I’m sharing my sopa de fideo recipe because this tomato-broth and noodle soup is a comfort food for me that evokes one specific fond memory.
After more than a decade of dreaming about visiting Teotihuacan, I finally made the 40-kilometer trip northeast of Mexico City in 2009 with my suegro and my cuñada. I yearned to visit this archaeological site since I first learned about it in history books as a kid. The Aztec pyramids fascinated me and I never dreamed I’d be able to travel there, let alone make it all the way to the top of the Pirámide del Sol.
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After what seemed like a long car ride on the highway from Mexico City (in reality, it was only about 25 miles), we finally arrived at Teotihuacan. I had worn loose clothes to be comfortable while climbing, and as it was cloudy, I decided against wearing a hat. I had also decided that I couldn’t climb to the top of the Pirámide del Sol without toting two cameras so I could have the advantage of shooting photos with two different lenses without risking getting dirt in my camera’s sensor. Sort of crazy on all accounts, right?
I didn’t expect to get so winded on the way up, but I had to stop at each tier of the pyramid to rest. My suegro, who was 66 years old at the time, had no problem beating me all the way to the top. To be fair, and so you don’t think I’m a total huevona having been beaten to the top of the pyramid by someone more than twice my age, I think it’s important to mention the altitude difference. In Chicago, I was used to an altitude of 583 feet above sea level. In Mexico City, the altitude is a whopping 7,349 feet and Teotihuacan’s altitude is 7,484 feet above sea level. Add to that the additional height of the pyramid itself (246 feet up) and you might get more of a feel for my inability to keep up. In fact, I felt like my lungs were going to explode. But I kept going, all the way to the top. I couldn’t let my suegro show me up, after all.
Once I finally reached the top, huffing and puffing, it was everything I had hoped it would be. I felt like I was on top of the world, and I could see up and down Avenida de los Muertos. I witnessed a wedding ceremony atop the pyramid and snapped probably over a hundred photos. The way down felt incredibly steep, but it took only about 12 minutes to decend after nearly an hour to get to the top.
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After we’d had our fill of climbing and exploring, we stopped for some lunch at a restaurant down the road that one of the security guards at the exit had recommended. But as soon as we sat down in the shade at a plastic table with a brightly colored checkered tablecloth, the side effects of too much sun finally hit me. The cloudy sky had been deceiving; I had pretty awful sunburn on my head, face, neck, arms and anywhere else that had been exposed. I could barely eat my quesadillas. Some orange Fanta was all I could manage.
When we returned home, I showered, put on my pajamas and crawled under the covers of my nice, soft bed. I felt too nauseated to even think of food, let alone keep anything down. My suegra took my temperature and gave me some medicine to reduce the fever. She tried to convince me to eat some crackers, but I just couldn’t. I had just gotten too much sun. The fever and the chills wouldn’t subside and so we decided a nap was in order to let my body rest. After awhile, the smell of tomatoes, onion and garlic wafted upstairs. When I woke up, my mouth was watering a little.
I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and found my suegra setting the table for one. She had made me sopa de fideo because she was worried I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. She said it would be light on my stomach and make me feel better. I slowly ate the soup until it was all gone. And what do you know… I actually started to feel better. That day, I became certain of two things: first, that my suegra knows best and second, she loved me just like one of her own.
This soup is a favorite not only for cuando me duele la panza; but when I’m really missing my suegra, too.
I like to use fideo that are already the appropriate cut and size for this recipe just for ease. There are several brands that make fideo cut pasta, but if you can’t find them in your grocery store, you can also break spaghetti or vermicelli noodles on your own.
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Sopa de fideo
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4
A traditional Mexican tomato broth soup with noodles. Perfect for rainy days and whatever ails you!
Ingredients
- 6 medium tomatoes, roasted (I like to use vine-ripened or Roma tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2.5 teaspoons of kosher salt
- 1 big slice of white onion
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup fideo cut noodles
Instructions
- Roast tomatoes in a shallow cazuela (or a ceramic or glass casserole dish) under low broiler heat on each side until both the top and the bottom have blackened a bit.
- Remove the tomatoes from the oven and transfer to a blender. Puree the tomatoes.
- In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium-high flame. Put one spoonful of tomato puree in the hot oil to make sure it is hot enough to fry the puree. When the oil is hot enough, pour the tomato puree slowly from the blender into the saucepan. Let the tomato puree fry for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring a few times once a minute; be careful, the puree may splatter.
- Pour the fried puree back into the blender and add the salt, onion and garlic. Blend well so puree is completely smooth. Pour back into pan and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium heat for 20-25 minutes until the liquid reduces a bit. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- If using spaghetti or vermicelli noodles: While the soup is cooling, break up the vermicelli noodles into small pieces until you have 1 cup of noodles. I like my soup heavy on the noodles, but you can use less than 1 cup if you prefer.
- Once the soup has cooled a bit, using a mesh sieve over a deep bowl, pour liquid into sieve and strain the puree so the liquid flows through into the bowl. Use a spoon to press puree against the sides of the sieve to force the liquid out. When the puree is mostly dry and all that remains is a paste, scrape the outside of the sieve and add to the soup.
- Pour the bowl back into a clean saucepan and heat over medium-high flame. Add the noodles. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat, cooking for 7-8 minutes or as directed on the vermicelli packaging. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. A thin skin may form over the top of the soup; use a spoon to remove it and discard. Soup will thicken slightly with the addition of the noodles and upon cooling.
- Ladle into bowls.
Notes
When reheating leftovers, add a few tablespoons of water per serving.
Courses Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine Mexican
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You just managed to make me crave both a climb up the Piramide del Sol and a sopa de fideo all at the same time. Sopa de fideo to me brings back memories of long, lazy, 4-course lunches at the neighborhood fonda. Que rico…
Que rico es una sopa de fidello. My family loves it when I make it on cold days, but I never thought of making it when one of us don’t feel so well. I’ll remember to try it next time one of us has a tummy ache and think about the Pirámide del Sol.
Maura this is a beautiful site, thank you for sharing your thoughts, stories and recipes with us! Lovely…
that is some good comfort food… I’m looking forward to meeting you in a few weeks! 🙂
I love sopa de fideo! I remember my mom making it often when I was a child. It’s the first “dish” I can remember my brother making himself (he’s now a chef)
One difference, my mom always browned the fideo before putting them in the tomato.
I wonder if we can reuse the tomatoe paste if we keep it and refrigerate it then add chicken broth again to do it. I have tried this recipe and my family adores it so it’s the only way ill make it now.
Oh how yummy!
I love any kind of sopas. especially fideos, my recipe is quick and I have a meal for my little one in minutes!I never thought about preparing them for a tummy ache..will have to do that next time.
I want to see this place. Sounds like you have a loving family!
Saludos,
A Mexican mommy living in Europe
Oh. my. gosh. This looks so delicious. I love that you have such a specific memory of this. Beautifully memory. I’m going to have to make this soup soon!
@MauraHernandez That is sooooo my favorite during winter. The kids love it, so I can never go wrong.
Hello. My mom used to make fideo alot for dinner. I loved it as a child, now as an adult I haVe mede it but kicked it up some, and it’s delicious.
My Recipe :
I break up the fideo and fry it in a little lard, you can use veg oil . or even olive oil.
I add chopped garlic and half onion chopped . so I fry that all together until the fideo is golden brown.
then I fill the pan/pot with water,I like to add a chicken. and add a 8 oz can of tomato sauce.
I also add chopped cilantro about a cup or so. and I add a half green bell pepper chopped
and to kick it up I add Herdez salsa about 1/4th of a cup.
add salt and pepper .
let it all cook for 30 minutes , it will thicken up some. YUMINY YUM YUM. enjoy.
Thanks for your version, Sally! I will have to give that a shot. 🙂
My mother would also toast the fideo in corn oil before adding the broth. When using canned tomato sauce, she would just add salt and a little garlic powder, and that’s the way I do too, except sometimes if I don’t make fresh puree, I’ll use the canned puree and add salt, garlic and onion powder, and just a pinch of cumin (comino) to it.
Ray, do you know the reasoning behind toasting the fideo in oil? I’ve never tried that, but now I’m curious.
we toast it because it stops it from fluffing up too much and sucking all the broth out of the soup after it sits for a while. Ever come to the pot and find it needs more water? If you toast it you usually don’t have that problem. Also, it adds a little more flavor to the noodles.
I love sopita de fideo….I always have sopita aguada for my kids (they are teens-but love it). It is walways a starter for any meal in our home. I, too, brown the fideos a bit before adding fressh puree like you do. I also always have homemade chicken broth…delishioso 🙂
This recipe is spot-on. Thanks for making it so easy to recreate my children’s favorite soup!
Thanks for stopping by and checking it out, Sierra! Feel free to drop me a line any time if you ever have questions about my recipes. Quickest ways to reach me are Twitter and Facebook 🙂
This was my first time making Sopa de Fideo and this recipe was outstanding!! The flavor was amazing. I will also use this recipe for pasta sauce. Thank you for sharing.
What a beautiful story and glad you felt better. I too had the privilege of going to Teotihuacan when I was a teenager. We were doing a report on the pyramids in school and my dad thought it would be a good idea to see them first hand (we live in California).
Sope de fideo is an ultimate comfort food in my book.
What a classic! Made it and the whole family loved it!
Sopita! That’s what my mother called it and I loved it. It was my main comfort food and still is. Mama would add chunks of celery to her fideo version. She would also make sopa seca using shell and alphabet pasta. I’m 64 years old now and when I think of fideo it takes me back to the 50s and that old house with the wonderful smells.
That is not the way our family make Fideo. We use authentic fideo (the curlled up kind) a little bit of oil and break it up and fry it over low flame being careful not to brown it too dark. We don’t roast our tomatoes, but we do blend them and we use real chicken broth because we will add fresh cooked chicken to the fideo once it is done.
I thought that this was a bit too much work for a soap de fideo but I do not regret this whatsoever!!!! Delicious!!!
I broiled the garlic along with the tomatoes and added a little cumin and garlic salt! Yum!! Also, this only made 4 bowls, next time I will double the recipe.
I never add chicken broth… but, I do ocassionally give the “sopa” a boost w tomato bouillon.. I also never add garlic… I just did not grow up seeing my mother use it… but I do add a bit of crushed oregano to the simmering broth and my favorite, whole cumin! It gives the “sopa” the most amazing aroma and it tastes out of this world! Plus, the cotija, forget it! Enjoying some right now! Anyways, I might try the chicken broth… might not.. jk, ty.
Thank you for sharing! Comfort food all growing up for me. My mom has tried teaching me but uses no measurements and seems to always add or take away some ingredient every time she cooks it. lol