Sopa de Fideo, also known as Mexican noodle soup, is a tomato-based soup that’s easy to make and perfect for the whole family! This satisfying and comforting soup is also vegetarian and vegan.
Sopa de Fideo is a Mexican noodle soup made with a tomato-based broth that’s super flavorful, savory and perfect for the whole family.
It was one of my favorite soups as a kid because it was ready in no time (which was very important to little baby Isabel back in the day), and it had a lot of broth with noodles that were fun to eat! It was one of those soups that I never got tired of eating and I’m so excited to be sharing it on the blog today.
This soup is 100% comfort food for me and I just can’t get enough.
What is fideo?
Fideo is the Spanish word for noodle. Sopa is the Spanish word for soup. Put ’em together and you’ve got Mexican noodle soup!
The noodles used in Sopa de Fideo are round and thin like spaghetti noodles, but short and bite-sized. You can find it in the pasta aisle of your grocery store labeled as either “fideo” or “cut spaghetti.”
If you can’t find fideo noodles in your grocery store, you could also buy regular spaghetti noodles and break them into short 1-inch pieces. Here’s the exact pasta I used for this fideo recipe.
How do you make sopa de fideo?
- Make the broth. Add 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes, chopped onions, garlic, cumin and vegetable or chicken broth into a blender. Blend until smooth. Then cook the broth in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat with a little bit of olive oil. This helps add some depth of flavor to the canned tomatoes and and onions in the broth.
- Toast the noodles. Similar to Mexican rice, the noodles in sopa de fideo are lightly toasted with a little bit of olive oil in a large dutch oven or pot until they they are slightly browned and blistered.
- Add the broth and cook for 20 minutes. Once the noodles are toasted, add the blended tomato broth as well as 5 cups of vegetable or chicken broth. Season it with some salt, cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the noodles are fully cooked through.
Traditionally, my Mom always made the soup with little tomato and chicken flavored bouillon cubes instead of making the broth from actual tomatoes and spices, but those cubes are not made from the best ingredients. Lots of MSG, added sugar and other stuff that I don’t really need in my food.
So I decided to branch out and make it from scratch. I’m proud to say that this sopa de fideo recipe tastes just the way I remember it and I couldn’t be happier!
Once the fideo soup is done, I like to serve it up in a big bowl with some cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice for some brightness and freshness. It’s so incredibly simple to make and it always satisfies all my soup cravings.
More easy soup recipes you need to try
- Roasted Poblano Broccoli Soup
- Albondigas Soup
- Chicken Pozole Verde
- Easy Black Bean Soup
- Red Posole
- Caldo de Res
Ingredients
- 2 14.5 ounce cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 large clove)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces fideo pasta
- 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Add canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin and 1 cup broth in a large blender. Blend until completely smooth. Blend this in a blender until smooth.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add blended tomato sauce. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Heat a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and add fideo pasta noodles. Stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes, until pasta has browned a little and begun to blister.
- Add the warm blended tomato sauce, the remaining 5 cups of broth and salt. Stir together to combine, cover and cook for 20 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
- Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
Video
Nutrition Information
I absolutely love this fideos recipe! This is definitely going to be in my regular rotation of recipes. It will be perfect to take for work lunches as well. I used about a cup less of broth so that I can add more for leftovers as I heat them up to keep the pasta from absorbing it all. Absolutely delicious as is and no need for additional salt at the end. This and your chile colorado are my favorites!
Thank you for ALL your amazing recipes! I made the Sopa de Fideo and it was delicious especially with homemade tomato sauce! My burning Question for MANY years … How do you store this sopa because the noodle soaks up all the liquid and becomes super thick and mushy😢
Thank you so much Marti! You can try storing them with less broth, and then when reheating you can add broth back in so that it stays soupy but doesn’t absorb it all.
…hard to find…ANGEL HAIR PASTA…mamacita broke the noodles but they were longer, we called it mexticlan spaghetti…
great recipe Isabel. you totally rock, g
Super simple and delicious; this always makes me feel better when I have a sinus infection or chest cold coming on. Usually stops it in its’ tracks. Love it!
So good! My go-to recipe for this amazing simple soup!! I first had Fideo at church, after setting up for our advent fair. The Spanish sunday schoool ladies had it simmering in the church kitchen and I couldn’t resist!! We make ours with mini quesadillas to eat with. Thank you!!
Made it for my family and my kids and I enjoyed it very much. Thank You for the recipe!
This a great memory of my childhood. Yum
forgot to do my five stars! YUM!
thank you for this recipe! my mexican MIL advised to skip salt and add the Knorr caldo cubes. I did that and also added a few finely chopped onions and garlic to the fideo while it was toasting/browning. I also strained the tomato mixture before adding it to the fideo. It was perfection! Such comfort food!
Delicious! This is one recipe where I don’t have to change a thing!
This is delicious and has been a staple at our house for the past year. My young kids love it and my husband said it’s very similar to what his mom made when he was growing up.
I’d previously only eaten this at restaurants so I have no cultural history to compare my findings but I thought it was comparable to my favorite restaurant and better than others I have tried. The noodles didn’t get soft after 20 minutes so I simmered for about 40. I think if I would’ve brought it to a boil first and then reduced heat, 20 would’ve worked. Either way, it was fantastic and I’ll definitely be making it again. Thank you!
Hi Taylor… was reading your comment and wanted to know about boiling the noodles?? Does this process help with the noodle not becoming thick and mushy even after roasting it per the recipe? Can you explain what you mean by boiling for 40m then by 20m but would be better at 20m?
Amazing flavor! Thanks for sharing, so glad I found your page on Pinterest.