Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Italian Wedding Soup is incredibly comforting soup with phenomenal flavors all in about an hour! The flavors come from the marriage of a seared vegetable base, flavorful chicken stock, mouthwatering meatballs, tender small pasta, and nutritious leafy greens.
Servings: 8 (serves 6-8)
Calories: 291kcal
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1/2 lb ground beef 85/15 meat to fat ratio
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/4 cup finely diced onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 slice of bread* soaked in milk
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
- coarse salt
- black pepper
For Italian Wedding Soup:
- rolled meatballs from above
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 2-3 medium carrots
- 2-3 celery ribs
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 12 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth heated
- coarse salt
- black pepper
- 1 cup tiny pasta such as orzo*
- 1 medium bunch or head of endive, escarole, or kale
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Meatballs:
- Combine all of the ingredients for meatballs in a mixing bowl and mix well.
- Use a cookie scoop to make meatballs that are about or slightly smaller than 1 inch in diameter. Set them aside.
To Make The Soup:
- Preheat a large Dutch oven and add olive oil. Add diced onion, carrots, and celery and sauté over medium heat until softened and starts to get golden brown.
- Stir in minced garlic and let it sear until fragrant.
- Pour in heated chicken stock and season with salt and pepper. Let it come to a simmer.
- Add in meatballs and let them cook for about 15 minutes.
- Chop the leafy greens and add them to the pot. Add pasta as well. Stir and let it cook about 8 minutes, just until pasta is tender.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and grated parmesan cheese.
- Gently stir the soup and as you stir in a circular motion, drizzle in the egg mixture. Keep slowly swirling the soup as the egg cooks for about a minute.
- Serve right away!
Video
Notes
- *Gluten Free Notes: In the meatballs, make sure to use gluten free bread. As far as pasta, use small gluten free pasta and if you can’t find any, break up some gluten free spaghetti into small pieces.
- Substitutes: Pasta- in this soup, think tiny. Go with an option like ancini de pepe, orzo, pastina, or even ditalini. Greens - escarole is the traditional choice, but it’s not always widely available. If you need to, substitute endive or kale.
- Storing: Store the leftover soup right in the Dutch oven you cooked it in covered with a lid or in an airtight container, in the refrigerator. Stored properly, homemade Italian Wedding soup should last for about 3-4 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 291kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 110mg | Sodium: 1656mg | Potassium: 335mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 4191IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 155mg | Iron: 2mg