Chicken With Fideo (Sopa de Pollo con Fideos)
A big bowl of Mexican style pasta, fideo, with vegetables and chicken! Mexican comfort food!
Servings 6 Servings
Equipment
- medium dutch oven pot
- frying pan, skillet
Ingredients
Soup Base/Broth
- 6-9 pieces of chicken drumsticks, thighs, skin on, bone in
- Plenty of water to cook chicken
- 1/2 med white onion
- 1 small head of garlic
- 1 extra large carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- handful fresh cilantro
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 1 tsp peppercorns
Sopa Ingredients
- 7 oz fideo pasta
- avocado or olive oil
- 1/2 med onion diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 2 sticks celery small dice
- 2 white potatoes diced
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 cup spicy red chile sauce, link below or blend 3 very ripe roma tomatoes with 1 serrano, salt to taste. You can also us 8 oz of your favorite salsa el pato or tomato sauce.
- 1 small zucchini diced
Instructions
Soup Base
- In medium heavy pot, add the chicken, half a medium onion, 1 head of garlic, 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery, cilantro, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt to taste and 9 cups of water. Bring up to a light simmer. Skim off foam as needed. Cook for 40 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Strain out all of the solids and discard. Return the chicken to the strained broth and reserve.
Sopa de Fideo
- Once chicken and broth are ready, prep your cook the fideo pasta to proceed. Add the uncooked fideo pasta to a skillet. Drizzle in 2 tbsps of oil. Turn heat to medium.
- After a few minutes, pasta will begin to toast and become aromatic. Stir as needed for the next 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a heavy pot at medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. After a minute, add the diced carrots, potato, celery and onion. Saute for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the garlic and saute for one more minute.
- Pour in 1 cup spicy red sauce (see link) or your favorite tomato sauce (El Pato Salsa Fresca). You could blend 2 large roma tomatoes with 1 serrano or chipotle in adobo for a fresh tomato sauce. It's up to you. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in 8 cups of reserved chicken broth. I only had 6 so I supplemented with 2 cups of water to rinse out my spicy red sauce in the jar.
- Once it comes up to a light boil, taste for salt. Once it is simmering, pour in toasted fideo pasta. Add a small handful of fresh cilantro. Cook for 8-10 minutes. Add diced zucchini and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Ready! Serve with lime wedges, avocado, queso fresco and warm tortillas.
Notes
The longer the pasta sits, the more it will absorb the broth. I heat extra broth the next day and add it to my sopa because I like it soupy! To yield 6 servings, look for larger pieces of chicken, or cook extra when preparing soup base.