Chicken & Eggs · Yucatecan
Sopa de Lima (Yucatecan Lime Soup)
Sopa de lima is Yucatán's signature soup: a fragrant chicken broth perfumed with lima, the region's sweet, aromatic citrus, and topped with crisp tortilla strips. A slow-simmered bone broth from pasture-raised chickens is the base, so the soup tastes rich and clean.
- Prep20 min
- Cook40 min
- Total60 min
- Servings6
Ingredients
- 2 liters organic chicken bone broth $235
- 600 g pasture-raised boneless skinless chicken breast $315
- 200 g chicken livers and hearts, trimmed (traditional, optional) $130
- 1 white onion, 1 green bell pepper and 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp oregano, 2 allspice berries, 1 small cinnamon stick
- 3 limas (Yucatecan sweet limes); use 2 limes + 1 orange peel if unavailable
- 8 corn tortillas cut into strips and fried until crisp
- Cilantro, chopped habanero and salt
Instructions
- Bring the bone broth to a simmer with the garlic, oregano, allspice and cinnamon. Add the chicken breast and cook 15 minutes. Remove and shred.
- Briefly blanch the livers and hearts in the broth for 5 minutes, then remove and chop.
- In a little oil, sauté the onion, bell pepper and tomato until soft, then add them to the broth.
- Slice one lima into thin rounds and add it with the juice of another. Simmer just 5 minutes so the soup does not turn bitter.
- Return the shredded chicken and chopped giblets to the pot and season with salt.
- Ladle into bowls and top with crisp tortilla strips, cilantro, a lima slice and habanero to taste.
Tips
- Remove the lima rinds after 5 minutes to avoid bitterness.
- Add the tortilla strips just before serving so they stay crunchy.
