Cuban-Style Chicken Soup (Sopa de Pollo)

Whenever it’s a cold day or I’m sick, I love to have a bowl of chicken soup with white rice. For me, chicken soup is the Cuban chicken soup my mother makes that has lots of fideos, tender chicken, and is packed with flavor. The chicken soup is really simple to make and can be served in a number of ways: as a plain broth without fideos/noodles, with fideos, or with fideos and a scoop of white rice in the soup.  The chicken can also be left in the soup as is or taken out of the soup and made into croquettes or Cuban fried chicken.  This chicken soup recipe is really versatile and has lots of other recipes that go along with it! For now, this recipe focuses on making Cuban chicken soup and is based on my mother’s recipe. The recipe is incredibly simple to make but will result in a flavorful soup with tender chicken that is very satisfying to eat. So have fun giving this recipe a try and enjoy!

Cuban-Style Chicken Soup (Sopa de Pollo) Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 pounds of chicken (I use chicken leg quarters, but you can include chicken breast as well; Note: if you use all chicken breast the soup will have a very weak flavor, so it’s best to include some chicken legs or thighs as well)  
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 packet of sazon con asafran or teaspoon of saffron
• ½ of a medium-sized green pepper
• ½ of a medium sized red pepper
• 2 medium-sized onions
• 12 cups of water
• ½ of a 10 oz bag of fideos (I use angel hair fideos; you can also exclude the fideos if you just want a chicken broth)

TOOLS NEEDED:

• 1 large pot
• Cutting board, knife, and measuring utensils

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS         

                                                                           

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Collect and prepare a few of the ingredients. Cut the onions in half and then cut each half into ¹/₈ inch slices. Cut the red and green pepper into ¹/₈ inch slices.
2. Now, in a large pot, add the water, chicken, garlic powder, cumin, sazon con asafran (saffron), red pepper, green pepper, and onions. Cover the pot and bring the pot to a boil on high heat. Once boiling, let the soup cook for 7 minutes on high heat. Then lower to medium heat and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
3. Next, crush the fideo nests with your hands. They should look like 1 inch pieces.  Then add the fideos to the soup and cook the soup for another 10 minutes or until the fideos are tender. Then turn off the heat and serve the soup.