Chicken Pastina Soup
A good soup is like a hug from your favorite person or a love note from your childhood. This Pastina Soup recipe will nourish your body and your soul! There are various ways you can make this soup, my family & I happen to enjoy it most with small chicken meatballs added to it.
Besides the pure comfort of a good soup, one of the other perks are making a pot of soup once, and eating it for multiple meals. That is always a win! AND the mini chicken meatballs in the soup give it added protein and a delicious element of fun! We love the texture contrast when it all comes together.
Table of Contents
Love soup season? Three of my favorites are:
- Sweet Potato Soup which has incredible flavor (no dairy needed),
- My Seafood Soup This is restaurant quality (don't tell anyone how easy this is to make)
- Tortellini Spinach Soup which is the most requested meal overall in my house. It eats like a meal and you can make this in 15 minutes or less!
This easy to make Chicken Pastina Soup is flavorful and satisfying. Add as many or as little chicken meatballs as you will enjoy or you can swap the chicken meatballs for shredded rotisserie chicken or homemade shredded chicken.
Adding mini chicken meatballs to Pastina Soup is a delicious Idea, you easily turn a simple soup into a meal! If mini meatballs are not your thing, add shredded chicken instead.
Ingredients
- onions, carrots, celery, garlic & scallions
- eggs, ground chicken, spinach
- chicken stock
- pastina pasta
- olive or avocado oil, S&P, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, tomato paste
Variations Chicken Meatball Soup
- The addition of chicken meatballs is optional but delicious!
- You can swap the chicken meatballs for shredded chicken as pictured below.
- Swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth. Its easy to make this a vegetarian pastina soup.
- Add as much or as little pastina to the soup as you like, make it a thicker or thinner soup based by the amount of broth and pasta added.
- If you are making the chicken meatballs, and you happen to have a tube of tomato paste, add a TBS or so to the mixture. It adds depth of flavor.
TIP: Purchasing tubes of tomato paste vs a cans of tomato paste save money in my opinion. Simply use what you want from the tube and pop it back in your fridge till next time. In my experience its cost-effective vs potentially wasting what's left in the can.
Tips
- For more chicken flavor, add in some chicken bullion to your stock.
- When you make the chicken meatballs. After everything has been combined, and before you roll them into balls. Cook one small patty off in a pan so you can taste for seasoning. You can't fix an under seasoned meatball (of any kind OR meatloaf for that matter) after its been cooked. Plus, you get a little snack!
- Make sure you have extra broth available if you have leftovers of this pastina soup or if you make it ahead of time. The pastina will continue to soak up the liquid while in the fridge.
- Adding a scrambles egg yolk or two really does give this some something "extra", however feel free to leave it out if you wish.
- Fresh garlic really makes a difference vs jarred garlic. Or refrigerated garlic paste is nice as well, just remember that contains added salt.
I hope this Chicken Meatball Soup Recipe brings you and your family comfort and nourishment. XO Colleen
Popular Soup Recipes To Try
Pastina Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Mini Chicken Meatballs
- 1 pound ground chicken or ground chicken breast
- ⅓ cup breadcrumbs
- S&P to taste, however don't be shy
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sliced scallions (or 2 TBS minced onion)
Pastina Soup
- 1 TBS avocado or olive oil
- ½ cup minced onion I prefer sweet/Vadilia onion
- ¼ cup chopped carrots
- 1 stalk celery if you don't like celery in soups, just leave it out
- S&P to taste, more black pepper vs salt since the broth is salty
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 64 oz (8 cups) chicken or vegetable broth another cup or two if you want a lot of broth
- Parmesan rind or two one inch chunks of Parmesan optional but adds depth of flavor
- ½ cup pastina or similar tiny pasta
- 2 egg yolks, scrambled
- parsley for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Mini Chicken Meatballs
Pastina Soup
- In a large pot, add your oil, onions, carrots and celery and sauté for 3-4 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Add garlic and sauté for another minute
- Add broth and Parmesan rind and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add pastina and the chicken meatballs and cook to package instructions till pasta is al dente. Remove from heat and remove Parmesan rind (if its still there).
- Off heat, slowly drizzle scrambled egg yolks into soup (if using), stirring as you do.
- Add parsley (if using) and enjoy!
