Affectionately known as Italian penicillin, nourishing pastina soup with egg features a golden Pecorino-infused broth thickened with sautéed and pureed vegetables and rich wisps of tempered egg. This tiny pasta soup recipe is easy to make vegetarian and uses mainly pantry and fridge staples for streamlined prep.
We're a pastina two-ways kind of house. This easy creamy pastina recipe is my everyday, it's raining, it's snowing, I feel a little blah, I need a true 10-minute side dish kind of pastina. That's the classic version I grew up with and the one I make most of the time. The convenience can't be beat.
But if you have more time, need more servings, want soupy pastina, or are fortunate enough to have someone else lovingly preparing your sick day food, here's Italian pastina soup with egg.
Take your standard pastina soup with blended vegetables, throw in some quickly-caramelized tomato paste and whole hunks of Pecorino for simmering, then borrow the texture from stracciatella soup with its small shreds of egg swirling around the broth. What results is a simple but special soup that, as my grandma would say, is good for what ails you. Whether that's sickness or just fatigue of figuring out what's for dinner.
This soup develops a great baseline flavor but is also a fabulous canvas for toppings. I highly recommend a bright squeeze of lemon juice, punchy extra-virgin olive oil, good-quality balsamic vinegar, or any combination therein.
Why I Love Pastina and Egg Soup
- Basic ingredients - I don't usually have fresh chicken ready to go to make soup at a moment's notice, but I do have eggs, making them an excellent addition to soup. Otherwise lots of pantry and fridge staples are at work here! A regular hunk of Pecorino or Parmesan will do the trick - you don't need to have a rind piece specifically.
- Blended vegetables - This thick golden broth is not only infused with Pecorino, but hides over three cups of veggies.
- Versatility - Make it spicy, add leftover cooked chicken, simmer in some greens or beans...it's all good.
- Supersized pastina - An oxymoron, but I might like leftover portions of pastina soup even better than freshly made. The pasta grows the longer it sits in liquid and thickens everything up even more, but don't worry: there's sufficient broth to handle it.
Why add eggs to Italian penicillin soup?
Finishing pastina soup by whisking in tempered eggs adds a rich flavor, thicker texture, and bump up in nutrition. You'll notice little egg wisps in the soup that blend in well with the tiny star pasta.
Recipe Ingredients
- Pastina: The tiniest star-shaped pasta will be called 'pastina' on the box (that's what I use here), but pastina can also refer to a broader range of very small pasta shapes. These include slightly larger stars ('stelline'), acini di pepe, and alphabets. All work here.
- Broth: Either chicken or vegetable broth. If going with chicken, I really like using at least half chicken bone broth for a richer flavor and bump up in protein. My current favorite vegetable broth is the Better than Bouillon "no-chicken" base - it's vegan and has a really nice flavor.
- Pecorino: Solid pieces infuse the simmering broth with a really nice umami flavor, though if you just have shredded/grated, simply stir it into the soup at the end. While it has a different flavor, Parmesan works well as a substitute.
- Eggs: Whisked until smooth, tempered with hot soup until they're warmed, then slowly stirred into the soup for richness and thickness.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: Sauté onion, carrots, and celery in oil, then add the garlic and tomato paste and cook a few minutes longer.
- Step 2: Deglaze the pan with some broth, then add the rest of the broth, pieces of Pecorino, and the bay leaves. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Step 3: Discard the bay leaves then use an immersion blender to blend the broth smooth.
- Step 4: Separately whisk eggs, then slowly whisk in two ladles of broth. Set aside for now.
- Step 5: Add the pastina and cook for 7 minutes, stirring often.
- Step 6: Slowly pour the tempered egg into the soup while you stir. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve with lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and shredded Pecorino.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Pastina grows. One-half cup may not look like enough pasta going into the soup, but pastina will get bigger the longer it sits. Some people like to boil the pasta separately then add it once cooked to soup to prevent it from growing so large, but I don't think the extra effort is worth it here.
- Make vegetarian pastina soup. Just two swaps! Use your favorite vegetable stock and replace the Pecorino Romano with a Parmesan made with vegetable or microbial enzymes (not animal rennet). BelGioioso makes a specially-labeled vegetarian Parm, as does Sartori. I believe you can also find them at Trader Joe's and Aldi, though please double-check before buying.
- Add leafy greens. If you like, add bite-sized pieces of kale after the blending step, during the last 10-15 minutes of cook time. I've also used rainbow chard in pastina soup, replacing the celery with its stalks and adding the leaves near the end. Spinach leaves don't take more than a few minutes to wilt, so save them for the very end.
- Work the egg in slowly. Sloooowly pour the tempered egg/broth into the soup pot in a small stream, all the while continuously stirring. This helps form the small wisps of egg in the soup. If you come in a little hot with the beaten egg and larger curds form, simply fish them out and no one will be the wiser.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Stick with chicken broth and add cooked and shredded or chopped chicken (rotisserie works great for this). If going in this direction you can omit the egg if you'd like as this soup will be plenty hearty without.
Sometimes you can't find specifically-labeled "pastina", the teeniest, tiniest stars. I haven't forgotten the big drama of Ronzoni discontinuing it for a time! Other very small pasta shapes that would work in Italian penicillin soup with egg (or otherwise) are stelline, acini di pepe, or alphabets.
Two big things to remember: go slow and work in stages. Tempering the eggs (slowly whisking hot broth into them) is crucial in gradually heating them up. Then, very slowly stir this tempered mixture into the full pot of soup. Stir continuously while doing this to ensure the egg sets up in tiny wisps and not larger clumps.
I haven't tried it myself, but I would not recommend it. I'm afraid due to the eggs that the texture would be negatively impacted and separate strangely once frozen, thawed, and reheated.
Did you enjoy this recipe? I’d love for you to leave a star rating and a comment review in the recipe card below!
Pastina Soup with Egg
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 medium/large carrots diced (about 1 ¼ cups)
- 4 celery ribs diced (about 1 ¼ cups)
- 6 cloves garlic finely-minced or pressed
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (see note)
- 1 ½ ounce piece of Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese cut into 3-4 smaller pieces, more for serving
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup uncooked pastina
- 2 large eggs
- 3-4 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Freshly-squeezed lemon juice to serve
- Extra-virgin olive oil to serve
- Condiment-grade balsamic vinegar to serve
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large pot set on the stove over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add the diced onion, carrot, and celery and sauté for 6 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Add in the tomato paste and stir to work it into the vegetables. It'll stay mostly in globs but that's okay. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring periodically, as the tomato paste begins to caramelize. Season everything with salt and pepper.
- Deglaze the pan with a heavy splash of the broth, using a wooden utensil to scrape up any stuck-on browned bits from the bottom. Stir the bits into the vegetables. Pour in the rest of the broth, then add the pieces of Pecorino (or Parmesan) and the bay leaves.
- Partially cover the pot, leaving the lid open as big of a crack as you can to allow steam to escape. Adjust the heat to bring everything to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes (longer is fine).
- Find and remove the bay leaves, then use an immersion blender to blend the soup as smooth as you like. You can leave some vegetable pieces or blitz them entirely. Remove two ladlefuls of soup to a bowl and set aside for the moment.
- Whisk the eggs in a small heat-proof bowl. While whisking continuously, slowly drizzle the hot reserved soup into the bowl of beaten eggs. Continue until all of the soup has been mixed in and set aside for now.
- Bring the pureed soup back to a simmer and stir in the dry pastina. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring often to bring up any stuck-on pasta from the bottom of the pot and prevent it from clumping up.
- Once the pasta timer is up, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, then slowly drizzle the tempered egg mixture into the pot of soup while stirring in a big circular motion. Stir for about a minute to cook the egg.
- Taste and add extra salt, if desired. Garnish with fresh parsley and optionally serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and/or extra shredded Pecorino.
Notes
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Nutrition
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