My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
30-Minute Tomato Vermicelli Soup
Tomato vermicelli soup is a universal soup made across the middle east, because of how comforting, delicious, and easy it is to whip up. Not only does it take just about 30 minutes, but it uses only a few ingredients. Make this soup when you feel the need for a comforting hot bowl of soup, quickly! Keep reading for my step by step process.
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The Universal Tomato Noodle Soup
Vermicelli noodles are common across the middle east. But they are not to be confused with the Asian rice flour noodles that are also called “vermicelli noodles”. The middle eastern ones (pictured below) are actually made from fine wheat noodles or pasta, typically broken up into 1/2 inch pieces.
These vermicelli noodles are almost always cooked with rice to make the quintessential Arabic vermicelli rice (or Egyptian rice using medium grain rice), or made into this tomato and noodle soup.
My theory on why this soup exists is that Arab moms everywhere found the perfect and easiest soup to make with just noodles, chicken stock, and tomato paste. For my mom, it was either this soup or a very similar tomato oatmeal soup (replacing the noodles with oats!). It is certainly much quicker to make than other classic middle eastern soups like lentil soup or Harira soup.
Literally everyone has memories of sipping on this soup growing up. My favourite part was when my mom made it with extra noodles, so it was less like a soup and more like soupy noodles. It would just slide down my throat.
The Secret to a Quick & Flavourful Soup!
Here’s the not-so-secret ingredient to make this soup taste delicious but also cook much quicker: homemade chicken stock.
I also typically soften onions for the base of the soup to add more flavour, but have been known to skip them sometimes if I’m in a pinch.
The other important step for flavour but also texture is to toast the vermicelli noodles first, before submerging them in liquid. Not only does this add a wonderful nuttiness to the soup, but it also helps prevent the noodles from soaking up too much liquid as they sit in the soup, resulting in a much better texture and noodle to soup ratio.
If you don’t toast the noodles, be prepared to have a lump of noodles as your “soup” if you leave it to sit in the fridge overnight. It is still delicious… but not what I am promising you in this recipe. I speak from experience!
Ingredients You Will Need
The ingredients are simple, as promised:
- Vermicelli noodles: small broken up pasta noodles (not rice noodles). Any brand will work!
- Diced onions: finely diced is preferred to ensure the onion softening quickly.
- Chicken stock: preferably homemade, but store bought will do. If you’re vegetarian, replace this with vegetable stock.
- Salt, pepper and olive oil: the usual suspects for… flavour.
- Tomato paste: high quality tomato paste is preferred. If you’re making this in tomato season, feel free to puree fresh ripe tomatoes for even more flavour.
Don’t have vermicelli noddles? Simply replace with angel hair pasta cut into small pieces, or orzo, or ditalini pasta. The noodles will give the best and closest texture, but the other pasta shapes will work just fine.
How to Make Tomato Vermicelli Soup
Start by toasting the vermicelli noodles in olive oil, using a small skillet. Make sure you continue to stir the noodles as they toast, because they burn very easily.
Once the noddles are a golden brown (which will take 3-5 minutes), remove them from the skillet and set aside in a bowl. You can also toast the noodles right in the same pot you’re making the soup in, but they are a bit annoying to remove, so use a rubber spatula to help.
If you do use the soup pot to toast the noodles, try to remove all of them because stragglers may burn as the onions cook.
In the same pot, add the diced onions and a bit more oil and soften it for 5-6 minutes. Once softened, add the tomato paste, salt and pepper. Cook the paste for a few seconds, then add the chicken broth.
Bring everything to a boil and cover with a lid. Allow it to boil for 15 minutes, just so the ingredients mix well and develop flavour.
After about 15 minutes, add the toasted vermicelli noodles. Mix together, then allow the soup to simmer on medium low for 10-15 minutes until the noodles are soft.
Taste and adjust for more salt and pepper if required.
And that’s it! The soup is ready. I don’t make a fuss with garnish usually, but feel free to sprinkle the bowls with fresh finely chopped parsley and extra cracked black pepper if you wish.
Storage Tips
If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. I don’t suggest freezing this soup. Any soup that has noodles won’t freeze very well and the noodles may disintegrate from sogginess.
I suggest making enough for you and your family to consume within a few days, and to not batch cook this soup.
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30-Minute Tomato Vermicelli Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup vermicelli noodles , 95g (pasta noodles not rice noodles)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 5 tablespoons tomato paste
- 5 cups chicken broth, *see notes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, *see notes
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Start by heating 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small skillet. Once hot, add the vermicelli noodles and toast them for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. Don't stop stirring as they will burn easily.
- Once the noodles are a golden brown, remove them from the skillet and set aside in a bowl.
- In a soup pot, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the finely diced onions. Soften the onions for 5-7 minutes until translucent and lightly golden.
- Add the tomato paste over the onions and cook it for 30 seconds, stirring it around on the bottom of the pot.
- Pour all of the chicken stock into the pot and bring to a boil on medium heat. Cover the pot and allow the soup to boil for 10-15 minutes.
- Open the lid of the pot and taste and adjust for salt. Add the salt and pepper at this point, along with the toasted noodles. Stir everything one more time then allow the soup to simmer on medium low for 10 minutes until the noodles are soft.
- Taste and adjust for any more seasoning. Remove from the heat and serve in bowls, garnish with parsley and fresh cracked black pepper if desired.
Notes
- The type of noodles used are pasta or wheat noodles, not rice noodles. Check your local middle eastern store for this variety. You can also substitute with broken up angel hair pasta, orzo, or ditalini pasta.
- The amount of salt you should add to the soup depends on the salt content in the chicken broth you are using. I used lightly salted homemade broth and only needed 1 teaspoon. Before you add the salt, taste the soup then adjust. Some store bought stocks are very salty!
My kids adored this soup and possibly the easiest recipe I have ever made. The taste is excellent and a very good option when opening your fast
Hi Asmahan! So glad your kids loved it – its my kids’ favourite soup too! Thanks for leaving a review! 🙂
Hi just made this soup today ,it’s so easy to make and really delicious, Thankyou for another amazing recipe.
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed it Rima!