Warm and comforting Italian Wedding Soup is filled with mini meatballs, a flavorful chicken broth, and lots of vegetables like carrots, celery, and spinach.
If you love my Lasagna Soup, Meatball Pizza, or any of my other Italian Recipes, then you’ll love this Italian Wedding Soup.
I dare say go ahead and make it because I think it is the best Italian wedding soup and may become one of your favorite soups that the whole family will love.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Warm and Comforting – It has a wonderful, flavorful broth that just warms you up and makes you happy.
- Delicious Meatballs – Homemade meatballs combining ground beef and pork make tender meatballs that add wonderful flavor to the soup.
- Easy To Make – This soup is easy to make with simple ingredients. It has tiny meatballs and flavorful broth that create a marriage of flavors.
- Veggies – With carrots, onions, celery, and spinach, this rich soup is loaded with hearty vegetables. With all the vegetables, you may consider changing its name to Veggie Italian Wedding Soup.
Ingredients
Below, I discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions if you don’t have a specific ingredient. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of each ingredient, scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.
Meatball Ingredients
- Ground Beef / Ground Pork – I use a 50/50 mix of ground beef and ground pork for excellent flavor.
- Parmesan Cheese – This adds that salty, cheesy flavor that shouts Italian!
- Bread Crumbs – Use plain or seasoned bread crumbs like Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs.
- Onion – Use a White or Yellow onion.
- Eggs – You’ll need 2 Large Eggs.
- Parsley – I recommend using fresh parsley for the best flavor.
- Garlic – For the best flavor, use fresh, minced garlic.
- Oregano – Add dried oregano for more Italian flavor.
- Oregano – Add dried oregano for more Italian flavor. I also like to use Italian Seasoning, which is a blend of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and other herbs.
- Salt & Pepper – Season to taste. I like to go heavy on the pepper and light on the salt.
- Oil – You can use the oil of your choice. However, I don’t recommend using extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for cooking because it doesn’t handle high heat. Save the EVOO for a salad or vinaigrette, or add a drizzle over the top of a dish for a finishing touch.
Soup Ingredients
- Oil – See notes above.
- Carrots – diced
- Onions – diced – Use white or yellow onion.
- Celery – diced
- Garlic – minced. Freshly minced is best.
- Chicken Broth – I recommend using a low-sodium version.
- Orzo Pasta – See recipe tips for more information.
- Fresh Baby Spinach Leaves
- Parmesan – freshly grated is best
How To Make Italian Wedding Soup
To Make The Meatballs
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, parmesan, bread crumbs, grated onion, eggs, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper until well combined. I like to mix this by hand. However, do not over-mix.
Roll the meat mixture into 1.5 tablespoon-sized small meatballs (about 26 – 28 meatballs) and place them on a plate or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place a Dutch oven or large soup pot on the stove over medium heat, and once the pan is hot, add the olive oil.
Brown the meatballs on all sides in batches; you do not need to cook them all the way through.
Once the meatballs are browned, after about 15 minutes, place them back on the plate.
To Make The Soup
There is no need to wipe out the pan. Instead, add the additional tablespoon of olive oil, carrots, onion, and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds.
Add the chicken stock, scrape off any browned bits off the bottom of the pan, and bring to a boil.
Add the browned meatballs and pasta and stir to combine.
Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom.
Stir in the spinach until wilted.
Serve immediately with more parmesan on top.
Recipe Tips
Planning Leftovers? Cook Pasta Separately – If you don’t think you will eat all of the soup in one sitting, you may want to consider cooking the Orzo pasta separately and adding it to each serving.
The longer the pasta sits in the soup, the more of the liquid it will soak up. If the soup is stored with the pasta, you may need to add a little more broth to loosen the soup back up for leftovers.
Pasta Type – If you don’t have orzo pasta, any small pasta, such as ditalini, macaroni, acini de pepe pasta, or orecchiette, will work well in this recipe.
Bring On The Green – Chopped kale or regular spinach can be used in place of baby spinach.
Bring On The Lean – Ground chicken or turkey could be used instead of pork or beef.
What To Serve With Italian Wedding Soup
- Italian Breadsticks
- Pesto Garlic Bread
- Chopped Vegetable Salad
- Crusty Bread
- Caesar Salad
FAQs
Yes, it often tastes even better if made a day ahead. However, if this is the case, I recommend cooking and storing the pasta separately and adding it in when reheating.
Transfer the soup to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for three (3) days. A second option is to divide the soup into individual-sized airtight containers and store the soup in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Place the soup in a freezer-safe airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Remove the soup from the refrigerator. If the pasta has soaked up the liquid and reduced the amount of liquid, add a little more chicken broth before reheating on medium heat on top of the stove. You can reheat the soup on top of the stove or in the microwave.
It is not because it is a “married soup” but because it refers to the way the flavors develop and combine, like a happy marriage.
No. Italian Wedding Soup is not traditionally served at Italian weddings.
Yes, instead of a combination of beef and pork meatballs, you could make chicken meatballs or turkey meatballs instead by using ground chicken or ground turkey instead of ground beef or pork.
This particular Italian Wedding Soup recipe has approximately 377 calories per serving based on the calculation at the bottom of the recipe card below.
Recipe
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup grated yellow or white onion
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 & 1/4 cups small diced carrots
- 1 & 1/4 cup small diced yellow or white onion
- 3/4 cup small diced celery
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 9 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup dried Orzo pasta
- 6 ounces fresh spinach chopped
- grated parmesan to serve
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, ground pork, parmesan, bread crumbs, grated onion, eggs, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper until well combined. I like to do this by hand; do not over-mix
- Roll the meat mixture into 1.5 tablespoon-sized balls and place them on a plate.
- In a Dutch oven over medium heat, add the olive oil once hot. Brown the meatballs on all sides in batches; you do not need to cook them all the way through. Once browned, place them back on the plate, about 15 minutes.
- No need to wipe out the pan, add the additional tablespoon of olive oil, carrots, onion, and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken stock, scrape off any browned bits off the bottom of the pan, and bring to a boil.
- Add the browned meatballs and pasta and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom.
- Stir in the spinach until wilted. Serve immediately with more parmesan on top.
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