Stracciatella Soup

A bowl of this comforting stracciatella is just what my Italian grandma would make to satisfy hunger pangs on a cold day or soothe someone feeling under the weather. Clocking in at just five ingredients, it’s the sort of back-pocket recipe we all need in our repertoire.

To make this recipe, you don’t need fancy ingredients or a lot of time. The technique is easy and the ingredients — broth, eggs, Parmesan, and herbs — are simple:

• Start by making sure your broth is at a gentle simmer to ensure that the eggs cook almost immediately upon being added to the saucepan.
• Beat eggs with Parmesan and herbs, then slowly pour them into the simmering broth, while stirring, to create the stracciatella bits.
• If you like larger, more dumpling-like egg pieces (like in our photo), stir slowly and stop stirring after adding.
• If wispy, fine pieces are more appealing, stir faster while adding and continue to stir until the eggs are cooked.

Feel free to take this basic method and bulk it up with your favorite chicken soup ingredients. Cooked short pasta like ditalini or stars, shredded or chopped cooked chicken, or fresh spinach are some nice additions. If you don’t have both fresh parsley and fresh basil on hand, use one or the other.

If you want to add some more green into the soup, try fresh or frozen spinach. To prevent watering down the soup, we recommend thawing and draining frozen spinach first, then adding at the end until the spinach is just warmed through. Fresh spinach can be added and stirred until wilted, usually less than a minute if the soup is at a nice simmer. 

Egg drop soup is a traditional Chinese soup that relies on a similar technique of dropping raw egg into hot soup. It doesn’t include Parmesan cheese and often calls for cornstarch and fresh ginger.