Carrabba's Chicken Noodle Soup
This Carrabba's Chicken Noodle Soup recipe brings the restaurant's Mama Mandola's Sicilian Chicken Soup into your kitchen, with warm white pepper heat, a silky potato-thickened broth, and firm ditalini pasta stirred in at the end.
Equipment
- Large stockpot or Dutch oven - At least 6 quarts, to hold the whole chicken plus liquid
- Potato masher - For mashing the softened vegetables
- Chef's knife - Sharp, for dicing the vegetables
- Cutting board - Sturdy
- Kitchen tongs - To lift the hot chicken out of the broth
- Soup Ladle - For serving
- Colander - For draining the ditalini
- Second small pot - For boiling the pasta
- Wooden spoon - For stirring
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken - about 3½ lb / 1.6 kg, giblets removed
- 8 cups water - 1.9 L
- 4 cups chicken broth - 950 ml, low sodium
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil - 30 ml
- 1 large yellow onion - diced
- 2 medium green bell peppers - seeded and diced
- 4 ribs celery - diced
- 3 large carrots - peeled and diced
- 2 medium russet potatoes - about 1 lb / 450 g, peeled and diced
- 6 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes - 28 oz / 794 g, with their juice
- ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley - about 30 g, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground white pepper - adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt - plus more to taste
- 1½ cups ditalini pasta - about 225 g, cooked separately
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese - 50 g, grated, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, green bell peppers, celery, and carrots, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent, then stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- Nestle the whole chicken into the pot breast side up. Pour in the water and chicken broth, then add the potatoes, tomatoes with their juice, white pepper, black pepper, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil, lower to a simmer, partially cover, and cook for about 75 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Lift the chicken out with tongs and set it in a large bowl to cool for about 15 minutes. Discard the skin and bones, shred the meat into bite-sized pieces, and keep the soup simmering on low.
- Lightly mash the softened potatoes and some of the vegetables with a potato masher until the broth thickens and turns slightly cloudy, stopping before it becomes a purée.
- Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil, add the ditalini, and cook according to package directions, usually 8 to 9 minutes, until just tender. Drain and set aside.
- Return the shredded chicken to the soup, add the parsley, and heat together for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt and white pepper. Serve by spooning ditalini into each bowl, ladling the soup over the top, and finishing with grated Parmesan.
Notes
- Keep the pasta out of the pot: Cook the ditalini separately and add it per bowl, otherwise it bloats and soaks up half the broth within an hour.
- Use a whole bone-in chicken if you can: It gives a richer, rounder broth than boneless breasts, which can leave the soup tasting thin.
- Lean on white pepper, not red: That single spice is what makes it taste like Carrabba's rather than a plain chicken soup.
- Pick russet potatoes on purpose: Russets break down and thicken the broth when mashed, while waxy potatoes hold their shape and leave the liquid looser.
- Do not skip the mashing: Those few presses with the masher are the whole reason the broth turns silky instead of watery.
- Season at the end too: Potatoes absorb a lot of salt, so taste again after the final simmer and adjust.
- Simmer gently: A hard boil can make the broth cloudy and dry out the chicken before it finishes.
- Rotisserie chicken shortcut: Skip the whole chicken and stir in shredded rotisserie meat near the end, leaning harder on chicken base to make up for the lost broth flavor.
- Storage: Keep the ditalini in its own container and refrigerate the soup for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container.
- Freezing: Freeze the broth and chicken for up to 3 months without the pasta, then boil fresh ditalini when reheating.
Nutrition
Serving: 1BowlCalories: 255kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 22gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 720mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!