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This Conchitas con Carne is a take on traditional Mexican ground beef and shell pasta, made with flavorful and wholesome ingredients. It’s gluten-free and can be modified to be paleo and AIP.

What is Conchitas Con Carne?

If you’ve ever had fideo, it’s similar to this recipe! I had been wanting to make a fideo recipe for a while but wanted to add some protein, so I asked my best friend (who is more of an expert around fideo than myself) and she told me about this traditional dish that I made a version of!

Conchitas con Carne is a Mexican hamburger and shell pasta soup. It’s made with tomato broth, ground beef, shell pasta, and vegetables.

This version is inspired by the traditional dish but made gluten-free, and it also has the option to be made nightshade-free!

The Ingredients for Conchitas Con Carne

• Garlic, Yellow Onion, Roma Tomatoes, Water and Chicken Broth. These ingredients make the delicious tomato broth!
• Avocado Oil.
• Pasta. I like these gluten free shell pasta, but you can sub these cassava elbows for AIP.
• Celery, Carrot, and Yellow Onion.
• Ground Beef.
• Cumin, Oregano, Salt, and Black Pepper.
• Zucchini.
• Lime, Avocado, and Cilantro. Don’t skip out on the toppings! I feel like the avocado, lime and cilantro really add a lot of freshness to the recipe.

How to make Conchitas Con Carne

• Make the broth. To make the broth, combine the ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until fully combined.

• Cook the pasta. Using a dutch oven, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the shell pasta and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often until crispy. Set aside.

• Cook the vegetables and ground beef. Add the celery, carrots, and onion to the pot and cook until lightly tender. Add the ground beef to the pot and season. Crumble the ground beef until browned and discard some of the excess fat.
• Pour the broth into the pot along with the pasta and zucchini. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and cover the pot, tilting the lid, for 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.

Tips & Tricks for Conchitas Con Carne

• Don’t skip out on the toppings. I feel like the avocado, lime and cilantro really add a lot of freshness to the recipe. My husband also likes to add sour cream to it.
• Don’t have fresh tomatoes? Use a cup of tomato sauce instead!
• Use this shell pasta if possible! I find that it cooks the best in this recipe.

Can you use a different pasta instead of shell pasta?

I highly recommend sticking to the shell pasta if possible, but you can also use elbow pasta!

How do you make this recipe AIP?

• Sub the shells for cassava elbows… though you won’t be able to fry these beforehand as they don’t crisp up quite like the gluten-free shells do.
• Omit the tomato and use nomato sauce. I tried this and it was still delicious!
• Omit the cumin and black pepper

You’ll also like…

• Pizza Soup
• Pasta Fagioli Soup
• Cabbage Roll Soup

Conchitas Con Carne (Mexican Beef & Shells Soup)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review

• Author: Michelle
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the tomato broth

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 lb Roma tomatoes, chopped (see notes for AIP)
• 1 cup water
• 4 cups chicken broth

For the soup

• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• 2 cups gluten free shell pasta (sub elbow pasta)
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 3/4 yellow onion, diced
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 zucchini, thinly sliced into half-moons
• Juice of one lime
• Avocado, sliced
• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

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Instructions

1. To make the broth, combine the ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend until fully combined. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and set aside.
2. Using a dutch oven, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the shell pasta and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often until crispy. Set aside.
3. Add the celery, carrots, and onion to the pot and cook until lightly tender.
4. Add the ground beef to the pot and season with salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Crumble the ground beef until browned and discard some of the excess fat.
5. Pour the broth into the pot along with the pasta and zucchini. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and cover the pot, tilting the lid, for 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
6. Serve topped with lime juice, avocado and cilantro.

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Notes

To make this recipe AIP, use cassava elbows instead of GF shells (and skip crisping the pasta), 1 cup of nomato sauce instead of tomatoes, and omit the black pepper and cumin.

All nutrition facts are estimated and will vary.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 458
• Fat: 17.7g
• Carbohydrates: 46.5g
• Fiber: 8.1g
• Protein: 32.1g