Mexican Noodle Soup
Homemade sopa de fideo (noodle soup) is one of my favorite dishes. This is Mexican lunchtime comfort food in the way that grilled cheese and tomato soup is in the U.S. Think warm fuzzies in a bowl. Every kid in Mexico grows up on it and everyone, young and old, still eats it regularly as part of the typical comida.
How to Make Sopa de Fideo
Make it from scratch. It’s worth the small bit of extra effort for the authentic flavor. Many cooks take shortcuts – I’ll admit it. I do too at times – by using tomato and chicken bouillon or canned tomatoes instead of real chicken broth and pureed tomatoes.
Using powdered bouillon makes an acceptable version, but, it doesn’t make your heart happy in the same way as the real deal does. Make it from scratch and you’ll see what I mean.
Gather Your Ingredients
You’ll need an 8 oz. package of fideos, which are thin Mexican style noodles used to prepare this soup. You can substitute thin spaghetti, vermicelli noodles, or angel hair pasta broken into 1″ pieces if you are unable to find fideos.
You will also need
- 2 plum tomatoes
- ¼ white onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 8 cups of homemade chicken broth
- Vegetable oil
- 4 limes for garnish
Preparing the Soup
Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Puree the tomatoes, onion, and garlic in your blender and set aside. This is what the pureed mixture will look like.
Fry the Fideo Noodles
Preheat 3 tbsp. of vegetable oil to medium-hot. Add the noodles and stir to coat with oil. Continue stirring until the fideo pasta has turned golden brown and a few strands have turned deep brown. Browning the noodles adds depth of flavor to the soup.
Assemble the Soup
Strain the pureed tomatoes, onion, and garlic into the browned noodles.
Pour in the chicken or vegetable broth and stir.
Bring the soup to a boil.
Cover and reduce to low heat. Cook for 10 minutes.
Your perfectly cooked sopa de fideo is now ready to serve. Be sure to adjust the salt to taste.
Serving Your Sopa
Serve your sopa with a couple of lime halves. A squirt of lime juice brings the flavors together. A spoonful of diced avocado or a pinch of queso fresco are nice touches to finish your fideo soup.
Traditional Mexican Sopa de Fideo Recipe
Equipment
- Kitchen knife
- Cutting board
- High sided skillet or medium soup pot
- Spatula
- Kitchen spoon
- Strainer
- Blender
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package of “fideo” noodles thin spaghetti, vermicelli, or angel hair pasta work well
- 2 plum tomatoes Roma tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ medium white onion
- ¼ ground cumin optional to add to broth
- ½ tsp. Mexican oregano optional to add to broth
- 4 limes
- 1 ripe avocado sliced thin optional for garnish
- 8 cups homemade chicken broth
- 3 tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil
- Salt to taste about 1tsp. will be needed depending on the chicken broth you use
Instructions
Preparation
- Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Puree the tomatoes, onion, and garlic and set aside.
- Preheat 3 tbsp. of vegetable oil to medium-hot. Add the noodles and stir to coat with oil. Continue stirring until the noodles have started to brown.
- Strain the pureed tomatoes, onion, and garlic into the noodles. Notice the color of the noodles. Some of them should be very brown. The browned noodles add depth of flavor to the soup.
- Add the chicken broth and stir.
- Bring the soup to a boil. Cover and reduce to low heat. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Check the salt and adjust to taste before serving.
Serving
- Serve your soup with a couple of lime halves. A squirt of lime brings the flavors together. A little chopped avocado is a nice touch.
Notes
- You can use thin spaghetti, vermicelli noodles, or angel hair pasta broken into 1″ pieces if you are unable to find “fideos”
- Substitute canned low-sodium chicken broth if you don’t have homemade.
- You can also use vegetable broth if you want a vegetarian / vegan soup.
- You can make an even quicker version of this soup by using ½ cup tomato paste and 8 cups water instead of using the tomato and onion and chicken broth.
- You can 2 tablespoons of chopped avocado and a spoonful of queso fresco to each bowl as a nice garnish.
Laurel Mccorquodale says
Thank you!
Meg says
I just made this, all the while thinking “ no way this can be this good”.. Oh my, it is THAT good! Thank you for this recipe!
Kimsey says
How do I keep this from becoming just pasta overnight? It was soup when I put it in and then pasta for lunch the next day. And I didn’t like it. How do I store it? What did I do wrong?
Stephanie says
If it’s warm, the starch will keep absorbing liquid. Either have to cook the starch and liquid separately, or separate them after cooking to store, and then heat up together!
James says
Just add some more chicken broth or water should soup it up back up
Patricia says
Made it to more of a side dish the way my mom and dad’s family would serve it. Brought back good memories about my times in Mexico with them. Thank you!