Sopa Azteca with Serrano Chicharrón & Chipotle Crema: Tortilla Soup, With an Extra

The first cold evening of October has one correct answer, and it's a bowl of sopa azteca. Charred tomatoes and a toasted chile pasilla blended smooth, fried until the kitchen smells sweet, thinned with chicken broth and a sprig of epazote — then poured over a nest of crispy tortilla strips. Avocado, panela, crema, a squeeze of limón. Every fonda in Mexico serves it; every abuela has an opinion about it.

Ours comes with an extra. Two, actually. A handful of crushed serrano-pepper chicharrón goes on top for crunch that doesn't go soft the second it hits the broth, with a slow green heat underneath. And instead of plain crema, a chipotle crema — crema blended with one chipotle in adobo and lime — swirled in at the table, smoky and cool at the same time. Same soul, better bowl. 40 minutes, one pot and a skillet.

Ingredients

• 4 Roma tomatoes, ¼ white onion and 2 garlic cloves
• 2 dried pasilla chiles — one for the base, one fried into rings — or 1 Tbsp ground pasilla: Intalmesa Chile Pasilla Molido gives you the same deep, raisiny red with zero toasting
• 6 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth) — Knorr 100% Natural Caldo de Pollo is the weeknight shortcut
• 1 sprig fresh epazote (or cilantro)
• 8 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips, plus oil for frying — or skip the frying with Los Reyes Totopos Naturales, crushed
• The extra #1: ½ cup serrano-pepper chicharrón, roughly crushed — Don Chacho Chicharrón de Chile Serrano
• The extra #2: ½ cup Mexican crema blended with 1 chipotle in adobo and a squeeze of lime
• To finish: 1 avocado diced, ½ cup queso panela or fresco cubed, lime wedges, salt

How to Make It

Step 1 — Toast the pasilla

Heat a dry comal or skillet over medium. Toast the chiles 30 seconds per side, pressing them flat with a spatula, until they puff and smell like dried fruit — not a second more, or they turn bitter. Pull the stems and seeds. Soak one in hot water for 10 minutes; the other is for the topping. Using ground pasilla? Skip the soak and stir it in at Step 3.

Step 2 — Char and blend the base

Char the jitomates, cebolla and ajo on the same comal until blistered and black in spots, 6–8 minutes, turning once. Blend with the soaked chile and a splash of broth until completely smooth — a full minute. That char is the difference between tortilla soup and sopa azteca.

Step 3 — Fry the base

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pot over medium-high. Pour in the purée (careful, it spits) and fry it 5 minutes, stirring, until it darkens from bright red to brick, thickens and smells sweet. This is where the flavor is built — don't rush it.

Step 4 — Simmer

Add the broth and the epazote sprig. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and let it go 15 minutes, uncovered, so it concentrates a little. Season with salt. Meanwhile make the extra: blend the crema with the chipotle and a squeeze of lime until smooth and pale orange.

Step 5 — Crisp the toppings

Fry the tortilla strips in a skillet of hot oil in two batches until golden and stiff, 2 minutes each; drain on paper and salt lightly. Drop the second pasilla, cut into rings, into the same oil for 10 seconds — no longer, it burns fast — and lift it out. Crush the serrano chicharrón with your hands into bite-size pieces.

Step 6 — Assemble

Strips in the bowl first. Ladle the hot broth over them, then pile on avocado, panela, a generous handful of crushed chicharrón, a few pasilla rings, a swirl of chipotle crema and a squeeze of limón. Serve immediately, while the strips still crunch. ¡Provecho!

Sweater weather starts in the olla. The pasilla, the caldo de pollo, the totopos and the chicharrón are all in the shop this week — and if you want the rest of soup season in one place, our new Caldos & Sopitas collection has 200 of them. 🌮

Taste the Fiesta!