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Mexican Noodle Soup

Name: Mexican Noodle Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 0.25 White onion; 1 clove Garlic; 1 litre Chicken stock; 45 ml Vegetable oil; 1 to taste Salt; 1 porción Soured cream; 2 Lime; 200 g Fideo delgado; 3 Tomato maduro

30 min (10 prep + 20 cook) Easy 6 servings Nacional

Edmond Bojalil

Recetas Mexas

Published: 11 Mar 2026 · Updated: 19 Mar 2026

Toasted vermicelli noodles in tomato broth, comforting and nostalgic.

About this recipe

Sopa de fideo is one of the most beloved and comforting soups in Mexican home cooking. It is made by toasting thin vermicelli noodles in oil until they turn reddish, then simmering them in a tomato broth with chicken stock. The result is a light, aromatic soup with that nostalgic flavor that evokes the kitchens of Mexican grandmothers. It is served as the first course of the meal, before the main dish, following the tradition of the Mexican 'comida corrida' (set lunch). It is as simple as it is delicious: few ingredients, quick preparation, and a soul-warming flavor. It can be garnished with cream, avocado, fresh cheese, and a squeeze of lime.

History & Origin

Sopa de fideo has a mestizo origin that reflects Mexico's culinary fusion. Vermicelli noodles arrived in Mexico with the Spanish, who in turn inherited them from the Arabs during centuries of Moorish influence on the Iberian Peninsula. Mexican cooks adopted the thin pasta and transformed it by toasting the noodles in oil before cooking - a technique that did not exist in Spain - creating a unique caramelized, toasted flavor. The addition of tomato, a purely American ingredient, completed the dish's transformation into something distinctly Mexican. During the 19th century, sopa de fideo became the quintessential 'sopa aguada' (brothy soup) of the comida corrida, that daily set menu of Mexican fondas that includes soup, rice, a main dish, beans, and dessert. In Mexican households, sopa de fideo is synonymous with grandma's cooking: simple, nourishing, and full of love. It is probably the first recipe that millions of Mexicans ever learned to cook.

Estimated cost

£4.00

Total cost

£0.67

Per serving

* Approximate prices based on UK supermarkets

Nutritional information per serving

180

Calories

Protein

28g

Carbohydrates

Fat

Fibre

520mg

Sodium

* Approximate values. May vary depending on ingredients used.

Method

1
Blend the tomatoes, the onion and the garlic with half a cup of chicken stock until you get a smooth sauce. Strain si deseas a texture more thin. Set aside.
2
Heat the oil in a pot or saucepan over medium heat. If the fideo viene in nidos, rómpelos slightly with your hands. Add the fideo to the oil hot and fry, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until tome a colour golden dark even.
💡 Keep an eye on well: the fideo pasa of golden a quemado in seconds. Mueve without parar.
3
Pour the sauce of tomato on the fideo golden (salpicará, ten cuidado). Mix well and cook 2 minutes, revolviendo, until the sauce absorba parcialmente.
4
Add the resto of the hot chicken stock and salt to taste. Increase the heat until it boils, then baja over medium-low heat and cook without tapar for 8-10 minutes, until the fideo it is soft pero not deshecho and the stock has reduced slightly.
💡 If you prefer the sopa more caldosa, add more stock. If the quieres dry (sopa dry of fideo), deja that absorba all the liquid.
5
Serve in plates hondos. Serve with a drizzle of soured cream, some gotas of lime and, if you like, cubitos of avocado and crumbled fresh cheese.