Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup is full of vegetables, pasta, and little meatballs; it’s the perfect comfort food on a chilly night and it comes together in no time. It’s kid and husband-friendly, so add it to your menu today!

When autumn rolls around soup reappears on the dinner menu, your family will beg you to make this Italian Wedding Soup Recipe after slurping down their first bowlfuls! This easy soup recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal and will warm you from the inside out!

Why You Must Make

The weather has turned, the boots, gloves, and jackets are strewn throughout the house, and soup has become a regular offering on our dinner menu. This Wedding Soup is one of our favorites! With meatballs, pasta, and a flavorful broth, it’s well-loved by the whole family.

I have a weak spot when it comes to meatballs. And when they’re floating in a delicious, doctored-up chicken broth, the results are delicious!

Ingredient Notes

• Kitchen Staples – Olive Oil, Fresh Garlic, Onion, Salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Egg
• Carrots – Peeled and chopped
• Celery – Chopped
• Thyme – Dried
• Chicken Stock – I use the Pacific brand
• Small Pasta – I use orzo, but tubetti or other small pasta shapes work well.
• Baby Spinach – One bag
• Meatballs – Buy small frozen meatballs or make your own with ground beef, salt, bread crumbs, Parmesano-Reggiano, and an egg.

Recipe Tips

If you can chop, you can make this Italian wedding soup! It’s a great recipe for new cooks and comes together on the stovetop in no time at all.

• Chop onions, carrots, and celery and saute in olive oil along with some minced garlic before chicken stock and dried spices are added to the mix.
• Make meatballs from scratch or use frozen meatballs depending on how much time you have.
• I mix up some simple homemade meatballs, cook, then drop into the soup to simmer for a while. Since I like some color on the meatballs, I saute them first. Usually at least one side gets flat, but I love the added flavor that comes with browning. An alternative is to drop the raw meatballs into the simmering soup to cook.
• PRO-Tip: Browning your meatballs first results in a Maillard reaction, a chemical process that gives browned foods their amazing flavor and aroma!
• For a quick dinner, I make meatballs with ground beef. For more tender meatballs, replace about 1/3 of the ground beef with ground pork.
• Watch the sodium content of your chicken broth. Some store-bought broths are extremely salty, so you will not want to add any extra salt.
• Vary your spices depending on what you enjoy. Stick with Italian flavors like thyme or Italian seasoning. Fresh herbs chopped and added at the end of the cooking time give a nice fresh punch.
• Pasta and spinach are the final additions. Italians like to use escarole or kale so feel free to substitute your greens. Use any small pasta like orzo or acini de pepe.
• PRO-Tip: If you have a leftover rind of Parmesan, add that to the pot while simmering this soup. It will add an amazing depth of flavor.
• My 100% Italian friend and fellow food blogger, Roz, swirls in a mixture of eggs and Parmesan before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Recipe:

Italian Wedding Soup

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Yield 6 servings

An easy dinner recipe that's perfect on a chilly fall or winter night!

Ingredients

Soup:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• ½ cup small pasta, I used orzo
• 1 bag baby spinach
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (if your stock is salty, you may not need any additional salt)

Meatballs:

• 1 pound ground beef
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large stockpot. Saute the onion until soft and translucent.
2. Add garlic and saute just until fragrant, do not brown. Remove to a medium bowl.
3. Add the rest of the oil to the pan, then the celery and carrots, and cook until tender. Add stock and thyme and let simmer.
4. Make meatballs by combining cooked minced onion, ground beef, salt, bread crumbs, and egg. When well combined, make meatballs (½-1 inch in diameter).
5. At this point, you may saute them or drop them raw into simmering soup.
6. Simmer until the meat is cooked through.
7. Add pasta and cook until done.
8. Right before serving, stir in spinach until wilted.

Notes

You may use frozen meatballs from the grocery store if you enjoy those.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 500Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 111mgSodium: 1004mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 8gProtein: 35g

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