Pastina Soup – Simple Chicken Soup Recipe
You will double-love this easy Italian Chicken Pastina Soup recipe made with delicious chicken broth and tiny noodles. A great soup that is perfect for a chilly day if you are in need of a little food comfort. This soup also makes an easy dinner when paired with a delicious grilled cheese or healthy tossed salad.
We love making homemade soups and you can always save a ton of money by making your own favorite soups at home. Most homemade soups are pretty simple once you get the basics of soup making down.
Finely chopped onions, garlic and carrots are cooked in olive oil with layers of salt and pepper to give the soup just the right amount seasoning.
In this soup we lightly cook boneless chicken thighs with the onions and carrots before adding the broth to the pan. We also cook this soup in our awesome Dutch Oven – which is perfect for cooking soups.
Hint – Always have extra broth and some chicken soup base on hand. When cooking pasta in soups, the pasta will absorb much of the liquid quickly. Adding more broth will help the soup to not become too thick.
An easy soup recipe that is perfect for a family dinner5
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 1 cup chopped carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
- 8-10 cups chicken broth, divided
- 1 cup Acini de pepe, uncooked
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
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Using a Dutch Oven or soup pan, brown onions in olive oil for about 2-minutes, lightly salt & pepper.
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Add garlic and carrots to the pan and cook for about 2-3 minutes, again, lightly salt & pepper.
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Push onions and vegetables to the side of the pan and add the chicken, lightly salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side.
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Add about 7 cups of the chicken broth to the pan, bring to a light boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes.
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Remove chicken from the pan to a cutting board.
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Increase the heat a little and add the Acini de pepe to the soup pan. Cook the pasta for 10 minutes, stirring often.
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While the pasta is cooking, shred or cut the chicken thighs into very small pieces and add back to the pan.
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Cook for about 5 additional minutes. Check to see if you need any soup base or more chicken broth.
Onions, garlic, carrots and chicken are cooked for a short time before adding the broth. You can also add a little bit of chopped celery to your mirepoix.
Typical Chicken Pastina Soup Ingredients –
Chicken Broth – Always start with your favorite broth because that is the base of many of your homemade soups. We believe the key to any good soup recipe is the quality of the broth in flavor, salt and ingredients.
Store-bought or Homemade? Try different broth types to find your favorite or make your own broth. Chicken broth is easy to make at home by simmering chicken pieces in water with a little celery, carrots, garlic and fresh herbs.
Fresh Vegetables – Our most used vegetables in chicken soups are carrots, celery, onions and garlic. This is the start of most soups and is called the mirepoix. Your base for the soup which contains these vegetables diced fine and then cooked in butter or oil or a combination of both.
We love to use green leafy vegetables in our chicken soup like fresh chopped spinach, kale or chopped collard greens. If you don’t have fresh, substituting frozen is just fine.
Fresh or Dried Herbs – Our favorite herbs for chicken soups are parsley, thyme, oregano, and rosemary.
Noodles – You can use any type noodles for this pastina soup as long as they are tiny. We use Acini de pepe which is a tiny round noodle, which is commonly found in most Wedding Soups.
Homemade soups are a great way to go a little easy on the family budget. Extra soup is simple to freeze and use again at a later date, saving even more money on your monthly food budget.
To Freeze Soup –
Place in a large freezer bag and make sure to remove as much air as possible. Lay bag flat in the freezer to save room.
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