Sopa de fideo (Mexican noodle soup)
Thin noodles toasted golden in oil and simmered in a garlicky tomato broth, the Mexican home-kitchen soup that’s ready in 25 minutes.
- 25 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.43 a serving
- 260 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 6 oz spaghetti
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 1 avocado, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 260 calories, 7 g protein, 42 g carbs and 8 g fat, and costs about $1.43 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No spaghetti? Fettuccine works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No vegetable broth? Chicken broth works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No avocados? Guacamole works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Break the spaghetti into 1-inch pieces inside a zip-top bag or a folded towel, so they don’t fly everywhere.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the pasta and cook, stirring constantly, 3 to 4 minutes, until toasty and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Stir the whole time. They go from golden to burnt quickly, and the toasting is where the flavor comes from.Add the onion and garlic and stir 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the tomatoes with their juice, the broth, cumin, oregano and salt and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
and 8 to 10 minutes, until the noodles are soft.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Taste for salt and ladle into bowls with a squeeze of lime, cilantro and a few slices of avocado.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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