Traditional Sopa de Conchitas Recipe | Easy Mexican Soup
Español If I want to make my children happy for dinner, I know that Sopa de Conchitas, also known as Sopa Aguada, will make them smile as soon as they see it. I can relate to that; as a child, I totally loved arriving from school and finding a warm bowl of Mexican Sopita on the table.
This Sopa de Conchas is made with shell-shaped pasta cooked in a flavorful tomato-based broth seasoned with garlic, onion, and cilantro. It’s the perfect comfort food to spoil the familia.
This is a really easy and fast recipe. You can add chicken or ground beef to make it even more nutritious.
I’ll guide you through this recipe step by step with photos. The recipe card below has detailed ingredients and explanations.
Sopa de Conchas Sauce
I make this recipe two ways, depending on if I have fresh vegetables or just a can of tomato sauce.
For fresh tomato sauce, use fresh Roma tomatoes, garlic cloves, white onion, and 4 to 6 cilantro stems. I prefer to use chicken broth for the base, as it brings a lot of flavor to this recipe, but you can also use vegetable stock or plain water.
For the canned tomato sauce, just add water or chicken broth. Usually, canned tomato sauce comes already seasoned, so I just add it after frying the pasta and let it reduce for a couple of minutes while mixing, then add the chicken broth, salt and cilantro stems.
Making Your Own Chicken Broth
I like to add chicken to Sopa de Fideo or Sopa de Conchas to add protein and make it more nutritious. But you can definitely use store-bought chicken broth and canned tomato sauce.
For the Sauce
Place the fresh tomatoes, white onion, garlic cloves, and 1 cup of chicken broth or water in the blender. Liquify until smooth.
Frying the Pasta
It is a tradition to fry pasta for Mexican soups. This adds extra flavor and prevents the pasta from growing too much, keeping a deliciously firm texture for the Sopa de Conchas recipe.
I like to sauté the shell pasta in vegetable oil until it turns a light golden brown color. Then, I add the tomato sauce, let it cook, and reduce it a little bit along with the pasta. Finally, I add the chicken broth and cilantro stems and set it to boil for around 12 minutes or until the pasta is fully cooked.
Garnish for Sopita de Conchas
This definitely varies from one Mexican household to another. My husband loves to squeeze half a lime into the soup. I personally don’t like lime in my soup but love to see some shredded cheese melting in every spoonful, so I add a bit of shredded cheese to mine. Other people like to add crumbled queso fresco on top. My husband’s abuelita in Mexico City used to serve sopa de conchas next to Mexican rice and salsa verde cruda.
Enjoy this comforting and flavorful Mexican Shell Pasta Soup, perfect for the whole family!
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Traditional Sopa de Conchitas Recipe | Easy Mexican Soup
Equipment
- 1 Pot
- 1 Blender
- 1 Ladle
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
- 4 pieces Roma tomato You can use any tomatoes you have handy
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 piece white onion
- 6 stem cilantro
- 5 cups chicken broth 1 tablespoon Knorr Suiza chicken bouillon, or chicken bouillon cubes if you are using water
- 1 package dry shell pasta (Sopa de Conchas Pasta)
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Place 4 tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 onion, salt, and 1 cup broth in the blender. Liquify until pulverized.
- Set a large stockpot on medium-high heat and heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil.
- Add the shell pasta and sauté until it changes color to a light golden brown.
- Add the tomato sauce that we just made or the can of tomato sauce if you are using canned tomato sauce.
- Let the tomato sauce reduce for a couple of minutes with the pasta, stirring occasionally.
- Add 5 cups of broth, stir all together.
- Place the fresh cilantro stems on top and set to boil.
- Boil all together for around 12 minutes or until the pasta is fully cooked.
- When fully cooked, you can add shredded chicken or cooked ground beef if you want to add some protein, but this is totally optional.
Video
Nutrition
