Italian Pasta with Potatoes (Pasta e Patate)

With a handful of simple and budget friendly ingredients, this classic Italian soup is warm, inviting, and deliciously comforting. Enjoy Pasta e Patate (pasta with potato) and get a taste of Nonna’s homemade cooking! 

Growing up eating home-cooked Italian food taught me that the best dishes are simple yet delicious. Italian food is all about taking humble ingredients and bringing out the best in them with many different combinations.

Originating in Naples, this soup combines simple foods to make a comforting dish (not unlike this pasta e piselli or pasta e fagioli), showcasing the beauty of using what we have on hand to make something enjoyed by families for generations.

In this dish, tender potatoes, al dente pasta, and smoky pancetta come together in a light broth, creating a rustic soup that’s packed with flavor. Finished with the richness of Italian cheeses, every spoonful reminds me of my Nonna’s kitchen.

In fact, paste e patate when finished cooking, has a distinct orange color - it's not white, or fully red. The orange color comes from all the ingredients mixing with the tomato paste and the carrots. If it comes out orange, you know you've made the dish right! Pretty cool, hey?

If you're looking to make this a complete meal, serve with Italian chicken cutlets, and an Italian fennel salad- yum!

Italian Cheeses

Tradtionally, this soup is made with Provola cheese, a semi-soft Italian cheese made from cow's milk, similar to mozzarella but with a slightly firmer texture that melts beautifully into pasta dishes and pizza. It’s hard to find in my area so I used Scamorza as a substitute.

Scamorza has a slightly smoky flavor that pairs well with the ingredients in the soup!

Just crisp up the pancetta and add veggies, tomato paste, and diced potatoes.

One secret to making super flavorful pasta e patate is that the potatoes need to slightly caramelize before you add in the broth. This is what gives the dish tons of flavor. If the potatoes don't slightly brown, the final dish will taste like boiled potatoes, and lack in flavor a bit.

Then pour in broth, add pasta, simmer until tender. Stir in rosemary and scamorza cheese, finish with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano. Easy, delicious, homey Italian comfort in a bowl!

Make This Naples Italian Classic

• One pot meal: All of the ingredients are cooked together in one pot, making clean up easy!
• Budget-friendly: With ingredients like potatoes, pasta, and simple soup veggies, this meal won’t break the bank and feeds a lot of people. 
• Classic flavor: Aromatic vegetables, nutty and creamy cheese, tender pasta, and hearty potatoes. This soup has the best balance of flavors and textures.

Key Ingredients

• Pancetta - This salty piece of pork adds tons of flavor with a hint of smokiness. You can also use chopped bacon or diced ham for a similar flavor. 
• Onion, celery and carrots - This classic mixture adds a depth of aromatic flavor throughout the soup. 
• Tomato Paste - A hint of tomato paste seasons the broth giving it a light acidic taste along with some natural sweetness. 
• Russet Potatoes - Add a hearty texture and depth to the soup. Russet potatoes are great for this dish - they maintain their shape while cooking, yet still become soft and tender. But any white potato would work well, like yukon gold or kennebec.
• Pasta Mista - A packaged pasta that includes different pasta shapes, traditionally used in dishes like this one. I use this pasta mista. But any small pasta shape would work, such as ditalini or cinesi rigate
• Fresh Rosemary - Gives the soup a woodsy herb taste that pairs well with the classic Italian ingredients. 
• Scamorza Cheese - This slightly smoky cheese gets melted into the soup, creating a light creamy coating on the ingredients, which gives it an indulgent mouthfeel. 

How to make it

Cook the pancetta and vegetables: Pour the olive oil into a large pot and turn the heat to medium. Add in the diced pancetta and saute until golden brown and crispy with the fat rendered out. This will take about 5 minutes. Add in the carrots, celery, and onion, along with one rosemar stem. Saute for an additional 5 minutes until tender. 

Build the flavor: Add in the diced potatoes along with the tomato paste. Saute the ingredients together until the potatoes slightly caramelize. This will take about 10 minutes. 

Cook the pasta: Add in the vegetable broth along with the salt and pepper. Let the broth come to a boil before pouring in the pasta. Cook until the pasta is tender. 

Add remaining ingredients: Add the rest of the chopped rosemary along with more broth if needed. Stir in the scamorza until melted and creamy. 

Garnish and serve: Plate the pasta and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. Serve hot and enjoy! 

Recipe Tips

• Let the pancetta cook until it's golden brown and crispy before adding the vegetables for maximum flavor.
• Adjust the amount of broth based on your desired soup consistency. Add more or less as needed as the soup cooks. 
• Watch the pasta as it cooks to avoid overcooking. You want it to be tender but still slightly firm to the bite.
• Give the soup a taste before serving, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
• If you don’t have fresh rosemary, you can use dried though the concentration of flavor will be different. Always taste the soup between layers to adjust seasonings.

Storing & Freezing

Storing: Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. 

Freezing: Let the soup cool completely before transferring it to freezer-safe containers or resealable bags. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to three months.

Reheating: To reheat the frozen soup, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Once thawed, transfer the soup to a pot and gently reheat it over medium heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Adjust seasoning if needed before serving.

Recipe