Name: Sopa de Requesón
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 7 ounces requesón (about 1 heaping cup, crumbled), plus more for garnish; 2 cups whole milk; 1 cup Mexican crema; 1 cup half and half; 3 sprigs epazote, just the leaves, plus more small leaves for garnish; 1 serrano chile, stemmed and chopped (seeds removed if you'd like it less spicy); 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided (plus more for seasoning); 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided; 1 medium white onion, diced; 1 large Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced; 1 medium zucchini, diced; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning; 2 cups chicken broth; Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish

Jump to Recipe

I promise, you’ve never had cheese soup like this before. This simple method produces the most light and silky sopa de requesón with very little hands-on work! A spoonful of sautéed onions, potatoes, and zucchini go in the bottom of every bowl.

TABLE OF CONTENTS show

A blue bowl filled with sopa de requeson on a yellow tablecloth

If you’ve never heard of sopa de requesón before, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I hadn’t either! And then I decided to choose requesón as this month’s challenge ingredient and went on a deep dive for the perfect recipe.

I came across a recipe for a light and flavorful soup made from requesón, light cream, epazote, a little onion, and serrano chile in Margarita Carrillo Arronte’s book Mexico: The Cookbook.

Friends! I have never made a cheese soup like this before, and I was astonished not only by how incredibly tasty it was but also by the process, which felt all wrong. Rather than make a roux (butter + flour) to keep the cheese from breaking, you blend the cheese with the half-and-half, serrano chile, epazote, and the milk in the blender. Then gently warm it with some chicken broth on the stove.

I wanted a little more heft so I sautéed some small diced onions, potato, and zucchini and add a few spoonfuls of that to every bowl. This soup feels effortless and too good to be true, not to mention a gorgeous way to showcase the requesón.

What Is Requesón?

A wheel of requeson on a blue plate on a yellow table cloth.

As I mentioned, requesón is this month’s challenge ingredient. It is a soft, fresh cheese that is made from cooking the leftover whey from the cheesemaking process again to make a second batch of cheese. It is very similar to Italian ricotta: Ri-cotta, means re-cooked in Italian and re-quesón basically means, re-cheesed in Spanish.

It is used in many traditional Mexican recipes but you can use requesón wherever you would use ricotta. I like to add it to pasta dishes like my baked rigatoni with chile-braised vegetables and my green chile Mexican lasagna recipe. Of course you can also swap it for the ricotta in my very popular ricotta banana bread.

Look for this delicate creamy cheese at your local Latin market. It will be either in the dairy aisle next to the other cheeses or sometimes the store will make their own and sell it with the prepared foods. Just ask!

Of course, if you want to try this recipe, but can’t find requesón you can always substitute ricotta.

And if you want to learn about more Mexican ingredients, here’s my ultimate Mexican pantry guide.

Everything You’ll Love About This Sopa de Requesón:

Silky, creamy, and so, so light
Added substance from sautéed onions, potato, and zucchini
Perfect amount of heat from the serrano chile
Easy to make—no fussing with a roux
Really quick, ready in less than 30 minutes
Transports the flavor of the epazote (although you could use a different herb)
An excellent lunch option, like our chilled avocado soup
Wonderful plain or topped with more epazote, a drizzle of olive oil, and some freshly ground black pepper

A red pot filled with sopa de requeson on a yellow table cloth.

This lovely soup is completely adaptable too. Want to switch up the veggies? Do it! Leave them out all together? That works too.

Favorite Blender: You are going to need a blender to make this soup. I really like my Vitamix high speed blender but it’s pretty pricey. I used this less expensive Oster blender for years and loved that one as well.

What Is The Challenge Ingredient Cooking Contest?

Every month I choose a challenge ingredient. I try to select ingredients that are common in Mexican cooking but may be new to us here in the US or other parts of the world (this month we’re featuring requesón).

So far we’ve done chayote, ancho chiles, squash blossoms, and now requesón!

Then I give you a recipe to try featuring that ingredient (this month it is the soup).

To enter the contest you need to:

Cook the recipe.
Snap a picture of the recipe you made.
Email me the picture to kate@holajalapeno.com.
Leave a star rating (located at the top of the recipe card).
Leave a comment.

Once you’ve completed all the steps you’ll be entered to win a $150 Amazon gift card and have added a new ingredient and recipe to your repertoire! Head here for all the details.

A bowl of sopa de requeson on a yellow table cloth garnished with epazote.

Key Ingredients You Need:

Requesón. Look for this milky cheese at your local Latin market. If you can’t find it, substitute whole milk ricotta.
Half and half. This adds a nice amount of creaminess while still being light.
Whole milk. Again, we are going for creaminess while not being too heavy or thick.
White onion. For the veggie sauté. You can also save some finely minced raw onion for garnishing the top like we do with pozole.
Serrano chile. This adds lovely, subtle heat. If you don’t like spicy food, remove the seeds and ribs from the chile before blending.
Epazote. I adore how the epazote shines in this soup. If you can’t find it use fresh basil, Italian parsley, chives, or cilantro.
Mexican crema. This is a thick cream similar to sour cream, but not as sour. A good substitute would be American sour cream.
Unsalted butter. For sautéing the veggies and warming the soup.
Yukon gold potatoes. This first time I tried the soup on its own I immediately thought, this needs potatoes. They add such a great texture and flavor to the soup.
Zucchini. I like the gray Mexican zucchini but any zucchini or summer squash will work.
Kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper. For seasoning.
Chicken broth. I used store bought but obviously homemade would be great.

A Note About Epazote

The herb epazote can (and maybe will be) its own challenge ingredient. It is a dark green fresh herb that has long pointed leaves and a strong anise-like aroma. It is commonly added to a pot of beans or in Chiles Rellenos.

It is something else you can pick up at your local Latin market. If you can’t find it, use another tender-leafed herb like fresh basil, cilantro, chives or dill. I don’t recommend using dried epazote, the flavor will be too strong.

All the ingredients to make sopa de requeson including requeson and more.

Blend the cheese, half and half, milk, serrano, epazote, and crema together in a blender until smooth. Set this aside while you sauté the vegetables.

A blender filled with a cheese and milk mixture.

Optional Added Veggies

I wanted to add some texture and a boost of nutrition to this soup so I sautéed some onions, potato, and zucchini until they were tender and starting to become golden.

This veggie mixture gets added to each bowl right before serving. This is an optional step, you can make the soup without the veggies.

Vegetables being added to a pan to saute with a wood spoon in the pan.

Vegetabes after being sautéed with a wood spoon in the pan

A soup pot on the stove with a batch of sopa de requeson in the pot

The soup pot on a table covered in a yellow table cloth with two bowls of soup

What To Serve With It

To serve the soup, spoon a large spoonful of the sautéed veggies into each bowl. Ladle the hot soup on top of the veggies then garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, some more freshly cracked black pepper, and a few small epazote leaves.

Of course some warm flour tortillas or corn tortillas would be perfect for dipping. You could also opt for some crusty bread and a Caesar salad.

Whip up a batch of sangria or this refreshing California-style cazuela voladora to serve alongside and finish the meal with something rich and chocolatey like my easy Mexican chocolate pudding or this wonderful Mexican chocolate tequila tart.

A bowl of soup topped with crumbled cheese, olive oil, and epazote leaves.

I hope you LOVE it!