Chicken pastina soup is full of flavor, chicken, veggies and pastina noodles. It will become a family favorite in no time!
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Chicken pastina soup is an Italian soup recipe that packs a lot in every bowl. With carrots, onions, chicken, and little balls of pasta in every bite this soup recipe is both light and filling. A perfect heart-warming soup to serve around the dinner table.
You’re going to love this pastina soup recipe because it’s so simple as easy. A perfect weeknight meal or dish to serve on a cold day. Use leftover cooked chicken, meal prepped chicken, or even a raw chicken breast (following the instructions for either) and enjoy a frugal and delicious meal.
What is chicken pastina soup?
Pastina soup is like an Italian version of chicken noodle soup. It’s made with the basic chicken noodle soup ingredients but with a past twist. It gets its name from the tiny pasta-balls (referred to as pastina) which means “little pasta.” It’s both nourishing and delicious.
Ingredients for Pastina Soup
- Water: We need to use water as the base of this soup recipe, but don’t worry because as the soup cooks, it turns into a flavorful broth.
- Pastina: This is the tapioca-looking balls of noodles you can find in your grocery store often referred to as “Acini De Pepe.”
- Carrots: Carrots are a great aromatic that adds flavor and depth to any good soup recipe.
- Onion: Adding in onions will give us another aromatic as well as adding a little richness to the broth.
- Chicken: You can use either cooked chicken or very small diced raw chicken pieces (they’ll cook in the broth!)
- Salt and Pepper: The two most basic and simple seasonings can still enhance a lot of flavors in this soup.
- Peas: We want to use either fresh or frozen peas as I’m afraid that canned peas won’t hold up to the texture we want and may become smushed.
- Parmesan cheese: Adding parmesan cheese will make the soup feel complete, but don’t forget to save a little for garnishing at the end!
How to Make Chicken Pastina Soup
- In a large pot or dutch oven, combine all of the ingredients except fot the peas and parmesan cheese.
- Bring the pot to a simmer and cook until the pasta has been cooked through. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Add in the peas and the parmesan.
- Stir the mixture together and let it cook for another 2 minutes before turning off the heat.
- Serve warm.
FAQs about pastina soup
While you could freeze this soup if desired, I don’t fully recommend it. Freezing soups with pasta in them almost never works out the way you want it to. Thanks to the pasta the mixture as it thaws would become thick and gloopy as a result of the starches. To freeze this soup without issue, removing the noodles would be best but with them being so small it would be a rather tedious task.
This soup would last in the fridge for up to 5 days if stored in an airtight container. I recommend eating the soup as it is freshest but leftovers have a longer time for flavors to develop. Simply take the cold soup and warm it up in a bowl in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove until it’s been heated through and then enjoy.
What would you normally serve alongside a chicken noodle soup? If the answer is grilled cheese, a light salad, biscuits, rolls, or crackers, then there’s a good chance it will go great with pastina soup as well. Because the soups are so similar, feel free to use side dishes you already feel comfortable with (if any at all).
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Chicken Pastina Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- ¾ cup pastina (also called acini de pepe)
- ½ cup carrots (diced)
- ⅓ cup onion (diced)
- 1 cup chicken (cooked, see note)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup peas
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients except the parmesean and peas in a large pot or dutch oven.
- Bring to a simmer. Cook until the pasta is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Add the peas and parmesan, stir and let cook another 2 minutes.
Alli
Easy and delicious soup!