A bowl of Italian wedding soup is a whole meal in itself. Its bold flavors and nourishing sustenance make it a comforting lunch or dinner option on a cold winter’s day. If you are looking for more hearty soup recipes, try my split pea soup recipe, homemade cabbage soup recipe, or easy black bean soup recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Ground Meat – the secret to the delicious flavor of the meatballs is a combination of ground beef and ground pork. Bread crumbs – I recommend using fresh bread crumbs as they will soak in more flavor and give the meatballs the best texture. If you don’t have fresh, use panko or regular dry bread crumbs. Leaving out the bread crumbs altogether results in dense and dry meatballs. Egg – an essential ingredient to help bind the meatballs and hold their shape in the soup. Cheese – parmesan cheese adds a delicious creaminess to the meatballs and it is also the perfect soup topping. I recommend you freshly grate it from the block! Broth – chicken broth adds a rich, full-bodied flavor to the soup. Alternatively, you can use chicken stock, beef broth, or vegetable stock. Pasta – use a small pasta like orzo, acini de pepe, or ditalini to get the perfect bite in each spoonful. Vegetables – onion, celery, carrots, and garlic make a fragrant base for the soup’s flavor. I also like to add in fresh spinach for some extra greens.
How to Make Italian Wedding Soup
- In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley, garlic, egg, salt, and pepper. Gently mix it all together with your hands until well combined.
- Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to dish out balls of the mixture, shaping each into a 1-inch ball. Place the balls onto a baking sheet after shaping each one.
- Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs and cook them until they are browned on all sides, turning occasionally during cooking, for about 3 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat the process with the remaining meatballs.
- In the same pot over medium heat, add the olive oil, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, salt, and bell pepper and bring to a boil.
- Stir in the pasta and browned meatballs. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot with a lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, for about 8 minutes.
- Remove the lid and stir in the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, for about 30 seconds.
- Serve immediately, topping each bowl with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
Be gentle when mixing the meatballs. Shape your hand like a claw and gently stir and fold the meatball ingredients together. If you mash or squeeze the mixture it too much, the meatballs can turn out hard and tough. Make tiny meatballs! You can make the meatballs smaller and form bite-sized mini meatballs instead by using a teaspoon and shaping them into ½-inch size balls. Sear the meatballs in the pot. Browning the meatballs before you fully cook them in the soup adds tons of extra flavor. The browning leaves behind a delicious caramelized residue on the bottom of the pot that enhances the flavor of the other ingredients that are cooked in the same pot. Add herbs. Try including fresh chives and sage in the meatballs for a more fragrant flavor. Additionally, you can add a dried bay leaf when cooking the soup to add more depth to the broth. Just remove it from the pot once you’re finished cooking the soup! Optional variations. If you want the beef and pork meatballs to have more of an Italian seasoning flavor, swap the ground pork for Italian sausage. Alternatively, you can make turkey or chicken meatballs by swapping the ground pork and beef with ground chicken or ground turkey.
If you’ve tried this Italian Wedding Soup recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
