RECIPE: Make Taxco’s Sopa de Pollo
I would love to have the recipe for sopa de pollo, the chicken and rice soup from Taxco on Roswell Road. It is a light and delicious soup full of chicken, rice, avocados and onions. I have tried to replicate it at home, but have never succeeded. — Nancy Sharp, Atlanta
What appears to be a simple soup of chicken and rice is actually a bit complicated to make. Taxco’s owners are Jose Alvarez and Daniel Jamey, and Alvarez’s son, Mario, said the recipe has been in the restaurant family for more than 30 years.
To cook the chicken, the restaurant uses a soup base called Malu Chicken, which is a restaurant supply ingredient. For this home cook version, we’ve substituted chicken soup base available in the soup aisle of the supermarket. To cook the rice, Taxco uses Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor, available at some grocery stores or online. We were able to buy it through Walmart. Taxco also prepares batches of the chicken and rice every morning in quantities far larger than this, then serves the soup in bowls that hold 12 to 14 ounces.
With all the components prepared early in the day, the restaurant then makes each bowl of soup to order, layering the rice, chicken and garnishes, then filling the serving bowl with broth. Depending on the size of your serving bowls, you may not use all the broth you make from this recipe. Refrigerate or freeze the remainder for other uses.
- 1 3-pound whole chicken
- 2 onions, roughly chopped, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon chicken soup base
- 3 1/2 cups roughly chopped Roma tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons tomato bouillon with chicken flavor
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
- Salt and pepper
- 1 diced avocado, for garnish
- 1/2 cup diced tomato, for garnish
- 1/2 cup diced onion, for garnish
- 1 lime, quartered
- Place chicken in a large saucepan or stockpot and add 12 cups water. Add 1 roughly chopped onion, garlic and chicken base and bring liquid to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer at least 90 minutes, until meat is falling off the bone. Skim any foam from broth as it cooks.
- Remove chicken, let cool and hand-shred the meat. Discard skin and bones. Taste broth for seasoning. Return chicken to broth and keep warm until needed for serving.
- Heat oven to 500 degrees.
- In the jar of a blender, combine tomatoes, remaining roughly chopped onion and tomato bouillon with chicken flavor. Puree until smooth.
- In an oven-safe medium saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add rice and toast, stirring constantly, until rice is just about to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato puree and reduce heat so mixture is simmering. Cook, uncovered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Cover rice, turn oven off and put rice in oven to keep hot and allow flavors to develop, at least 30 minutes.
- When ready to serve, put 1 cup rice in the bottom of each soup bowl. To each portion, add 3/4 cup shredded chicken and top with avocado, diced tomato and diced onion. Add broth to cover rice and chicken and serve with a lime wedge. Serves 4.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 741 calories (percent of calories from fat, 30), 49 grams protein, 81 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams fiber, 25 grams total fat (4 grams saturated), 99 milligrams cholesterol, 379 milligrams sodium.From the menu of ... Taxco Restaurante Mexicano, 4500 Roswell Road, Atlanta. 404-255-9933.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
