Sopa de Lima

What Is Sopa de Lima?

Sopa de lima is a Yucatecan chicken and lime soup: a clear, citrus broth built on charred tomato, onion, and chile, finished with the juice of the sour lima and topped with crisp fried tortilla strips. It comes from the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and is eaten across the corridor down into northern Belize.

In Mérida they serve this soup all year, in the heat too. The soul of it is the lima. Not the green lime you know from the store. The lima agria, the sour lima, grows in the Yucatán and almost nowhere else. It gives a bitter flower taste under the sour. If you have the lima agria, use it. If you cannot find it, you make it close: three parts lime juice and one part orange. The orange gives back that soft bitter the lima carries.

Prep: 20 minutes · Cook: 1 hour · Total: 1 hour 20 minutes · Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, about 3 pounds, in pieces
• 10 cups water
• 1 white onion (half for the broth, half for the soup)
• 7 cloves garlic
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 whole habanero, left unbroken
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• 4 allspice berries and 2 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• Juice of 4 limas agrias, or 6 tablespoons lime juice with 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 6 corn tortillas, cut in thin strips, plus lard or oil for frying
• Cilantro, 1 avocado, and extra lime to serve

Instructions

1. Put the chicken in the pot with the water, half the onion, 3 garlic cloves, and the salt. Bring up, then low. Cook until the meat falls from the bone, about 40 minutes. Take out the chicken, cool, and shred. Keep the broth and skim the fat.
2. On a dry comal or hot pan, char the tomatoes, the other half onion, the bell pepper, and 4 garlic cloves until blackened in spots and soft. This is what gives the broth its taste. Do not skip it.
3. In the same dry pan, warm the allspice, cloves, and oregano a few seconds until you smell them.
4. Chop the charred vegetables small or blend rough. Return to the broth with the toasted spice, the bay leaf, and the whole habanero. Simmer 20 minutes.
5. Add the shredded chicken back. Taste for salt. Lift out the habanero before it breaks, unless your people like it hot.
6. Off the heat, add the lima agria juice, or the lime and orange together, plus a few lime slices. Do not boil hard after the citrus goes in. That keeps it bright.
7. Fry the tortilla strips in hot lard in small batches until golden and crisp, less than a minute. Drain.
8. Ladle the broth and chicken into bowls. Top with tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro. At the table, more lime and sliced habanero for who wants it.

After the bowl is in front of you, squeeze one more lime over it. That last squeeze is half the dish. The strips go soft slowly, so add them when you are ready to eat.

Tips and Variations

• In the villages this is often made with turkey, the pavo, especially after a holiday bird. The broth comes out richer.
• No lima agria and no orange? Lime alone still makes a good soup. A little grapefruit juice can stand in for the bitter part.
• The whole habanero is for smell. Cut a slit in it, or serve it sliced at the table, if you want the heat.
• Day-old tortillas fry crispier than fresh.

Sopa de lima belongs to the same Yucatecan table as panuchos, poc chuc, and the fish of the same coast, tikin xic. The pot and comal for this kitchen are in our Yucatecan kitchen tools guide. For more, see the Mayan recipes collection and the Belizean recipes A-Z.

Sopa de Lima FAQ

What is the lima in sopa de lima?

Is the lima agria, a sour lima from the Yucatán. It is more bitter and floral than a regular lime, and it grows mostly only on the peninsula. Outside the Yucatán, cooks use lime with a little orange to come close.

Can I use regular lime?

Yes. Use three parts lime juice to one part orange juice. The orange gives back the soft bitter flower taste the lima agria has. Plain lime works too, it only misses that one note.

Where does sopa de lima come from?

From the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, the land of the Maya. It spread across the peninsula and down past the border into northern Belize, where the food is the same.

Is sopa de lima chicken or turkey?

Both are traditional. Chicken is everyday. Turkey, the pavo, is common after a holiday, made from the leftover bird.

When do you add the lime juice?

At the very end, off the heat. If you boil the soup hard after the citrus, it turns dull. Added last, it stays sharp and bright.

What do you serve with sopa de lima?

The fried tortilla strips and avocado are part of the bowl, so it stands on its own as a light meal. Put extra warm tortillas on the side, and the sliced habanero and lime on the table.

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