This Easy Pastina Soup is comfort food for when you are under the weather and need something delicious, rich and nourishing, made with chicken stock and vegetables, and, of course, tiny pasta aka pastina.
It's been quite a while so I can’t remember if it was me or someone else in my immediate family that was feeling under the weather, in fact, it might have even been my neighbor. But I was texting with a dear friend and she sent me the recipe she said she always makes when her family is sick.
I had all of the ingredients so I made it right away. It was sooo good that it became one of my favorite go-to soup recipes whenever we are feeling poorly as well. The soup is rich and full of vegetables and flavor, a true delight with the tiny pasta aka pastina.
Easy Pastina Soup
This soup is very forgiving so I haven’t given exact weights for the vegetables. Aside from the garlic, the amounts of the other veggies should be more or less similar but if you have a little more carrot and a little less celery, don’t stress over it. That said, the one onion in my pantry was tiny, so I also used a shallot to make up the difference.
Ingredients
10 1/2 cups or 2 1/2 liters chicken stock
1 yellow onion
3 celery ribs
3 carrots
4 garlic cloves
salt as needed
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup or 200g pastina, drained (any small pasta shape, such as orzo, little stars, or tiny macaroni noodles – macaroni will weigh less, being hollow)
Parmesan or Pecorino Romano to serve
Method
Peel and chop your carrots and onion. Peel and slice your garlic. Chop the celery ribs.
Add the stock to a large pot and heat over high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Bring the contents to a boil.
Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and semi cover the pot with a lid.
Cook for 45-60 minutes or until the veggies are all super soft and the quantity of liquid has reduced. Taste for seasoning and adjust with some salt, if needed.
If you have a hand blender, remove the pot from the stove and puree all of the vegetables directly in the pot.
If you don’t, use a slotted spoon to transfer the veggies to a blender, along with a couple of ladles full of broth. Blend until the mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Return the blended mixture back to the pot of broth and stir.
Give the whole pot a few generous grinds of black pepper.
Meanwhile, in another pot, boil the pastina in salted water. Drain and return to the pot to keep warm.
To serve, add a generous serving spoonful of the cooked pastina to the bottom of a bowl then ladle the soup on top.
Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. (I totally forgot this step for the photos!)
Enjoy!
Welcome to the 16th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter P. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the P recipes below:
- Food Lust People Love: Easy Pastina Soup
- Sneha’s Recipe: Grilled Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
- Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Peas and Pepper Pasta Salad
- Palatable Pastime: Provolini Antipasti Salad
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Pasta and Pea Soup
- Mayuri’s Jikoni: Pineapple Salad
- Blogghetti: Easy Pumpkin Pie Crescent Rolls
- A Messy Kitchen: Maple Pecan Fudge
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pasta with Preserved Lemon
- Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Peach Crumble Pound Cake (Cake Mix Recipe)
- Culinary Cam: Potato-Crusted Quiche
Pin this Easy Pastina Soup!
.
