Stanley Tucci’s family recipe is Brodo di Gallina con Polpettine di Pollo: chicken soup with chicken meatballs, vegetables and small pasta. SELF’s published directions cook the pasta separately and serve it in bowls with the soup ladled over it, so the available written recipe is not a one-pot method. Tucci connects the dish to versions made by his mother, aunt and grandmother while he was growing up.
What Tucci’s family recipe is
SELF published the recipe in a November 2, 2023 interview with Tucci. He describes it as a comforting family dish and says, “Although I never make it as good as they did,” referring to the versions made by his mother, aunt and grandmother. The Italian name given in the article is Brodo di Gallina con Polpettine di Pollo.
The recipe is presented as serving four to six. It combines chicken meatballs poached in chicken stock with shredded chicken, blanched carrots, celery and onion, and pastina or another small pasta. The source is SELF’s interview and recipe.
Why the “1-pot” label needs a qualification
The headline wording appears in a Dining and Cooking search result that says Tucci shared a family recipe on Williams Sonoma’s YouTube channel. That syndicated page could not be retrieved, and the video’s recipe was not independently verified. The accessible SELF recipe gives a different, specific workflow: cook the pasta in salted water, drain it, and divide it among bowls before adding the soup. It should not be described as a confirmed one-pot recipe on the basis of that headline alone.
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Tucci suggests an Instant Pot as an optional way to save time and energy, but the interview does not give pressure-cooker settings or an adapted method. The published directions below are for the stovetop workflow, with pasta cooked separately.
Ingredients in the published version
For the chicken meatballs
- 8 ounces ground dark-meat chicken
- ¼ cup dried breadcrumbs
- ½ cup grated Pecorino Romano
- 1 clove garlic
- Egg, salt and pepper, which the directions call for but the ingredient list omits
For the soup
- 8 cups organic chicken stock
- ½ cup finely diced carrots, blanched
- ½ cup finely diced celery, blanched
- ½ cup finely diced onion, blanched
- 6 ounces chicken breast, poached and shredded
- ½ tablespoon salt for the pasta water
- 1⅓ cups dry pastina, or another small pasta such as ditalini or macaroni
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 6 sprigs parsley for garnish
How the written directions come together
- Bring two quarts of water to a boil, add the stated salt, and cook the pastina for six minutes. Drain it and set it aside.
- While the pasta cooks, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, Pecorino Romano and garlic, adding salt and pepper as directed. Roll the mixture into balls about one to two inches across.
- Heat the chicken stock. Poach the meatballs in the stock until cooked through, about five to six minutes according to the recipe.
- Add the shredded poached chicken and blanched vegetables to the broth and warm them through.
- Divide the pasta among four warmed bowls, ladle the soup over it, and finish with Parmigiano Reggiano and parsley.
Serving ideas
Tucci suggests grated Parmesan or Romano, and toasted bread alongside the soup for a heartier meal; he calls bread with it an “amazing meal.” A crisp salad is another suggested accompaniment for a warmer day. He describes sharing the soup as “just really comforting sitting with your family.”
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