Name: Spicy Mexican Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil; 2 red or green chilli peppers (seeded and chopped); 1 onion (chopped); 500 g lean minced beef; 2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes; 1 x 400g can red kidney beans; 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 tsp hot chilli powder; ½ tsp ground cumin; ½ tsp ground coriander; 1 litre beef stock; salt and freshly ground black pepper; tortilla chips; cheddar cheese (grated )

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This Spicy Mexican Soup is a hearty meal in itself that’s easy to prepare and flavoured with fresh chillies and ground spices.

When the weather is a little cool I often serve soup for lunch or dinner. Filling, warming, and economical its a good standby. This recipe for Spicy Mexican Soup is an updated version of a recipe I wrote when I was at Woman’s Realm magazine many years ago. I will be honest – it is Mexican in name only. I’m quite sure it doesn’t remotely resemble anything a Mexican would recognise as Mexican food. I could have called it chilli con carne soup or spicy meat soup but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it, so I am sticking with the original name.

In essence, it is a soup version of chilli con carne and, as with any soup, it benefits from a few garnishes to lift it out of the ordinary and make it oh so much more tasty and appetising. So I have topped the soup with grated cheese and some tortilla chips. Tortilla chips make rather scrummy instant croutons. If you like your spicy food spicy hot, you could add some jalapenos to the garnish too and I guess a dollop of soured cream would also go down a treat.

Serve in bowls topped with tortilla chips and grated cheese.

Its no secret I’m a chilli wimp so I made mine with just one red chilli but I have suggested 2 in the recipe since I called it spicy. If you like your spicy food hot you can also ramp up the heat a bit by including some of the seeds. I’ll leave you to decide how hot you want it to be. As this quantity is quite large you may want to freeze some for later. Remember chilli flavour will intensify over time in the freezer so maybe make it a little milder if you are planning to freeze it.

Cheap and cheerful
Easy
Family Favourite
Spicy
Freezer Friendly
Comfort Food
Batch Cooking
Low Cal
Low Carb

bowl of spciy mexica soup with chilli and spoon by side

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5 from 4 votes

Spicy Mexican Soup

A hearty soup with TexMex flavours. This easy economical soup is great to prepare ahead and freeze for later

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Soup

Cuisine: fussion

Keyword: main-meal soup, meat soup

Skill Level: very easy

Servings: 8

Calories: 166kcal

Author: Jacqueline Bellefontaine

Ingredients

metric - US cups

1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
2 red or green chilli peppers seeded and chopped
1 onion chopped
500 g lean minced beef
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g can red kidney beans
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp hot chilli powder
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
1 litre beef stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Garnish

tortilla chips
cheddar cheese grated

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion and chilli until beginning to soften.
Add the beef and cook until the meat changes colour, breaking up with the side of the spoon as it cooks.
Stir in the tomatoes and beans. Then add the cocoa powder and ground spices.
Add the stock and bring the mixture to the boil. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with some tortilla chips and cheddar cheese sprinkled on top.

Notes

Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost fully before reheating. Reheat until piping hot.

Nutrition information is calculated using online nutrition database - is approximate and is meant as a guideline only. (It does not include seasoning with salt and pepper or the garnishes.)