One of my favorite past-times is reading about how Italian Nonnas feed their families, especially the really old, traditional recipes. Pastina soup is one of the recipes that is touted as a cure-all for all that ails you. It’s sometimes even referred to as Italian Penicillin.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve had several children come down with strep, so I thought this would be the ideal time to perfect the Italian Chicken Pastina Soup recipe. It has blended vegetables, homemade chicken stock, and teeny tiny pastina stars. What could be healthier and easier to digest?
I fed this soup to my 17 year old son, who had the worst looking throat I’ve ever seen. He hadn’t wanted to eat anything all day, and was barely drinking because his throat hurt so bad…
After eating a few bites he said that his throat felt more soothed than it had all day and it was the best soup he had ever tasted. Thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in soon afterwards and relieved more pain so that I could get him rehydrated.
I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Need some tips for getting through family illness, and want to see me make the Italian Chicken Pastina Soup? Watch below!
Italian Chicken Pastina Soup
A delicious nutritious traditional Italian soup, often served to sick patients!
Ingredients
- 6 carrots- peeled and rough chopped
- 3 large yellow onions- peeled and rough chopped
- 6 ribs of celery- rough chopped
- 20 cloves of garlic
- 2 bone-in split chicken breasts
- 4 quarts of chicken broth
- 6 bay leaves
- 3 T olive oil
- 2-3 T kosher salt
- 1 generous T dried Thyme
- 3-4 inch piece of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rind (optional)
- 1 box of pastina or other small pasta
- 2 additional quarts of chicken broth
- Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- Freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Wash, peel, and roughly chop your carrots, celery and onions.
- Pour 3 T olive oil into a pot and heat on medium high. Add vegetables and garlic and stir occasionally until golden and slightly carmelized, approximately 20 minutes.
- Add in chicken breasts, chicken stock, salt, bay leaves, thyme, and cheese rind. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and leave the lid propped on.
- Simmer for around 1 hour.
- Remove chicken breasts, bay leaves, and cheese rind. Set chicken breasts aside to cool.
- Use an immersion blender or food processor and blend up the remaining vegetables and chicken stock until smooth.
- Take the chicken meat off of the bones, discarding the skin. Cut or tear chicken into bite sized shreds.
- Add chicken back into the pot, and taste. Adjust seasonings if necessary, adding more salt or thyme and cover to keep warm.
- Bring 2 additional quarts of chicken broth to a boil, add the pastina and cook until all of the broth has been absorbed, stir occasionally to keep from sticking.
- To serve, ladle soup into bowl, add about 1/2 cup of cooked pastina. Top with grated Parmigianno Reggiano and cracked pepper.
