tortilla Soup or Taco Soup. This is a very simple soup similar to the American chicken noodle in flavor. The added cumin, cilantro, and lime give it more of a kick than the chicken noodle soup. Typically it is served with rice on the side. You can add the rice to your bowl or leave it out. Sorry you did not care for the soup. This is an authentic soup recipe. However, not everyone's taste buds are the same, I totally understand if this is something you enjoyed.
Jenny
I have been making this soup for a few years now and it’s delicious! You can adapt it to your liking. I omit the celery and add double the cumin. Instead of sautéing the garlic, I use a garlic press and add it in while I am adding the canned tomatoes, lime juice, etc. Tastes just as good to me. You can also adjust the jalapeños to your liking for more or less spice. I have passed this recipe to friends and they love it too!