Pep Guardiola's men reached the semi-finals of last season's Pokal, and they will hope to go deep in the competition again after avoiding a shock at the Wildparkstadion thanks to goals from Vidal, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski before the break.
Vidal scored his first competitive goal for the club with a fifth-minute penalty and, although Nottingen threatened to spring a surprise with Niklas Hecht-Zirpel's strike, they stayed level for less than a minute.
Gotze, a subject of regular transfer speculation during the close-season, put Bayern back in the lead with a good finish from the edge of the box – Vidal claiming the assist in an impressive 45-minute cameo.
Lewandowski added his name to the scoresheet in the 26th minute, putting daylight between the two sides after a succession of kind ricochets.
Bayern should have scored a fourth 14 minutes from the end as Douglas Costa missed the target, but it mattered little as the Bavarian giants strolled into the second round.
