Our Italian wedding soup recipe is packed with homemade tender meatballs, simmered in a flavorful broth, with veggies and tiny pasta. This delicious soup is ready in just 1 hour and is hearty and filling.
There’s nothing better than a steaming bowl of soup with tender, dutch oven bread in the winter months. However, we love serving wedding soup year round, because it’s just that good. While some like to use store-bought meatballs, I like making them from scratch, using a combination of beef and sausage. Sometimes I will go ahead and make an extra batch to have for meatball marinara subs or to add to baked ziti with meatballs.
Turn an ordinary dinner into a full blow Italian inspired night by ending it with this homemade cannoli recipe or Italian rainbow cake. If you wanted to make an appetizer, go with fried raviolis or stuffed ziti fritta.
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🥣 Ingredients:
Meatballs:
- Italian seasoned bread crumbs and milk – adds more moisture to the meatball mixture and helps to bind meatballs together
- ground beef and Italian sausage – for extra flavor and spice, use hot Italian sausage or add a dash of crushed red pepper flakes.
- Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- large egg – helps to bind the meatballs together so they don’t fall apart.
- garlic cloves – or use store-bought minced garlic
- grated parmesan cheese – fresh is the best and adds more flavor.
- olive oil – for searing the meatballs.
Soup:
- olive oil – to sauté the veggies.
- Veggies: diced celery, onion, and carrots. Fresh vegetables always taste best, but you can use a bag of frozen mirepoix for convenience.
- Garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- chicken broth or chicken stock – you could also use beef broth if that’s what you have on hand.
- Acini di pepe pasta – it’s small and similar in size to pearl couscous. You can also use Orzo pasta in its place.
- fresh baby spinach – remember that spinach wilts down to a fraction of the volume of fresh spinach, so go ahead and add the whole bag, it really won’t overwhelm the soup.
- Parmesan cheese – as a garnish, this adds a sharp creamy bite to the soup. We love freshly grated Parmesan, but use what you prefer.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
Garnish this classic Italian wedding soup recipe with additional freshly grated parmesan cheese before serving.
Substitutions and Variations
- Frozen Meatballs – if you don’t want homemade meatballs, you can use store-bought meatballs.
- Other meats – to switch things up, feel free to make your little meatballs using ground turkey, ground chicken, or a blend of beef and regular ground pork. We have a great turkey meatballs recipe if you’d like to avoid red meat.
- Pasta – tiny pasta works the best. If you cannot find acini de pepe pasta at the grocery store, orzo or dittalini can be used in its place.
- Leafy greens – other greens like kale can be used in place of or along with the spinach. However, you will need to add the other greens with the pasta because they take longer to cook compared to spinach.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: Add the milk and breadcrumbs to a bowl and stir so the bread soaks up the milk.
Step 2: Work in the sausage, beef, salt, pepper, eggs, parmesan cheese, and garlic in a large bowl.
Step 3: Make tiny meatballs by using a melon baller or teaspoon, roll between your palms, and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Step 4: Cover a non stick skillet with oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Sear the meatballs on all sides, about 2-3 minutes per batch. They do not need to be cooked through. Transfer the meatballs to a plate.
Pro Tip: You want mini meatballs for this recipe so they are more bite-sized.
Step 5: In a dutch oven or large stock pot, heat another tablespoon of oil. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook until onions are softened and translucent.
Step 6: Add the salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook for another 1-2 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
Step 7: Add the meatballs and pasta, then simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes until the pasta is tender and the meatballs are cooked.
Step 8: Stir in the spinach and remove the soup from the heat.
SERVE: Top with fresh parmesan cheese and serve.
Recipe Tips for Easy Italian Wedding Soup
- This pasta is small, so it will not take long to cook. The pasta does absorb a lot of broth and will continue to do so after sitting. Be aware of this if adjusting the recipe to include more or less pasta. Sometimes, I will cook the pasta separately so that I can add the amount I want without sacrificing the broth.
- Searing makes for juicy meatballs because it locks in the moisture and adds flavor. If desired, skip the searing and drop them right into the soup. However, there will be less flavor and it takes a little longer to cook.
- Avoid using low sodium broth, as it takes away from the flavor. We recommend standard or making your own using water and bouillon.
- Because we used hot Italian sausage the meatballs were mildly spicy. Mixed with ground beef, the sausage adds a ton of flavor and the texture is moist. Adjust the seasonings if using ground turkey or chicken meatballs so the meatballs aren’t bland.
Fun Fact
Originally, in Italian, the married soup was called minestra maritata, because of the rich flavor of the broth, meat, and veggies.
Recipe FAQs
Italian wedding soup is a classic Italian-American soup consisting of a rich broth with green vegetables (such as spinach or kale), small pasta (such as orzo or acini di pepe), and meatballs made from ground meat (commonly beef, pork, or a combination) seasoned with herbs like parsley and sometimes parmesan cheese. Despite its name, it’s not typically served at Italian weddings in Italy but has become popular in Italian-American cuisine. The name “wedding soup” is thought to originate from the marriage of flavors rather than being served specifically at weddings.
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze it for 3 months. The soup can be reheated in a large pot the next day after thawing or heated straight from frozen over low heat.
If you tried this Italian Wedding Soup Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- ½ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ lb. ground beef
- ½ lb. Italian sausage for extra flavor and spice, use hot Italian sausage
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil for pan searing
Soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 cups chicken broth
- ½-¾ cup Acini di pepe pasta
- 5 oz. fresh baby spinach
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Place the bread crumbs and milk in a bowl and stir together to allow the bread to absorb the milk for an extra moist breadcrumb.
- Add in the ground beef, sausage, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, eggs, minced garlic, and parmesan cheese. Work together with your hands to combine the meatball ingredients evenly.
- Using a teaspoon or melon baller, form small meatballs and place on a baking sheet. We like a smaller meatball for this recipe so that it is bite-sized in our soup. Roll the mixture in your hands to form a smooth, round ball.
- Coat the bottom of a non-stick skillet with olive oil. Heat over medium. Cook the meatballs, working in batches, to sear on all sides. They do not need to cook through, but should develop a nice, golden brown crust (2-3 minutes per batch). Set the meatballs aside.
- Meanwhile, heat another tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot. Add diced celery, onion, and carrots, and cook until the onion is translucent and the vegetables have begun to soften.
- Add the minced garlic, salt, and pepper and saute 1 minute longer.
- Add the chicken broth to the pot and bring mixture to a boil. Taste the broth and add additional salt and/or pepper, if desired.
- Add the pasta and meatballs to the soup and simmer over low heat for 10-12 minutes, until the pasta is tender and the meatballs are cooked through.
- Stir in the spinach and remove the soup from heat. The spinach will wilt right away.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
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