This Italian rag soup, or stracciatella, is a nourishing bowl of comfort made with just chicken broth, eggs, Parmesan cheese, spinach, and parsley.
Italian rag soup, or stracciatella, is nonna’s answer to those cold-weather sniffles. It’s named for the straggly, raggy appearance created by dribbling eggs beaten with cheese into warm chicken stock. And it’s a cinch to throw together from things you probably have everything you need in your pantry. Bless you.–Angie Zoobkoff
☞ Contents
Italian Rag Soup | Stracciatella
Ingredients
- 4 cups store bought or homemade chicken stock
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup grated Italian cheese such as Pecorino Romano or Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves (optional)
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
- Handful fresh spinach (optional)
- Coarse salt
Directions
- In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring the stock to a boil.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cheese, parsley, if using, and pepper.
- Slowly stir the egg mixture into the boiling broth. It will clump together in small “rags.” Add the spinach, if using, and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes.
☞TESTER TIP: The eggs will have a more delicate texture if you remove the soup from the heat immediately and a firmer texture if you let it on the heat a little longer.
- Season the soup to taste, if desired, with salt and plenty of pepper. Serve immediately.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Chicken soup is the first thing I ever learned to cook. I’ve lost count of the number of versions I’ve made. It still is one of my go-to recipes when I need a quick dinner. Now, just in time for flu season, there appears the perfect recipe for the convalescent. Easy to make with ingredients that are always in my refrigerator or freezer and yet nourishing.
There is almost always chicken broth in my freezer, so I used homemade defrosted broth that took about 10 minutes to bring to a boil. The total time for the recipe was about 15 minutes but hands on time was only a couple of minutes. I added spinach to my version as well as plenty of pepper. The spinach wilted in a minute and a half to 2 minutes.
The result is a bland soup; I would normally prefer something more heavily seasoned, however, chicken soup is THE home remedy for almost any illness. In that case, bland is good. And the egg and spinach add extra nourishment.
Move over cinnamon rolls and coffee cake, this is the new breakfast.. Bone broth, eggs, and spinach start the day off with a big boost of healthy ingredients and just as easy as scrambling an egg.
I used store-bought organic bone broth and frozen spinach that I had on hand and seasoned to taste with additional cheese and sea salt. Make that morning meal count!
This worked perfectly fine as a recipe for one, I just decreased amounts accordingly. Since cheese is used sparingly, the soup should be fine for those following a SCD diet.
I really liked this soup! It was so easy to throw together and has a great flavor without being heavy. I used a Romano-Parmesan cheese blend and loved that the nuttiness was able to shine here. The spinach was lovely and I will be trying the fresh parsley next time as well. I may also try 3 eggs instead of 4.
Love this soup! What a great, fast alternative to my go-to comfort soup, and one that can either be simple based on pantry ingredients or fancier if you have fresh stock, time, and nice greens on hand. I made it twice, once as a bare bones version, using store-bought chicken stock (handy!) and leaving out the parsley and spinach. The soup was a beautiful, savory version of an egg flower or egg drop soup and had a similar comfort as my fast-versions of avgolemono. The Parmesan gives a nice umami.
With freshly made stock, my second batch had spinach and parsley and, because you take a little more time to wilt the spinach, the egg rags formed a more dumpling-like texture. Both were lovely and I found just a tiny dash of soy at the table made it perfect. What a great addition for the weeknight tool kit.
It also scales perfectly, so a half batch can serve as single serving for 2 people, whereas a full batch makes 4 servings (or a complete dinner if 2 people have seconds.
Originally published January 18, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
This was so easy and delicious. I substituted kale for the spinach because that was what was around. And basil for the parsley as suggested. Added a small bit of cooked macaroni ditalini.
Perfect, Ilda! Thank you for sharing your tweaks! Sounds terrific…!