Creamy Milk and Pasta Porridge with Walnuts and Cinnamon

If you enjoy quick, comforting breakfasts, try this simple milk soup with pasta—ready in about 15 minutes. It’s creamy, lightly sweet, and makes a warm, satisfying start to the day.

Milk soup with pasta

Milk soup with pasta is a beloved comfort dish across Central and Eastern Europe—popular in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia and also enjoyed in parts of Germany. It’s versatile: serve it for breakfast, as a light vegetarian supper, or even as a simple dessert or snack. The base is just pasta cooked in milk with a little sugar, and from there you can personalize it to taste.

Almost any pasta works: vermicelli, noodles, macaroni, penne, fusilli, or shell-shaped conchiglie. For faster morning cooking, thin pastas like vermicelli or small shapes such as elbow macaroni are ideal because they cook quickly and give a pleasing texture when combined with milk. In the photos here shell macaroni is used, but feel free to choose whatever you have on hand.

This is a family-friendly recipe—children often adore its mild sweetness and creamy texture. It’s an easy, fuss-free dish that can be made even when you’re pressed for time. For a lighter version, use low-fat or skim milk. To make the soup more interesting, try finishing it with ground or roughly chopped walnuts and a dusting of cinnamon; a pinch of lemon zest and a little vanilla sugar also lift the flavors beautifully.

While the traditional recipe is simply milk, pasta and sugar, small additions—walnuts for crunch and a nutty flavor, cinnamon for warmth, and lemon zest for brightness—turn it into a more grown-up comfort food. These simple extras complement the creamy base without overpowering the dish.

Milk Soup

Ingredients

• 33 oz (about 1 liter) milk
• 1/2 lb (approximately 225 g) pasta of your choice
• 1 spoon vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1.75 oz (about 50 g) sugar, adjust to taste
• Handful of walnuts, ground or roughly chopped
• Pinch of cinnamon powder for each bowl
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest per saucepan

Optional: use skim, 2% or full-fat milk depending on how rich you’d like the soup. Other nuts can be substituted, but walnuts complement the milk and cinnamon especially well.

Kitchen tools

• Medium saucepan
• Colander or strainer
• Ladle
• Bowls for serving

Directions

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions until just tender. Smaller or thinner pastas generally take around 6–8 minutes.
• While the pasta cooks, warm the milk in a separate saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Leave the milk to come almost to a gentle simmer but do not let it boil vigorously.
• If using vanilla sugar or vanilla extract, add it to the milk near the end of heating to preserve the aroma.
• When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander and discard the cooking water.
• Transfer the drained pasta into the warm milk. Stir gently and let it simmer together for about 5 minutes so the pasta absorbs some milk and the flavors meld.
• Just before serving, stir in the lemon zest to brighten the flavor.
• Ladle the milk soup into bowls and top each serving with chopped or ground walnuts and a pinch of cinnamon. Taste and add a little extra sugar if you prefer it sweeter.

Serving suggestions: enjoy warm as-is for a cozy breakfast or light supper. Leftovers can be reheated gently—add a splash of milk while warming to restore a creamy consistency. This easy, comforting dish is quick to prepare and adaptable to many tastes, making it a staple for families and a perfect recipe to keep on hand for busy mornings.

Most popular recipes