Mexican Soup & Stew Recipes: Pozole, Menudo, Birria & More

🇲🇽 Mexico

Mexican Soup & Stew Recipes

From the big weekend pots of pozole and menudo to weeknight caldo de pollo and tortilla soup, Mexico's soups are built on dried chiles, hominy and long, slow simmering.

10 soups and stews, each with a recipe ↓

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Mexican soups are weekend food and medicine at once: pozole and menudo simmer for hours for family gatherings and the morning after, while caldo de pollo, sopa de lima and tortilla soup are the everyday bowls, each finished at the table with lime, onion, chile and crisp tortilla.

Mexico's Celebration Soup

Pozole Rojo

Pork and hominy simmered in a red guajillo-ancho broth, served with shredded cabbage, radish, oregano and lime. The pot that feeds every Mexican holiday table.

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More Mexican Soups & Stews to Try

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Pozole Verde

Guerrero's green pozole: hominy and chicken or pork in a tomatillo, pepita and serrano broth.

Pozole Blanco

The plain white pozole of Jalisco, where the toppings and salsas do all the seasoning.

Menudo

Tripe and hominy in a red chile broth, the Sunday-morning cure served with lime and oregano.

Birria

Goat or beef braised in a dried-chile adobo until it falls apart, ladled with its own consomé.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tomato-chile broth with shredded chicken, crisp tortilla strips, avocado and queso fresco.

Caldo Tlalpeño

Mexico City's chicken and chickpea soup with chipotle heat and a squeeze of lime.

Sopa de Lima

Yucatán's bright chicken soup scented with the bitter lima citrus and topped with fried tortilla.

Caldo de Pollo

The homestyle chicken and vegetable soup every Mexican family makes, rice and lime on the side.

Pozole: Rojo, Verde & Blanco

The complete guide to Mexico's three pozoles, their regions and how the toppings differ.

A Guide to Mexican Soups and Stews

Mexico cooks soup for a crowd. Pozole comes in red, green and white and anchors Independence Day and Christmas Eve tables; menudo is the tripe-and-hominy bowl sold from dawn on weekends; birria started as Jalisco's goat stew and became the consomé-dipped taco of the decade. The everyday pots are lighter: caldo de pollo, tortilla soup, the chipotle-spiked caldo tlalpeño and Yucatán's citrusy sopa de lima, all finished at the table with lime, onion, chile and something crunchy.

Start with the recipes above, then see the full roundup of Mexican soups and stews, or explore Mexican main dishes, Mexican street foods, all Mexican food and soups and stews from across Latin America and Spain.

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