Gordon Ramsay’s Spicy Mexican Soup

Gordon Ramsay’s spicy Mexican soup is a smoky chipotle and kidney bean broth topped with crumbled Lancashire cheese, chopped avocado and fresh coriander (cilantro). Served with home-baked tortilla chips and a pico de gallo salsa. Serves 4 in about 30 minutes.

It comes from Ultimate Home Cooking. Ramsay writes that “the Mexicans are masters at building layer upon layer of flavour” and pairs the soup with tortilla chips and pico de gallo. He cooks it in his YouTube video too.

What separates this from a standard bean soup is the chipotle. Dried chipotles are smoked jalapeños, and Ramsay warns they “continue to swell and release their heat” the longer you cook them. Ten minutes gives a manageable kick, fifteen pushes it further.

Gordon Ramsay’s Spicy Mexican Soup

Recipe by Sophie LaneCourse: Soup, LunchCuisine: Mexican, BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

350

kcal

Total time

30 minutes

Smoky chipotle and kidney bean soup from Ultimate Home Cooking. Topped with Lancashire cheese, avocado and coriander, served with baked tortilla chips and pico de gallo.

Ingredients

• For the soup:

• Olive oil, for frying

• 1 red onion, peeled and diced

• 2 tsp cumin seeds, dry-toasted

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

• 2-4 dried chipotle chillies, finely chopped (or 1 tbsp chipotle paste)

• 1 tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)

• 1 x 400g (14 oz) tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 x 400g (15 oz) tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 tsp sugar

• 500-750ml (2-3 cups) vegetable or chicken stock

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• To serve:

• 100g (3½ oz) Lancashire cheese, crumbled (or Monterey Jack)

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped

• ½ bunch of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

• For the tortilla chips:

• 6 large tortilla wraps

• Olive oil, for brushing

• Smoked paprika

• Pinch of salt

• For the pico de gallo:

• 3 ripe tomatoes, finely diced

• ½ red onion, finely diced

• 1-2 fresh jalapeño chillies, deseeded and chopped

• Small bunch of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped

• Juice of ½ lime

Directions

• Fry the onion and spices: Heat a dash of olive oil in a large pan. Fry the red onion with salt and pepper until soft. Add the cumin seeds and oregano and cook for 2 minutes until aromatic.
• Add the chipotle and garlic: Stir in the garlic and dried chipotle chillies and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato purée (tomato paste) and stir over the heat for another minute.
• Build the soup: Add the tinned tomatoes, kidney beans and sugar. Pour in 500ml (2 cups) of stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened. Add more stock if it gets too thick.
• Make the pico de gallo: Mix the diced tomatoes, red onion, jalapeño, coriander (cilantro) and lime juice in a bowl. Season and leave to sit for 15 minutes.
• Bake the tortilla chips: Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Brush tortilla wraps with olive oil, sprinkle with smoked paprika and salt, then cut into triangles. Bake for 3-4 minutes until golden and crisp.
• Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with crumbled cheese, chopped avocado and coriander (cilantro). Serve the tortilla chips and pico de gallo alongside.

Notes

Ramsay writes that “the longer dried chillies are cooked, the hotter they will become, as they swell and release their heat.” If you want less fire, use chipotle paste instead of whole dried chillies. The UHC says Mexicans temper the heat with “a natural fire blanket of avocado and a creamy hard cheese similar to Lancashire.”

FAQs

What is chipotle and where do you buy it?

A chipotle is a jalapeño that has been ripened on the plant and then wood-smoked. That smoking gives it a sweet, deep heat that raw chillies cannot match. You can buy dried chipotles or chipotle paste in most supermarkets.

Ramsay says in the book to use 2-4 dried chipotles or 1 tablespoon of paste. The paste is easier to dose because you can taste as you go. Two whole dried chipotles give a solid warmth without pain.

Can you use a different cheese?

Ramsay uses Lancashire because it is a great British substitute for the tangy, crumbly cheese used in Mexico. It melts slightly in the hot soup and adds salty richness that cools the chipotle.

Any crumbly, salty cheese works. Feta, Cheshire or Wensleydale are the closest British options. In the US, Monterey Jack or queso fresco do the same job.

How is this different from chilli con carne?

Chilli con carne is a thick, dry beef mince stew with no broth. This is a loose soup with no meat at all. The chilli con carne uses paprika with beef mince, while this builds its heat from dried chipotle and kidney beans.

Both use kidney beans and cumin, but they end up in completely different places. One sits on rice, the other goes in a bowl with a spoon.

What other Mexican dishes go with this soup?

The spicy black beans from the UCC use a similar cumin and chilli base. They work as a side if you want a full Mexican spread. The tomato salsa is another quick accompaniment that adds freshness.

For a meatier version of the same idea, the spicy meatball soup uses chipotle and cumin in a tomato broth with beef meatballs. Same flavour family, different weight.

Does Mexican soup keep well?

The soup base improves overnight because the chipotle heat deepens as it sits. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for 3 months.

Make the pico de gallo and bake the tortilla chips fresh on the day. Both lose their crunch and brightness if made too far ahead. The pumpkin soup from the UCC also stores well if you want to batch cook two soups at once.