This smooth pureed Sopa Azteca recipe is a soup of dried chiles slow cooked with chicken, broth, tomatoes, spices, lime juice, and cilantro.
Sopa Azteca soup is blended smooth, strained if needed, and topped with your favorite garnishes including crispy tortilla strips.
This Sopa Azteca recipe is inspired by one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, Colorado - Centro.
Garnishes For Mexican Chicken Soup with Tortillas
- Add cooked chicken, pork, beef, beans, or corn
- Add traditional cheeses like asadero (melty) or cotija (crumbly)
- Add favorite cheese like colby jack, cheddar, feta, or goat cheese
- Sour cream
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Tortilla Strips - A must!
Dried Chile Choices For Sopa Azteca Soup
Don't get too caught up on finding the exact right dried chilis for Mexican Tortilla Soup - they may be hard to find.
Guajillo, Pasilla, or Ancho chiles will work and should all be around the same heat. Throw in a dried serrano or two if you really want to bring the heat!
Make sure to de-seed the dried chilis before using. It doesn't need to be perfect. A couple seeds are fine, but get the majority of them out because they will add heat and a different texture to your Azteca soup.
Different chiles will give a different range of colors from orange to red. Run with the color that you get and don't worry!
Preparing Chiles For Sopa Azteca Soup
Tear the dried chiles with your hands (wear gloves if you are sensitive to heat).
Eventually Sopa Azteca is strained, but if your chunks are smaller and you make sure to cook it for the allotted time (50 minutes) then there maybe nothing to strain out after it's pureed.
Variations and Substitutions For Sopa Azteca
Mexican inspired comfort food that brings a little heat. Buy pre-made tortilla strips or make your own. Use crumbled tortilla chips in a pinch.
Fire roasted tomatoes can be hot. If you're sensitive to heat use a can of regular diced tomatoes instead.
Use canned diced tomatoes with green chilies or any chiles if you can't find fire roasted tomatoes.
If your Sopa Azteca is too spicy then add some sour cream, cheese, or a wee bit more broth to tone it down and bring down the heat.
Substitute 1 tablespoon chili powder if you can't find any dried Mexican chiles.
Substitute any crumbly cheese if you can't find asadero, or use sour cream or your favorite grated or crumbled cheese.
Things In My Kitchen:
- Immersion Blender - blends soup fast and cleans up easy.
- Blender - purees soup finer than an immersion blender.
- Dried Pasilla Chiles - this is an Amazon link but you can find these cheaper in a specialty Mexican grocery store and sometimes in your regular grocery store.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Sopa Azteca - Tortilla Chicken Soup
EatSimpleFood.com
This Sopa Azteca recipe is soup of dried chiles slow cooked with chicken, broth, tomatoes, spices, lime juice, and cilantro. Sopa Azteca soup is blended smooth, strained if needed, and topped with your favorite garnishes including crispy tortilla strips.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 5
- Category: Main Dish / Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ cup onions, sliced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 2 dry medium sized Pasilla Chile
, stems removed and seeded
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cilantro
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 lime, zested & juiced
- 3 cups (~ 1 ¼ lb) cooked chicken, shredded
- 1 ½ cup asadero cheese, crumbled - as garnish
- 1 avocado, diced - as garnish
- 2 cups tortilla strips - as garnish
, stems removed and seededInstructions
- Bring a large pot to medium high heat and add olive oil. When hot, add onions, reduce heat, cover and cook (stirring occasionally) ~ 5-7 minutes or until translucent.
- Add garlic and a touch more oil if needed and cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Stir in de-seeded Pasilla Chile
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer ~ 50 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf from soup and Immersion blend
or place in a blender
until soup is smooth.
- Strain any solids (if applicable) out of the soup and ladle into bowls.
- Top with cooked chicken and garnish with cheese, avocado, and tortilla strips.
- Add salt to taste. Happy soupin'! Beckie
or place in a 
until soup is smooth. Notes
- If your soup is too spicy, add some sour cream, cheese, or more broth to tone it down.
- Substitute 1 tablespoon chili powder if you can't find any dried Mexican chiles.
- Substitute any crumbly cheese if you can't find asadero, or use sour cream.
- Have some extra cilantro? Throw that on as a garnish as well!
- Fire roasted tomatoes can be hot. If you're sensitive to heat use a can of regular diced tomatoes instead.
Serving Suggestion
This Mexican Tortilla Soup is "da bomb" and can easily stand on its own, but here are a few complementary dishes I like:
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