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12 Mexican Soup Recipes You'll Want To Make On Cinco (& Seis, Siete, Ocho...) De Mayo

And nueve, diez, once....

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elote mexican corn soup
PHOTO: LUCY SCHAEFFER PHOTOGRAPHY; FOOD STYLING: MAKINZE GORE

Quick! Think of your favorite soup recipes, and why are they all from Mexico? As it turns out, our love for Mexican food goes way beyond tacos, enchiladas, and elote and has us obsessed with serving up a bowl-ful of these ultra-comforting Mexican soup recipes. Spicy, bright, creamy, and fresh, these recipes range from our own takes on the classics (like pozole) as well as created some modern favorites (ahem, taco soup), and we have a sneaky feeling you'll want to keep these soups on your weeknight dinner rotation (and not just on Cinco de Mayo!).

Classic Mexican soup recipes are at the top of our list for a reason. Standbys like albondigas, black bean soup, and avocado soup are not only comforting and easy to make (yet taste super-complex), but they all get even better with plenty of crispy tortilla strips on top. Can your regular ol' chicken noodle soup do that? We think not!

Want to partake in more modern takes on the classics? We thought it was about time to take our favorite Mexican dishes and gave them the soup treatment. Enter: nacho soup, Crockpot chicken enchilada soup, and, wait for it, elote corn soup. We hope you're extra hungry, because you're gonna want to save room for second helpings of our esquites corn chowder too.

Looking for more recipes to fill out your fiesta? Check out all of our favorite Mexican desserts, tequila cocktails, and all our best Cinco de Mayo recipes.

1

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

slow cooker chicken tortilla soup vertical
Parker Feierbach

We load this tortilla soup up with extra protein by adding black beans, then throw in some vegetables (corn! bell peppers! onion!) for health and color, and flavor it all with canned fire-roasted tomatoes, which we love for their smokiness. We quick-fry tortillas strips at the very end for added crunch.

Get the Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.

2

Best-Ever Pozole

best ever pozole
Parker feierbach

Don't let the time commitment on this fantastically flavorful pozole recipe scare you. It's as easy as bringing water to a boil and letting it simmer away while you multitask on other things going on in your life. The longer you let the soup simmer, the better it will be. With time, the meat will turn tender, soft, and buttery, the aromas will deepen, and the color will become as rich as the soup tastes.

Get the Best-Ever Pozole recipe.

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3

Black Bean Soup

black bean soup vertical
Ethan Calabrese

A warm and spicy black bean soup always hits the spot: deep purple-black color gives way to rich creamy consistency, spiced just right with fragrant onions, hot jalapeños, cumin, and chili powder. Almost as important as the soup itself is what you use to top it. We love some slices of creamy avocado, bright cilantro, and sour cream, but the options are truly endless.

Get the Black Bean Soup recipe.

4

Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

crock pot chicken enchilada soup
PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: SPENCER RICHARDS

Looking for a low effort, stick-to-your-ribs dinner? You've come to the right place. This Tex-Mex inspired soup is hearty, delicious, and endlessly riffable, especially those toppings: Try crushed Fritos, cubed avocado, roasted pumpkin seeds, pickled or fresh jalapeños, pickled red onions... whatever floats your boat.

Get the Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe.

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5

Elote Corn Soup

elote mexican corn soup
PHOTO: LUCY SCHAEFFER PHOTOGRAPHY; FOOD STYLING: MAKINZE GORE

Fresh and bright, this recipe transforms a classic Mexican street food, elote, into an irresistible bowl of soup. Chili-spiced and lime-spiked, these sweet and creamy bowls take the corn off the cob, turning it into the perfect summer starter or main.

Get the Elote Corn Soup recipe.

6

Nacho Soup

nacho soup vertical
ETHAN CALABRESE

Fire-roasted tomatoes gives the broth a slightly charred and smoky flavor. But if all you've got is a can of chopped tomatoes, no worries! It'll still be bomb. The cheese is interchangeable as well—whatever you like on your nachos should work here.

Get the Nacho Soup recipe.

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7

Albondigas Soup

albondigas
CHELSEA LUPKIN

Albondigas is a soup that's a staple in many Mexican households. This albondigas recipe is a hybrid between a few different versions of the classic soup. Don’t freak out if you don’t have an ingredient or two—feel free to substitute and experiment. This recipe is also a great one to do with kids; they'll love to get their hands dirty mixing and rolling the albondigas.

Get the Albondigas Soup recipe.

8

Avocado Soup

avocado soup
PHOTO: LUCY SCHAEFFER PHOTOGRAPHY; FOOD STYLING: SPENCER RICHARDS

Although the origin is debatable—Mexico, Colombia, and California all lay claim—avocado soup's deliciousness is definitely not up for debate. Somewhere between the cool freshness of gazpacho and the savory richness of guacamole, this sooup is equally great chilled or served at room temperature. Here, the traditional chicken stock gets swapped for the vegetable variety for a vegetarian soup, and you can easily grab a non-dairy cream substitute to make it fully vegan, too!

Get the Avocado Soup recipe.

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9

Esquites Corn Chowder

esquites chowder
PHOTO: ANDREW BUI; FOOD STYLING: BARRETT WASHBURNE

Have you ever had esquites so good, you wanted to drink it straight out of the bowl? Esquites is the iconic Mexican street food made from corn kernels, mayo, lime, and chili powder, like elotes, but in a cup (literally elote en vaso!). When it came to making this soup, we looked no further than corn chowder—the quintessential New England comfort food that features loads of corn, bacon, and potato. The warm, creamy soup and the cool, sweet, acidic esquites combine in one bowl to create an insanely good contrast of texture, temperature, and flavor.

Get the Esquites Corn Chowder recipe.

10

Posole

crock pot posole
Ethan Calabrese

Make no mistake: This slow cooker version isn't authentic, but it's quick, easy, flavorful, and filling. Mix and match your favorite toppings and feel free to sub in your favorite protein—pork, beef, or turkey would all be delicious.

Get the Posole recipe.

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11

Tex-Mex Meatball Soup

tex mex meatball soup
PHOTO: ERIK BERNSTEIN; FOOD STYLING: SPENCER RICHARDS

Bright, spicy, and yet so hearty, this Tex-Mex meatball soup is on heavy rotation for us all year round. Frying the tortilla strips is totally optional but ridiculously delicious. If you're short on time, sub in crushed tortilla chips! Looking for a drink pairing? Try our favorite blueberry lemonade margaritas!

Get the Tex-Mex Meatball Soup recipe.

12

Taco Soup

a pot of taco soup filled with ground beef, onions, tomato, beans and corn
ETHAN CALABRESE

We need to taco about how good this dish is. This hearty soup was inspired by our love for that Tex-Mex classic: ground beef tacos. With this soup, you can have all the joys of serving tacos without having to do any of the taco building.

Get the Taco Soup recipe.

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