Peruvian Chicken Soup

With the temperatures plummeting here in Oklahoma City, soup has been on my mind.

Its warmth soothes the soul—and any achey joints brought on by the frigid tempearatures. I can’t compain too much about the weather; I know some of you have gotten it a lot worse than us. Arctic blasts and feet of snow, ice slicks and whipping cold winds. We just have some barely-below-freezing temperatures, but that’s still too much for me.

I didn’t do much cooking over the weekend (because of the Christmas holiday), but I was able to whip up a new soup recipe. This one hails from South America, whose flavors I absolutely adore. Spicy foods are just my jam.

This soup was so different than what I’m used to—so I knew it was right up my alley. In Peru it’s called Aguadito de Pollo (quite literally chicken soup) or also levante-muertos, meaning “to wake the dead”. This soup probably would wake the dead, it’s so spicy and cilantro-heavy…both of which are two things I’m totally okay with.

Traditional aguadito de pollo is made with chunks of chicken, big bunches of cilantro, potatoes, peas, corn and rice. I went with some shredded chicken thighs (I just like the texture of shredded chicken better), potatoes, rice, and carrots. You have to have a heavy hand with the cilantro to give the soup its striking green color.

I opted to kick the spice up with a mixture of poblano and serrano peppers. The spicier, the better. You really want to open your sinuses up with this soup and give your tummy a good, tingly, warm feeling. Only the best soups can do that in the wintertime!

This soup would also be pretty good with some leftover turkey. I would’ve used ours, but we had a smoked turkey and I didn’t want to taint the spice and flavor level already brought on with the cilantro, peppers, and onion. If you’ve got a regular roasted turkey, though, you should be good to go.

Step-By-Step Instructions

In a large pot, heat avocado oil over medium heat. Add onion and poblano and cook until translucent, 3-4 minutes.

Add garlic and serrano pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until garlic is fragrant and peppers are tender. Pour mixture into a blender or food processor and let cool.

Meanwhile, return pot back to medium heat. Add 5 cups broth, potatoes, carrots, cumin and rice and cook for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and rice is done. Add cooked chicken to pot and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

Add cilantro, lime, salt, pepper, and remaining 1 cup of broth to the blender with the onion-pepper mixture. Pulse until smooth.

Pour onion-pepper mixture into soup pot.

Stir until mixture is well combined and dispersed.