Hola friends! Late last night I flew back home from my vacation in Mexico and I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen today. One of my wonderful readers suggested Sopa de Fideo to me a couple weeks ago and I thought this would be an appropriate time to give it a try (kind of like a final celebration of all the wonderful things I saw and experienced in Mexico).
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What is Sopa de Fideo?
Sopa de Fideo, or Mexican Noodle Soup, is a simple and comforting tomato-based noodle soup. This incredibly easy soup is full of flavor and, of course, inexpensive (hello, budget-friendly). What makes it special is the toasted vermicelli noodles that add a little extra depth of flavor compared to your everyday noodle soup.
Jazz it Up!
There are a million ways to make Sopa de Fideo, so I put my own spin on it with a little cumin, lime juice, and fresh cilantro (because I LOVE lime in soup). If you want to make this soup a little heartier, you can add some shredded chicken, or store-bought rotisserie chicken. If you want to have fun with toppings, try a few chunks of avocado, some crumbled queso fresco, or even a few tortilla chips. I ate mine plain and simple as described below and loved every spoonful!
Try These Traditional Sopa de Fideo Recipes
As with just about everything I post on Budget Bytes, I’ve tweaked this classic recipe to fit my needs and palate. If you want to try the real deal and learn more about this awesome soup, make sure to check out some of these authentic Sopa de Fideo recipes:
- How to Make Sopa de Fideo from Dora’s Table
- Sopa de Fideo from Isabel Eats
- Mexican Sopa de Fideo from Mexico in My Kitchen
Sopa de Fideo
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 medium onion ($0.41)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.04)
- 8 oz uncooked vermicelli noodles ($0.75)
- 1/2 tsp cumin ($0.05)
- 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes ($1.39)
- 6 cups chicken broth ($0.79)
- 1 medium jalapeño (optional) ( $0.05)
- 1 medium lime ($0.25)
- 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro (optional) ($0.22)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic so they are ready to go when needed.
- Add the vegetable oil to a large soup pot. Break the vermicelli noodles into one to two inch sections and then add them to the pot. Cook the dry noodles in the oil over medium-low heat while constantly stirring for 3-5 minutes, or until the noodles have turned golden brown and are slightly blistered.
- Add the diced onion, minced garlic, and cumin to the pot with the noodles and continue to cook and stir for a few minutes more, or until the onions have softened.
- Add a little of the juice from the can of tomatoes to the pot to stop the browning of the noodles. Use a blender or immersion blender to purée the canned tomatoes along with their remaining juices. Add the puréed tomatoes to the pot with the noodles, along with the six cups of chicken broth.
- If using a jalapeño pepper, add it to the pot whole (this gives a slight jalapeño flavor without too much heat). Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium high, and allow it to come to a boil. Let the pot simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the noodles are soft.
- Add lime juice and roughly chopped cilantro leaves to the finished soup just before serving (I used juice from half the lime, but adjust to your liking).
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Sopa de Fideo – Step by Step Photos
First I diced one onion and minced two cloves of garlic. You can use a white or yellow onion here, whichever you have or prefer. I wanted these to be chopped and ready to go when I needed to add them to the pot. The next step of browning the noodles can go quickly, so you need to be prepared in order to prevent burning the noodles.
Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to a large soup pot. Break 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) of vermicelli noodles into one to two-inch sections. Add them to the pot and cook while stirring over medium-low heat for a few minutes, or until the noodles are golden brown like this. Aim for about half of the noodles to be browned because they may brown slightly more in the next step.
Once the noodles look brown and a little blistered, add the pre-chopped onions, garlic, and cumin. Continue to cook while stirring for a few minutes more while the onions soften (the cumin will also toast a little in the process). The moisture released from the onions should slow down the browning of the noodles and keep them from going too far.
Next it’s time to purée the canned tomatoes. Why use whole tomatoes if you’re just going to purée them anyway? Rumor has it (that just means I forgot where I heard it) that the better tomatoes are used for “whole” canned tomatoes, while the poorer quality tomatoes are used for diced or crushed tomatoes. I don’t know if that’s true, but we’ll go with it today. Anyway…
Add a little of the juice from one 28-oz. can of whole tomatoes to the soup pot with the noodles to stop them from browning. Then add the rest (tomatoes and juices) to a blender and blend until they are puréed. I left mine just slightly chunky. Add the puréed tomatoes to the pot.
Also add 6 cups of chicken broth. I use Better Than Bouillon soup base to make my broth because it’s less expensive than canned broth and I can mix up any amount that I need. The little jar just sits in my fridge ready for whenever I need broth. (1 tsp chicken base + 1 cup water = 1 cup broth)
Lastly, add one WHOLE jalapeño to the pot. Why whole? It infuses the soup with a little jalapeño flavor without much heat. BUT take that with a grain of salt. Every pepper has its own level of heat, so I can’t guarantee that it won’t be spicy with this method. Just drop the pepper in whole, place a lid on the soup, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let it come to a boil. Let the soup boil for about 15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through.
Once the noodles are cooked, it’s time to add the final touches. A squeeze of lime juice and some roughly chopped cilantro. I used about half of the lime and 1/4 bunch of cilantro, but you can use more or less to taste.
Stir them in and serve. The longer the soup sits, the more the noodles will absorb the broth and fill up the pot. In this picture, right after simmering, it’s still pretty brothy. After taking all my photographs it was thick and noodly. YUM.
Amazing, simple, and delicious!
Dive in!
This was amazing! I ate the whole thing in two days.
I accidentally misread the recipe and got the rice vermicelli noodles, which took ridiculously long to cut up haha, but it the soup was still fantastic.
I usually don’t like spicy food very much, so I was hesitant to add the jalepeño but I’m very I did. It was just the right amount of heat and very flavorful.
Next time I’ll try adding more garlic and maybe some rotisserie chicken.
Thanks for a great recipe!
I just got done making this…delicious and simple, as stated! The only thing I regret is not pureeing the tomatoes…I only diced them up as well as I could with a knife. I ended up adding a can of tomato soup to bring out that tomato flavor I love and WOULD HAVE had, had I pureed them.
I was ecstatic to find this recipe on your website. I remember my grandma making me sopa de fideo all the time as a child.
My wife stayed home sick with a sore throat and cough today. I made her this soup and she says it’s perfect. When I tasted it, it instantly took me back to my grandma’s kitchen. Thank You!
easy preparation, and great for budget, just not super healthy. (add chicken before, for protein,) I have made this several time in the past , with many different recipes, from traditional to this recipe (my favorite). I just always not matter what I try, can never let my self go the full simmer time, as my noodles are always done as soon as it starts to boil, even if I roast my noodles for 3-5 minutes to 15-20 minutes. I figured with the first recipe I tried that it would become mushy if I let it go 20 minutes, so I always checked the noodles almost immediately. This a great recipe, I love the added ingredients. I usually use green onions and cilantro, just didn’t think to try a pinch of cumin and fresh lime juice at the end. the cumin gives it a extra depth, if you don’t use to much, other wise I am sure it would taste like cumin mainly. This really made me want to keep this recipe in my rotation, as the others were just, yeah ok, nothing to write home about, whats the big fuss. yea! I just happened to stumble on this sight, its great to come here, and sift, rather then try to come up with something myself all the time, to try to taste good and be frugal.
my mom would make this, and I loved adding sour cream and chile verde to it! mmmmmm
Hey Beth–I’ve been following your site for about six months ago and really love it!!! This is my first time chiming in but my picky eater hubby loves all your recipes and this one was no exception–I added some spinach and a little avocado when serving this the second time and really enjoyed!! Thank you for the many awesome recipes!!!!!!!
Beef and seafood broth are great, too, and you can easily make this a nice vegan soup. Add a can of hot rotel for spice. I just use a 15 oz can of tomato sauce or even tomato juice or V8.The noodles release a lot of starch so you can make this a very thin soup or thick like a stew. My boys love this plain without meat.
Love this blog!
This is another go-to recipe for me. Love the lime in it!
Had this for dinner tonight, and husband and very-picky-daughter both loved it! I was nervous during cooking, but it turned out great! Thanks for sharing!
I did use fresh peeled tomatoes (10), cos ’tis the season!
This is my favorite food, one of my favorite ways to eat it is adding home cooked pinto beans to the bottom of the bowl and spoon the hot fideo soup over them. So yummy.
Oh my God this is SO DELICIOUS! I just finished my first bowl and it was very tasty. I used Sriracha instead of jalapeño and added some shredded chicken, poached in a sauce with mexican flavors from another recipe and and it was awesome! I think I’m going to love this site.
Oh this looks delicious!
I don’t have a tiny blender so can I buy a can of diced or crushed tomatoes instead? If so what quantity? Thank you!
Yep! I would stick with the 28 oz. can size and pick the crushed tomatoes.
Already have made this recipe twice. I love it!!! The lime REALLY makes it taste amazing. Thank you for this <3
Just made this tonight for hubby and I! The only thing we did differently was add a little shredded rotisserie chicken. SO. GOOD. Seriously loved it.
I can’t bring myself to use canned tomatoes at the peak of tomato season. Can I use nice fresh lima tomatoes?
I did see several Sopa de Fideo recipes that used fresh tomatoes while I was doing my research for this post. I’m not familiar with lima tomatoes, but I think any type of tomato would work. I would suggest blending up enough tomatoes to make about four cups of tomato purée, then add it in like I did the canned tomatoes. You may need to adjust the salt, though.
Sorry, I meant plum tomatoes. They are called lima here where I live. I made it today and I even didn’t need to add extra salt (and usually I have a salty tooth). The salt in the chicken broth plus a few bits of the rotisserie chicken were enough.
Awesome, I’m glad it turned out well!