So I’ve never made this before, but its been on my list of to do’s. While I didn’t quite have all the right ingredients, I managed to pull it off going by memories from childhood. Sopas is a staple comfort food—macaroni chicken soup, in the Philippines. Made of the simplest ingredients in less than an hour time.
Whilst at the grocery store, Sopas was a soup I had in mind to make, however, I didn’t think things through with regards to the ingredients. With the mindset that I had most of the things I needed at home, I only picked up a few items such as carrots, milk, and chicken broth. Moreover, I started to grab a celery bunch…but honestly, I only needed a stick, so I skipped the celery all together.
As I was gathering all the ingredients (mis en place), I noticed that I didn’t have cabbage, and I didn’t have elbow macaroni. I purposely didn’t buy boneless chicken, as well, because I had some wings defrosted the night before.
What I did have was an elevated form of elbow macaroni, and some lettuce! So with these substitute ingredients in hand, I was ready to make some soup!
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic, mashed (with skin is okay)
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 carrot Julienne, or (cut into quarter circles)
- 1 lb chicken wings or (boneless chicken thigh, cubed)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
- 1/4 cabbage chopped (I managed to substitute this ingredient with lettuce!)
- 1 cup regular milk, or 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- salt and pepper to season
*All ingredients are organic, unless noted otherwise.

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Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat.
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Add the garlic, and onion, then cook for up to 3 minutes.
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Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes, or until the skin is slightly crispy brown.
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Pour in the regular milk or (evaporated milk), and the chicken broth, then bring to boil for about 20 minutes.
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Add the macaroni, stirring occasionally for another 8 minutes or until the pasta has soften.
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*Add the cabbage, and carrots. Continue to simmer for up to 2 minutes.
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Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.
Recipe Note: If you want to try lettuce, as a substitute for cabbage, like I did. I added it in at the very last minute. BTW, the flavor was amazing using lettuce!