Pasta e Piselli (Neapolitan Pasta and Peas)
A thick, spoonable Neapolitan supper of tiny pasta and sweet peas cooked right in a gentle soffritto broth.
Made with Soffritto and Homemade chicken stock. Make a batch of the base first, then this takes minutes. Skip to the method
- Time35 min
- LevelEasy
- Costabout £1.39 a head
Cost is worked out from Aldi and Tesco shelf prices in October 2026. Your shop and brands will differ.
Ingredients
Tick what you need to buy. It goes on your shopping list.
Method
- 1
Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy pan over a medium heat. Add your ready made soffritto (see the base recipe) and the tomato purée and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until it smells sweet.
3 min - 2
Pour in the homemade chicken stock and add the Parmesan rind and the salt. Bring to a simmer, add 300 g of the peas and cook for 10 minutes.
10 min - 3
Remove the rind. Mash the soup roughly with a potato masher, or blitz a few spoonfuls with a stick blender, so the broth turns thick and creamy but still has whole peas in it.
- 4
Stir in the pasta and cook for the time on the packet, usually 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often because gluten free pasta sticks. Add a splash of hot water if the soup gets too thick.
9 min - 5
Add the last 100 g peas for the final 2 minutes. Take off the heat and rest for 3 minutes, as the pasta keeps drinking the broth.
2 min - 6
Stir in the parsley and half the grated Parmesan. Serve in warm bowls with the rest of the cheese and a thread of olive oil.
Tips
- Cook the pasta in the soup, not separately. The starch it releases is what makes the broth thick and glossy.
- Gluten free pasta swells and goes soft quickly, so serve soon after resting. Add a splash of hot stock when you reheat leftovers.
- A Parmesan rind added to the pot gives deep savoury flavour for free. Keep rinds in the freezer for exactly this.
- Use frozen peas. They are picked and frozen young, so they are often sweeter than the fresh ones in shops.
Storing and freezing
Keeps in the fridge for up to 2 days, though the pasta absorbs the broth and it turns thick. Loosen with hot stock or water when reheating until steaming hot all the way through. It is best not frozen, as the pasta turns mushy.
Questions
Can I use ordinary pasta instead of gluten free?
Yes. Ditalini, tubetti or broken spaghetti all work. Ordinary pasta is not gluten free, so only keep the gluten free label if you use gluten free pasta throughout.
Why is my pasta e piselli too thick?
The pasta keeps absorbing liquid as it stands. Stir in hot stock or water a splash at a time until it falls off the spoon in a slow ribbon. This is normal and easy to fix.
Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes. Swap the homemade chicken stock for a homemade vegetable stock and use a vegetarian hard cheese in place of the Parmesan and its rind.
More made with soffritto
Double check before you cook. Recipes can contain mistakes. Any diet labels come from the ingredients as written in this recipe and are a guide, not a guarantee. Always check every ingredient and the packet label for allergens and cross contamination, and ask your doctor or dietitian what is right for you, especially with coeliac disease, diabetes or a serious allergy. This is not medical advice.
