How to Make Sopa de Fideo – Easy Way

If you love sopa de fideo, then you will love this easy and quick recipe for making one of Mexican cuisine’s most classic soups. This recipe provides everything you need to know, from how to make it, toppings – and more.

One my kids favorite things to eat on a chilly day is a steaming bowl of sopa de fideo. It is a classic Mexican comfort food dish, and is always popular.

The best part of this meal is that it is super versatile, and you can adjust it to what you have in your pantry. Plus, you can serve it with or without toppings and side items to make it a more complete, fuller meal, if you want to.

What is Sopa de Fideo?

Sopa de Fideo translates to “noodle soup”. It is a noodle soup, likely of Spanish origin, cooked in a tomato broth and chicken broth.

This soup is usually served hot and steaming, fresh from the pot, with tortillas warmed on the comal on the side.

What kind of noodle is best for Sopa de Fideo?

You can use any type of noodles for sopa de fideo. Thinner, small noodles are best, but you can crack spaghetti into small (1-inch or so) pieces if you don’t have anything else in your kitchen.

I have broken spaghetti noodles to make sopa de fideo many times, and have also used maraconi noodles. Literally any small noodle will work.

My youngest son is not the biggest fan of tomatoes, so I used alphabet noodles to make this recipe today so it would be more fun for him to eat. That’s the other advantage of sopa de videos – the ingredients are blended up very finely so they are indistinguishable to those young picky eaters at our tables.

My husband’s mother always used alphabet noodles, too. He has great memories of spelling words in his spoon as a kid.

This is a great addition to a meal rotation, seriously!

What ingredients do you need to make Sopa de Fideo?

There is a good chance that you have everything that you need to make this recipe in your kitchen right now. You can use fresh tomatoes, or canned, depending on what you have available.

Since you can use any noodle, and powdered onions or garlic, if you don’t have fresh, this is a great recipe to make when you don’t know what to make. It’s one of those dishes you can put together very quickly and put smiles on everyone’s face.

To make sopa de fideo you need:

• Oil (to brown the noodles – required step)
• Small, thin noodles
• Diced, canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes
• Fresh garlic or garlic powder
• Fresh onion or onion powder
• Knorr Chicken bouillon powder or any brand of chicken bouillon cubes
• Jalapeno pepper (optional)
• Water

I bought my alphabet noodles at a bulk foods store. There is a popular brand of Mexican brand of pasta called La Moderna, which is also great if you can get it where you shop for groceries – they make an alphabet version and a vermicelli which works really well for this recipe.

You will notice that this soup contains jalapeno. This is an optional ingredient, and you can leave it out or add more if you really like a spicy soup.

I usually just put one half of a jalapeno in this soup and let my husband add more jalapeno directly to his bowl to make it spicier. That way, it’s not too spicy for the kids.

You can absolutely leave out the pepper, however. Many people skip the pepper for this dish.

What toppings and sides go well with Sopa de Fideo?

Most of the time, Sopa de Fideo is served on its own in a bowl with warm tortillas on the side. However, you can dress this meal up if you would like to.

For example, when I made the soup for this recipe, I added some cooked, shredded chicken directly to the pot when the soup was done. This makes it a bit more filling and hearty for a dinner.

We usually eat this soup with warm tortillas (rolled up!) and queso fresco. If you haven’t had queso fresco in your soup, I highly recommend trying it.

We also make tacos of warm tortillas and queso fresco to eat along with our soup. If we have fresh, ripe avocados, we will slice those and add them to our bowl.

Since my husband likes really spicy food, he will usually slice up a fresh jalapeno to sprinkle onto his soup.

How to make Sopa de Fideo?

Making sopa de fideo is very easy, and the steps below will walk your through exactly how to do it.

Heat oil in saucepan

Heat oil in your saucepan over a medium heat. After 1-2 minutes add the noodles.

Brown the noodles

Brown the noodles by stirring them with a large spoon in the hot oil for 3-5 minutes, or until they turn a golden brown color. This might seem like a strange step, but it is one of the most important parts of this recipe.

Browning your noodles will bring out that delicious, nutty noodle flavor that we all love in our sopa de fideo. When you first add them to the oil, it might seem like nothing is happening, but keep stirring.

Eventually, they will begin to turn a toasty brown color. This is exactly what we want to happen, and so let them get golden brown before you move on to the next step.

It’s okay if some of the noodles look more toasted or brown than others. Just brown the noodles until most of them are golden brown, and be sure to stir them so the ones on the bottom do not burn.

When they are all toasted, remove the saucepan from the heat and place it to one side on the stove while you get the rest of the ingredients ready to add to the noodles. Alternatively, you could do the next step before you start toasting your noodles – it works out to about the same time.

Blend tomatoes, onions, garlic, and pepper

In a blender, put canned or fresh tomatoes, your onion, garlic, and 1/2 jalapeno pepper (if you are using one), and blend it until it is completely liquefied. Then, add it carefully to your browned noodles.

Be sure that you do not add the liquid to the toasted noodles while they are still over medium or high heat. This will cause lots of steam and boiling of the liquid and it could splash or burn you.

It is best to add the liquid to the pan when the noodles have slightly cooked and the pan is not over direct heat.

Cook until noodles are tender

Once the liquid is in the pan, you can put the saucepan back on medium heat and allow it to cook until the noodles are tender. This should take about 10-12 minutes, depending on how thick your noodles are.

Thicker noodles might take slightly longer than 12 minutes, and thinner noodles like vermicelli might be done in 9-10 minutes. You can easily test how done your noodles are by carefully removing one from the soup while it cooks and allowing it to cool before tasting it.

If the noodle is too hard and gummy for your taste, then you should allow it to cook another few minutes and test another noodle.

Once your soup is done, put it on very low heat to keep it warm until you are ready to serve it.

Can you keep Sopa de Fideo for leftovers?

You can keep Sopa de Fideo for leftoevers by allowing it to cool until it is warm and then putting it in the refrigerator. The noodles tend to continue to absorb liquid even when it is cold, so your leftover soup will probably be thicker than it was when it was freshly made.

You can “reconstitute” your soup by adding another 1-2 cups of liquid along with a little more chicken bouillon or salt and seasonings (ie garlic and onion powder) to taste.

Did you make this?

If you got a chance to make this soup, or if you just love your memories of sopa de fideo from when you were a kid, I want to hear from you in the discussion below.

Thanks for reading today!