Chicken & Mini Pasta Soup
1 hour
Serves: 8
Make this thick, hearty and nutritious chicken soup to fill up your kids’ thermoses for school lunch. In the fall you can use all sorts of autumn vegetables—try butternut squash, parsnips, or rutabaga for the carrots and celery—or your own canned tomatoes from a garden harvest.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 (14 ounces) Just Bare Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth (4 cups)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cups diced (1/4 inch) carrot or parsnip (1 medium)
- 1/2 cup diced (1/4 inch) celery (1 stalk)
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup uncooked mini pasta (stars, alphabets, acini de pepe, or rings)
- 1 can (15 ounce) cooked garbanzo or Great Northern beans, rinsed, drained
- 1-1/2 cups chopped Swiss chard, mustard greens, or spinach
- Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese, if desired
Instructions
- Place chicken in 12-inch skillet. Add 2 cups broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center (165°F).
- Meanwhile, in Dutch oven or large soup kettle, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Remove chicken from poaching broth; set aside. Skim foam from broth; add to sautéed vegetables. Stir in remaining 2 cups broth, the crushed and diced tomatoes with juice, rosemary, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Heat to boiling; stir in uncooked pasta. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.
- Shred chicken into bite-size pieces; add to soup. Stir in garbanzo beans and greens. Remove bay leaf. Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.