I love this twist on chicken noodle soup. Just adding some fresh herbs, tomatoes and ditallini pasta, we turn a classic soup into an Italian “zuppa”. It’s so flexible, you can really add whatever veggies you’d like. Of course I use the classic trio of carrots, celery, and onion, but I decided to doctor it up with fresh green beans and I even added some frozen corn because my toddler loves corn. Other ideas sure to chock it up with fiber as well as vitamins and minerals are kale, spinach, peas and/or cannellini beans. I had roasted chicken earlier in the week. We crushed the first one for dinner that night and I saved the second so I could debone it and throw the cooked chicken in this soup. If you’re not into roasting chicken yourself (It is actually pretty easy– just coat a whole chicken in extra virgin olive oil, whatever herbs you like, salt, pepper and maybe a little lemon if you’re feeling zesty and roast at 400 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 165), you could also just buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Just sayin!
Recipe Serves 8-12
Ingredients: (don’t get hung up on exact amounts here. I’m honestly making this up because I don’t measure!)
-3-5 large carrots sliced or 1 bag of baby carrots sliced
-3-5 celery stalks sliced
-1 large onion or 2 small onions chopped
-3 cloves garlic minced
-1 stick of butter or extra virgin olive oil
-1 cooked rotisserie chicken deboned
-3-4 32oz low salt chicken
-salt and pepper
-fresh or dried herbs such as thyme, parsley and rosemary
-1 can 24oz chunky tomatoes
-1 14oz can tomato sauce
-1 bag of fresh green beans sliced
-1 can corn or bag of frozen corn, or fresh corn if in season
-1 box dittalini pasta or really whatever pasta you like (you can use old school egg noodles if that’s your jam)
Directions: Add one stick of butter or coat bottom of a large stock pot with extra virgin olive oil and warm on medium heat. Sautè carrots, celery, onion, garlic & herbs until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and sauce, chicken, broth, and the rest of the veggies and cook until all the veggies are soft. (I like to leave mine on low and cook for at least 4 hours so the house smells amazing!) Add pasta and cook for the last 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve warm topped with fresh parmigiano reggiano cheese.
My inspiration for this recipe came from this blog post I found from Dinner At The Zoo!
