Chicken Pastina Soup Recipe
This easy and best Italian chicken pastina soup recipe a.k.a. Italian penicillin is made with basic ingredients to make a flavorful homemade chicken broth with a whole stewing chicken onion, celery, carrots and pastina (tiny pasta stars or "stelline" in Italian.) It's perfect for cold and flu season or anytime you want a wholesome Italian soup.
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb whole stewing chicken
- 1 gallon water
- 1 medium whole onion
- 2 celery ribs
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup pastina pasta
- black pepper to taste
- parsley flakes (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- First, remove any of the chicken parts that are stored in the cavity of the whole chicken, such as giblets, neck, liver, etc.
- Next, add the whole chicken, water, celery ribs and whole onion and cook/stew on high heat for one hour. The oil bubbles will begin to appear closer to the end of cooking.
- When chicken is done cooking, carefully remove chicken from pot and let it rest. Add the salt (2 tbsp or more to taste) the chicken broth in the pot and stir. Taste the chicken broth and add water to it until it tastes good to you as it may be oily.
- Then, remove the cooked celery ribs and chop them for the soup. Add them back into the broth.
- Next, add chopped carrots and pastina to the broth and cook on high heat for 8 minutes.
- Then, chop about one cup of the chicken (white or dark meat, whichever you prefer) and add it to the soup. Continue to heat on high covered until all of the meat, pasta and carrots are heated and tender only about two minutes more. Garnish with parsley flakes if desired.
Notes
You may add whole peeled carrots at the time of the celery and whole onion if you prefer.
Storage
- Store this soup in the refrigerator after it has cooled. If you put it directly in the refrigerator while hot, it may SPOIL!
- Refrigerate up to 5 days.
- If you want to freeze the chicken broth, that's fine but don't add the pasta until you reheat it so that it doesn't get mushy from being in the freezer.
Nutrition
Serving: 0gCalories: 171calCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 12gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 1221mgPotassium: 135mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 970IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg
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