Pastina Soup {Minestrina}

Warm yourself up with a delicious bowl of hot and light pastina soup cooked in both. It’s pure comfort food for all ages, all year round.

Italians often joke that pastina is an Italian penicillin. And that’s because when you’re sick or not feeling good pastina or minestrina is what an Italian mom or nonna would make to make you feel better.

And it works!

Pastina literally means “tiny pasta” or “little pasta” and it comes in so many different teeny tiny shapes.

So even if you make it often it’s never boring.

Here are some of the most popular pastina types.

Tiny Pasta Shapes

• Anellini – tiny ring shape.
• Acini – peppercorn shape.
• Conchigliette – small shells.
• Corallini – small short tubes.
• Midolline – water drops or melon seed shape.
• Stelline – star shape.
• Farfalline – small bowtie or butterfly shape.
• Puntine – the tiniest of all soup pasta shapes. The most ideal pastina for babies.
• Risoni – rice grains shape.
• Quadrucci – small pasta squares.
• Fillini – little threads shape.
• Tempesta – small pebbles shape, hence it’s called tempesta – storm or hailstorm.
• Tempestine – tiny pebbles.

My personal favorite shape is stelline or star pastina and farfalline.

But you can use whatever you like, including ditalini pasta, even though they are more suitable for minestrone soup.

From early childhood minestrina is one of the most beloved baby foods.

In fact, you can make pastina for babies starting from 6-7 months. Of course, you’d cook it in a vegetable broth instead of meat stock and choose the tiniest shape, like puntine.

And you can easily make it for the whole family. Because one is never too old for a hot bowl of pastina soup!

Broth

As to the broth, of course nothing beats rich homemade chicken broth.

You can use boullion cubes or better than bouillon.
More often than not, if I don’t have homemade broth I use plain water.

Now, you might have heard or even made pastina soup before, but there’s an Italian secret that makes it pure joy.

Parmareggio or melted Parmesan cheese triangles.

You might be tempted to skip them but trust me, don’t!

Parmareggio is what makes pastina soup so creamy and incredibly flavorful, EVEN if you use just water instead of a chicken broth.

And that is another secret 😉

So if you have 10 minutes AT MOST here’s your new go-to comfort food.

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Pastina Soup {Minestrina}

Whenever you have comfort food cravings or need to warm yourself up with a delicious bowl of something hot and light – minestrina or pastina soup is absolutely THE best.

Prep Time2 mins

Cook Time8 mins

Total Time10 mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 4 oz pastina any tiny pasta shape
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 Parmareggio triangles melted Parmesan cheese triangles
• Parmesan cheese grated
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Rosemary sprig

Instructions

• Bring chicken broth to boil, add pastina. Cook for 5-8 minutes depending on the shape you’ve chosen. Check pastina cooking time on the package.
• Pour pastina with boullion in a soup bowl. Add parmareggio triangle, a splash of extra virgin olive oil and some grated Parmesan cheese if you like.
• Garnish with a small rosemary sprig.
• Serve hot!

Notes

You can use any type from orzo pastina, stelline or star pastina (most favorite) to farfalline and even small ditalini pasta.

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If you like you can add a twist to this classic minestrina.

Add some sweet peas, finely chopped carrots and celery for a veggie rich version or add a beaten egg for more protein and even more creaminess.

Looking for a piece of rustic bread to go with this soup?
Try one of these favorite Italian Homemade Breads!

Homemade Ciabatta Bread

Pagnotta {Italian Round Country Bread}

Buon Appetito!