Sopa de Conchas, or Mexican Shell Pasta Soup, is as classic as Mexican rice and tamales. This easy-to-make soup is comfort food at its best. Ready in minutes and perfect for little picky eaters. Watch the VIDEO or see the step-by-step pictures to recreate this Mexican food favorite.
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You know you’re Mexican if you grew up eating Sopa de Conchas. This goes right up there with Sopa de Fideo and Frijoles de la Olla. My mom would make this for us when we got home from school. And now, I make it for my redhead when he comes home from a long day of adding and subtracting, science experiments, and girls.
The ingredients are simple: 2 Roma tomatoes, ¼ onion, garlic, chicken bouillon, conchas pasta, oil, and water. This is a basic recipe for Sopa de Conchas. You can add more ingredients if you like. My mom would add a pinch of cumin and a pinch of oregano. Sometimes potatoes and veggies were added too.
I rough chopped the tomatoes before adding them to the blender.
My handy dandy blender here is a Nutribullet. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
Also add the onion and garlic to the blender. Some people will dice up the onions and cook them with the shells. That way, the Sopa de Conchas will have sauteed onions. YUM! Either way works fine.
Add water to the blender.
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, and in a pinch, I’ll confess that I use canned tomato sauce too.
Heat up the oil in a large stock pot. Don’t skimp on the oil. We are about to “toast” our pasta. To make Sopa de Conchas, you will need a pot. We need room to groove.
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. Here’s the thing: 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.
You gotta be on the lookout for when the pasta starts to toast and it’s about to burn. That’s the time to add the rest of the ingredients. This isn’t it! Lol. Do you see how it’s starting to change colors? Look at these golden beauties. A few of them are really toasted. They are almost, almost burnt. That’s totally ok. 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. You can omit, and as I mentioned, use chicken broth instead. Both work well when making the Sopa de Conchas.
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.
Serve your Sopa de Conchas 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!
Don’t forget to watch the Sopa de Conchas Video
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
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
More Mexican Soups & Stews
Birria de Res, or Mexican Beef Stew
Mexican Fish Soup, or Caldo de Pescado
Pozole Rojo
Roasted Poblano Corn Soup
Mexican Lentil Soup, or Sopa de Lentejas
Mexican Star Soup, or Sopa de Estrellitas
Caldo de Verduras, or Mexican Vegetable Soup
Caldo de Pollo, or Mexican Chicken Soup
Caldo de Camarón – Mexican Shrimp Soup
Caldillo Durangueño, a Traditional Beef Stew from Durango, Mexico
Swathi
This sopa de conchas looks delicious simple and comfort soup. My kids love shell shaped pasta.
Maggie U
So glad you enjoyed this!
Catalina
My family will go crazy over this pasta soup. So perfect for those cold evenings!
Maggie U
So glad you enjoyed this!
Shelley R Zurek
Now I’m getting out the soup pot! MMMM. Love the shells here as well.
Maggie Unzueta
Sopa de conchas is a delicious and comforting Mexican soup that’s perfect for colder days. Hope you enjoy this flavorful soup!
Nikki Wayne
So interesting and unique. I love trying dishes that are easy new to me.
Maggie Unzueta
Glad to hear that you found the Sopa de Conchas recipe unique. Hope you enjoy making and tasting this delicious soup!
Claudia
That looks so good! I love the simplicity of this recipe and how full of flavor it is. This is a great one!
Maggie Unzueta
Totally agree, sometimes the simplest recipes are the most flavorful. It’s all about letting the ingredients shine. Glad you enjoyed it!
melissa chapman
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.
Maggie Unzueta
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!
Zina
You said it perfectly! Food for the soul (and sickness). Fond childhood memories when I make this. We used to call them “little boats!”
Maggie U
That’s a really cool name! Hope you try this recipe
Jessie
I love these recipe.. I have my aunt make this for me all the time.. yes I’m part Mexican..
Patricia Ramos
Glad you like it! Isn’t it delicious?
Maya
Can I use tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes?
Maggie Unzueta
Yes! Homemade is best, but you can easily make this recipe with canned tomato sauce.
Ime
When I made it all the caldo had dried up. Help! What did I do wrong?
Maggie Unzueta
You let it cook too long. It’s ok to add more liquid. Just adjust for salt.
Jacquline Ohmer
You know you’re an adult when you start making this for yourself. It’s the ultimate sick food when you’re little haha.
Maggie Unzueta
Lol. So true. My mom used to get me a concha whenever I was sick.
Irma
❤️ thank you so much. This is exactly like my grandmother’s recipe.
Maggie Unzueta
That warms my heart. I love making foods that our grandmothers made.
Lia
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!
Julie
This looks really delicious! I love how easy the recipe is, I’m a busy mom so I need easy doable recipes.
Mommy Peachy
I love soup and this looks like something I would like. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Amanda
This looks so tasty and so easy
Gena
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
Erica D Ardali
My fiancee would love this! Definitely pinning so I can try it later
krystal
Everything looks very delicious. I have never made a dish like this before. Looks amazing!
AmberLynn
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.