How to Make Red Menudo from Scratch – Tender Tripe Mexican Soup
This easy red menudo from scratch recipe is true fall comfort food—hearty with tender vegetables, melt-in-your-mouth tripe, and a broth rich with warm spices. It’s my take on the classic Mexican tripe soup known as menudo rojo. I’m always looking for new organ meat recipes to serve to my family, and this one is my recent favorite tripe recipe. My version is gently seasoned (my kids wouldn’t touch anything spicy), with an optional step of blending the onions and garlic for a naturally creamy broth. I’ll also show you how to prepare tripe so it’s perfectly fork-tender—making this an ideal place to start if you’ve never cooked tripe before.
What is Menudo Traditionally Made Of?
Menudo is a traditional Mexican tripe soup made either with a rich red chile broth (menudo rojo) or a simple clear broth (menudo blanco). Since none of my kids enjoy very spicy food, I skipped the hot red chiles in this version—but I still wanted that inviting red color. My solution was to stir in a little tomato paste, giving the broth a warm, muted orange-red hue. While it doesn’t have the deep red color of traditional chile-based menudo, it’s still close enough in spirit that I call it red menudo.
Because hominy isn’t available where I live in Africa, I swapped in canned sweetcorn, which together with carrots adds a subtle sweetness to the soup. This may not be the most authentic Mexican menudo recipe, but it’s hearty, flavorful, and family-friendly. And for the spice lovers at your table, I include an optional red chile sauce (you can find it in the recipe card) so everyone can customize the heat in their own bowl.
Is Menudo Healthy?
Absolutely. This nourishing soup is packed with minerals from fresh vegetables, collagen from rich chicken broth, and all the goodness that comes from tripe. Organ meats are among the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat, and tripe is especially high in protein—particularly gelatin—and it also contains some iron, zinc, and phosphorus, along with vitamin B12.
What Is the Best Tripe for Red Menudo?
Traditionally, red menudo is made with beef tripe, but you can use any variety of tripe for this recipe. I used lamb tripe because I live in a sheep-farming area, so it’s the easiest for me to find. Blanket tripe, honeycomb tripe, book tripe, and reed tripe all work beautifully in this soup.
The recipe calls for about 3 cups of cooked, diced tripe. To get that amount, I used a mixture of reed and honeycomb tripe. If you’re using beef tripe, which is much larger, you’ll probably only need one type and may have some left over for other recipes.
Already have cooked tripe on hand? You can skip straight to the step-by-step instructions for the soup below. And if you have an Instant Pot, check out my tutorial on cooking tripe in the Instant Pot for an easy way to prepare it.
How to Cook Tripe For Menudo
To prepare the tripe, scrub it well under running water and then place it in a medium pot with one peeled onion, a few carrots, a couple of celery sticks, a bay leaf, a teaspoon of peppercorns and 1-2 teaspoons of unrefined salt. The vegetables are not strictly necessary but they add flavor to the tripe as it cooks and they mask the ‘tripey’ smell you get when you cook raw tripe without any aromatics. However, you can just cook the tripe in plain salted water if you prefer- it will still work fine in this recipe.
Add enough water to cover the tripe and the veggies. Bring to the boil and skim off any foam that comes to the surface, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the tripe for about 2 hours until fork-tender.
When the tripe is tender, remove it from the broth and leave it for about 15 minutes until cool enough to handle. You’ll notice that it has shrunk quite a bit during cooking (which is completely normal).
Once it has cooled a bit, chop the tripe into 1/2 inch cubes and measure out 3 cups for this recipe.
Ingredients
- Tripe: Any type of tripe will work in this recipe.
- Bone broth: I used chicken broth, but beef or lamb broth work just as well.
- Tallow: I use tallow for sautéing the onions, but you can also use butter.
- Mild chilies: For a very mild menudo, remove the seeds and membranes from the chilies before using them. I forgot to do this, and my menudo turned out quite a bit spicier than I expected!
How to Make Red Menudo
Step 3: Add 2 cups of stock to the pot, then use an immersion blender to partially blend the mixture. You’re aiming for a chunky texture, so leave some pieces intact. If you prefer a completely smooth base, go ahead and blend it all the way—it’s entirely up to your taste.
Step 4: Once the soup base is blended, add the tripe, carrots, corn, bay leaf and rest of the stock to the pot.
Step 5: Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes until the carrots are soft. Your soup is now ready to be served!
Serving Suggestions
I’ve included a quick recipe for a hot chili sauce in the recipe card below, which you can serve alongside this soup. But the hot sauce isn’t the only way to serve red menudo. You could also serve it with:
- Warm corn tortillas – perfect for dipping into the rich, flavorful broth.
- Crusty homemade bread – not exactly traditional, but if you don’t have tortillas on hand, a few slices of crusty bread or homemade rolls work just as well. I always make sure to butter my bread well (butter makes everything taste better).
- Fresh lime or lemon wedges – a squeeze of citrus brightens the soup and helps cut through its richness.
How to Store Red Menudo
- Once cooled, you can transfer any leftover red menudo to a large mason jar and store it in the refrigerator for 3–4 days.
- Menudo also freezes really well. It’s best to freeze it for up to 2–3 months for best quality.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ll give this red menudo recipe a try. Once you learn how to cook tripe, you’ll find that it’s surprisingly easy to work into all sorts of dishes. Tripe may look weird but it’s actually milder in taste than liver or kidneys so it’s easier to adapt to whatever dishes or cuisines your family likes. If you’re looking to add more nose-to-tail recipes to your everyday cooking, tripe is a great place to start.
And if you love traditional, from-scratch cooking, I’d love for you to join my newsletter community. I’ll send you my latest recipes, tutorials, and practical tips for making real food at home.
More Organ Meat Recipes
Red Menudo (Mexican Tripe Soup)
Equipment
- immersion blender (optional)
Ingredients
For the menudo soup
- 2 Tbsp butter or tallow
- 2 cups chopped onions
- 1½ tsp unrefined salt, or to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ cup sliced mild green chilies
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups bone broth
- 2 cups tripe, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 cup sweetcorn
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- ¼ cup chopped fresh coriander, to serve
For the optional hot sauce
- 10 dried hot red chilies
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ¼ cup avocado oil or mild olive oil
- juice of 1/2 lime or 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
To make the soup
- Melt the butter and sauté the onions and celery until soft and translucent. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add the crushed garlic cloves, tomato paste, green chillies, oregano and cumin. Sauté, stirring, for about 2 minutes.
- Add 2 cups of stock to the pot, then use an immersion blender to partially blend the mixture. You’re aiming for a chunky texture, so leave some pieces intact. If you prefer a completely smooth base, go ahead and blend it all the way.
- Once the soup base is blended, add the tripe, carrots, corn, bay leaf and rest of the stock to the pot.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes until the carrots are soft.
- Serve with some lime wedges, corn tortillas, and the hot sauce from the recipe below.
To make the optional hot sauce
- Remove the stems from the chilies. In a dry skillet toast the chilies over medium-low heat until fragrant (this will take less than a minute). Keep a close watch on them so they don't burn.
- Place the chilies in a small bowl and cover with some just boiled water. Let them sit for 5 minutes.
- Drain the chilies and add to the blender together with the garlic, lime juice or vinegar, salt and half of the oil.
- Blend until smooth, adding the rest of the oil in a thin stream as you blend to emulsify.
- Serve this hot sauce alongside menudo in a small bowl with a teaspoon.
