You know you’re Mexican if you grew up eating Sopa de Conchas.
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After a long day of adding and subtracting, Mexican kids are often greeted by a bowl of this yummy shell pasta soup.
It goes right up there with other classic recipes like Sopa de Fideo and Frijoles de la Olla.
Table of Contents
🐚 Ingredients
- Roma tomatoes
- onion
- garlic
- chicken bouillon
- conchas pasta
- oil
- water
This is a basic recipe for Sopa de Conchas. You can add more ingredients if you like. Some moms add a pinch of cumin and a pinch of oregano. Sometimes potatoes and veggies are added too.
👩🏼🍳 Step-By-Step Instructions
Rough chop the tomatoes before adding them to the blender. These are Roma tomatoes, but cherry tomatoes and beefsteak work just as well.
Add tomatoes to a blender. Look for ripe tomatoes for best flavor.
Also add the onion and garlic to the blender. Some people will dice up the onions and cook them with the shells. Either way works fine.
Add water to the blender. We’re creating a basic tomato sauce.
Blend everything until smooth. Set aside until ready to use. You can totally bypass this and go straight for a can of tomato sauce. That works just as well, but be sure to add water to thin it out.
Heat up the oil in a large stock pot. Don’t skimp on the oil. We are about to “toast” our pasta. To make this soup, use a big pot.
The star of the show is this conchas pasta, or pasta shaped like shells. It is commonly found in the Hispanic aisle at the grocery store. Or, you can purchase it online. If your store carries fideo pasta, it more than likely will sell this pasta.
Once the oil is nice and hot, add the conchas. Get out your spatula and start stirring.
🔥 Be Careful!
You don’t want this to burn. If you end up burning it, you will have to start all over again. That’s not fun. My advice is to stir, stir, stir, and keep stirring.
You gotta be on the lookout for when the pasta starts to toast. That’s the time to add the rest of the ingredients.
Look at these golden beauties. A few of them are really toasted. As long as they aren’t burnt, it’s all good in the hood.
Now add the rest of the water. Some people will use chicken broth, and if you have it, awesome! If you opt use chicken broth, don’t add the chicken bouillon.
Time for the tomato mixture. Pour all of it in. I like to leave one cup of water to get all the tomato sauce out of the blender. However you do this is fine too.
Chicken bouillon is a common ingredient in our Mexican cuisine. Omit, if you like, and use chicken broth or vegetable stock instead. Both work well when making this Sopa de Conchas recipe. Or, use salt and add water.
Lastly, cover up the pot for 20 minutes. Check the pot at around 18 minutes. All you want is to make sure the pasta is soft and fully cooked. The shells will puff out, almost 3 times bigger than their dried version.
If the soup is dry and the liquid has evaporated, add 1 cup of chicken broth 2 minutes before serving.
🍲 More Mexican Soup Recipes
- Sopa de Coditos
- Caldo de Albondigas
- Sopa de Pollo con Fideos
- Menudo recipe
- Sopa de Letras
- Caldo Tlalpeno
Serve your soup in a large bowl. I call this Mexican comfort food. It warms your belly and your soul. Childhood memories swarm with each spoonful and many more to be had. Hope you enjoy!
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Sopa de Conchas
Ingredients
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
- ¼ onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup water + 4 cups water divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 16- ounce package of conchas
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
Instructions
- To a blender, add tomatoes, onion, garlic clove and 1 cup of water.
- Blend until smooth.
- Set aside until ready to use.
- Heat oil in a large stock pot.
- Add package of conchas pasta.
- Stir frequently until golden brown.
- About 5 minutes.
- Do not let this burn, or you will have to start all over again.
- Add 4 cups of water, tomato mixture, and chicken bouillon.
- Stir to combine.
- Cover and bring to a low simmer.
- Cook for 20 minutes, or until pasta is soft and the conchas have puffed up.
- Serve and enjoy
This sopa de conchas looks delicious simple and comfort soup. My kids love shell shaped pasta.
So glad you enjoyed this!
My family will go crazy over this pasta soup. So perfect for those cold evenings!
So glad you enjoyed this!
Now I’m getting out the soup pot! MMMM. Love the shells here as well.
Sopa de conchas is a delicious and comforting Mexican soup that’s perfect for colder days. Hope you enjoy this flavorful soup!
So interesting and unique. I love trying dishes that are easy new to me.
Glad to hear that you found the Sopa de Conchas recipe unique. Hope you enjoy making and tasting this delicious soup!
That looks so good! I love the simplicity of this recipe and how full of flavor it is. This is a great one!
Totally agree, sometimes the simplest recipes are the most flavorful. It’s all about letting the ingredients shine. Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks so good and I would make this with vegetable stock and it hopefully will be just as good. I love shells so this sopa is a perfect way to enjoy them.
So glad you liked this Sopa de Conchas recipe! You’re absolutely right, using vegetable stock is a fantastic option to make it vegetarian-friendly. I’m sure it will turn out just as delicious!
You said it perfectly! Food for the soul (and sickness). Fond childhood memories when I make this. We used to call them “little boats!”
That’s a really cool name! Hope you try this recipe
I love these recipe.. I have my aunt make this for me all the time.. yes I’m part Mexican..
Glad you like it! Isn’t it delicious?
Can I use tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes?
Yes! Homemade is best, but you can easily make this recipe with canned tomato sauce.
When I made it all the caldo had dried up. Help! What did I do wrong?
You let it cook too long. It’s ok to add more liquid. Just adjust for salt.
You know you’re an adult when you start making this for yourself. It’s the ultimate sick food when you’re little haha.
Lol. So true. My mom used to get me a concha whenever I was sick.
❤️ thank you so much. This is exactly like my grandmother’s recipe.
That warms my heart. I love making foods that our grandmothers made.
Maggie I found your site!!
I ‘ve taken your birria and sopa de cochas recipes. I’m pretty sure they will taste great! I love your process, step by step directions and slides. Also the videos are wonderful. Thank you Maggie!
This looks really delicious! I love how easy the recipe is, I’m a busy mom so I need easy doable recipes.
I love soup and this looks like something I would like. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
This looks so tasty and so easy
This is a great recipe! My husband is mexican and has some relatives living in Mexico City. We went there to celebrate Navidad 5 years ago and they said they would cook “sopa blanca”. Can you imagine how funny I looked when it turned out to be pasta, not soup hahaha
My fiancee would love this! Definitely pinning so I can try it later
Everything looks very delicious. I have never made a dish like this before. Looks amazing!
I love recipes that are simple, yet tasty. I rarely cook mostly because a lot of the dishes that I like are time-consuming. As a teacher, I don’t have the energy at the end of every day to cook a meal that takes longer than 20-30 minutes.