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This easy pastina recipe is truly comfort in a bowl. It uses a pasta shape called pastina, little pasta in Italian, which is cooked in chicken stock and then mixed with butter, parmesan and lemon. It is so delicious, creamy and warming. It is often called Italian penicillin, which shows just how comforting it is, guaranteed to make you feel better.
For this recipe, you do really need to find the tiny pastina shapes. Typically, Italians use star-shaped pasta called stelline but you could use tiny rounds or tubes. It’s also great in soups and stews like my easy minestrone or my tomato bean stew.
Table of Contents
What Is Pastina?
Pastina translates to “little pasta” in Italian and refers to the smallest pasta shapes used in Italian cooking. Rather than one specific shape, pastina is a category that includes tiny stars, grains, or rounds, all of which cook quickly and easily.
Pastina vs Acini di Pepe
Although they’re often confused, pastina and acini di pepe are not exactly the same:
- Pastina is an umbrella term that includes several very small pasta shapes, like the tiny stars (stelline) that I used.
- Acini di pepe is a specific pasta shape that resembles small beads and has a slightly firmer texture.
If you can’t find pastina in the shops, acini di pepe is the closest substitute and works almost identically in most recipes.
Why you will love this recipe:
- It’s super quick & easy – you can have it on the table in 10 minutes.
- The ultimate comfort food: perfect if you’re feeling unwell or just for a cold day.
- Easy to adapt and add different cheeses and veggies.
- Perfect for the whole family – kids will love this.
Ingredients:
Full recipe can be found in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post, just scroll down!
Pastina – any tiny pasta shape works. I used stelline, little stars.
Chicken stock – homemade will make the most delicious pastina, but I know this is not always possible, so just try to use a good-quality one rather than just a stock cube. A cube would work, but since there are so few ingredients in this pastina recipe, it’s a good idea to use all good-quality ones so they carry their weight.
Parmesan – or any hard cheese similar to Parmesan eg pecorino or Grana Padano.
Substitutions and Variations:
Make it vegetarian – if you are a vegetarian, you could use a good vegetable stock and just make sure your Parmesan is vegetarian too.
Pastina – you can use other small pasta shapes or even orzo.
Add an egg yolk – stirring an egg yolk into pastina makes it even creamier.
Added protein – stir in some shredded chicken or even turkey to add more protein.
Add veggies – you could stir in some peas or leaf spinach to boost the nutrition of this easy pastina dish.
Here’s how to make easy pastina:
Here’s a step by step guide for what you need to do, but you can find the full recipe at the bottom of the page for detailed instructions.
ONE: In a medium pan over medium-high heat, pour in the stock and bring to a gentle boil.
TWO: Add the pastina to the pan and simmer, stirring regularly, for 5 to 8 minutes until soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
THREE: Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, lemon juice and grated Parmesan. Stir well until melted and creamy.
FOUR: Taste, season with salt and pepper, and serve straight away. Loosen with a splash of warm stock if it thickens too much whilst you wait to serve up!
Cooking Tips:
Stir often while cooking: Stirring often stops it sticking but also releases the starch from the pastina which makes it creamier.
Serve immediately: pastina needs to be served straight away for the best texture so it doesn’t thicken too much. If it gets too thick, add a splash of warm stock to loosen it.
Choose your consistency: Add extra hot stock as you like until it has the texture you like. Some will like it more risotto-like and others more soupy.
Don’t overcook: to avoid mushy pastina, keep an eye on it and taste the pasta near the end so you can see how much longer it needs and take it off the heat when ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, pastina just means ‘small pasta’ in general so any small pasta shape will work. Orzo and acini di pepe are great substitutes for stelline when making this easy pastina recipe.
Pastina is easy to digest and a gentle dish to make for someone who feels unwell but also for children and babies. Just watch the salt content if feeding to babies.
Pastina translates to “little pasta” in Italian and refers to the smallest pasta shapes used in Italian cooking. Rather than one specific shape, pastina is a category that includes tiny stars, grains, or rounds, all of which cook quickly and easily.
Other recipes you might enjoy:
If you liked this easy pastina recipes, you will love my butternut squash risotto, chickpea pasta or my poule au pot. You can then use the chicken carcass from that to make homemade stock. For more pastina, you might like my Mexican-inspired pastina salad.
Easy One Pot Dishes
One Pan Pasta and Peas
Easy Pasta Recipes
Stanley Tucci’s Pasta Fagioli
Easy One Pot Dishes
Easy One-Pan French Onion Soup Pasta
Chicken Recipes
One-Pan Greek Chicken with Lemon Potatoes
If you tried this easy pastina recipe or any other recipe on the site, please do leave a rating or comment and let us know how it went!
Easy Pastina Recipe
Ingredients
- 100g pastina of choice e.g. Stelline
- 750 ml good-quality chicken stock, more if needed to loosen
- 20 g Parmesan, grated
- 30 g butter, salted or unsalted
- 1-2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste
- Black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
- In a medium pan over medium-high heat, pour in the stock and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the pastina to the pan and simmer, stirring regularly, for 5 to 8 minutes until soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter, lemon juice and grated Parmesan. Stir well until melted and creamy.
- Taste, season with salt and pepper, and serve straight away. Loosen with a splash of warm stock if it thickens too much whilst you wait to serve up!
- The video below will help with this recipe.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This pastina recipe is so easy and so good. It’s a proper comforting bowl of goodness!