Mexican caldo de pollo: what's in it and how to make it

What is it?

Caldo de pollo is one of the most frequently cooked broths in Mexican homes: bone-in chicken pieces — breast, thigh, leg and wings — slowly boiled with onion, garlic and salt, together with milpa vegetables cut into large pieces: carrot, courgette, chayote, potato, corn and, on occasion, green beans and rice. The result is a clean golden broth, deeply savoury, served with lime, chopped onion, coriander, serrano or chopped chillies and warm tortillas. It is an everyday family meal, a restorative lunch for the sick and a constant reference point in Mexican cooking. By the mid-twentieth century, its industrialisation (Knorr, Maggi, Caldo Maggi) led to an instant version, but the original home-made dish remains a favourite. México en mi Cocina and Cocina Vital document it as one of the most filling broths in the national repertoire, comparable only to caldo de res in family attachment.

Origin and history

Mexican caldo de pollo has a colonial origin. Chicken and hens arrived in New Spain with the conquest in the sixteenth century, along with livestock. Before then, pre-Hispanic peoples ate turkey (guajolote), duck and other birds. Once the European hen was established as a common domestic bird, Creole cooks adapted their peninsular broth techniques — pucheros, hen in pepitoria, truffled hens — to American use, combining them with local vegetables such as corn, chayote, squash and chilli. By the nineteenth century, caldo de pollo was documented in El Cocinero Mexicano (1831) as an everyday dish and a 'restorative for the sick', a perception that survives today: caldo de pollo is regarded as a universal home remedy in Mexico for flu, colds, the post-partum period and convalescence. Masienda and Cocina Vital document it in their base repertoire as a 'mother soup' from which many other dishes derive: tortilla soup, fideo, Mexican rice — all start from a well-made caldo de pollo. The tradition of making a Sunday broth with the old hen — the retired 'laying hen' — survives in rural areas.

Characteristic ingredients

The pieces used are the tastiest and most economical: thigh, leg, wings, bone-in breast, backbone and, above all, in traditional households, the 'old hen' or free-range hen, which lends more flavour than industrial broiler chicken. They are boiled with onion, garlic, a sprig of coriander and salt for 40 to 60 minutes before adding the vegetables. The vegetables — carrot, potato, chayote, courgette, corn in rounds — are cut into large pieces and added according to cooking times: carrot and potato first (15 min), chayote and corn (10 min), courgette and green beans at the end (5 min). The rice, if included, is cooked separately as a dry soup or added already cooked at serving. Some versions include blended tomato for colour, others use saffron or turmeric for a golden tone. The star herb is whole coriander at the end. Regional variants include the caldo Xochitl (Mexico City) with tomato, chickpeas and chipotle chilli, the Sonoran caldo de gallina pinta with pozole corn and beans, and the Pueblan caldo de pollo with fresh broad beans and nopales.

Cultural significance

Caldo de pollo is one of the most deeply rooted dishes in Mexican family culture. It is regarded as 'medicine for the soul', grandmother's dish, food for flu, a Sunday lunch and a restorative breakfast, all at once. The 2010 UNESCO declaration of traditional Mexican cuisine implicitly includes the gastronomic system that sustains caldo de pollo: backyard chicken, the milpa with American vegetables, mestizo broth techniques. Sociologically, surveys such as those by Profeco and magazines such as Animal Gourmet place it among the five most frequently cooked dishes each week in Mexican homes. In popular culture it appears in songs by Chico Che ('sopa de pollo'), in the novels of Laura Esquivel and in the film Like Water for Chocolate. The Mexican poultry industry, according to data from the Agri-Food Information Service, produces more than 3 million tonnes of chicken a year, much of it destined for home-made broths. Chefs such as Gabriela Cámara, Pati Jinich and Eduardo García have elevated caldo de pollo on their international menus as an example of everyday Mexican cooking worthy of an elegant table.

Frequently asked questions