Easy Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding soup is a flavorful soup that is a marriage between flavorful meatballs, tender vegetables and lots of delicious soft bites of pasta. This cozy Italian soup is a warm bowl of comfort perfect for lunch or dinner.

 

Why We Love Wedding Soup

• Cozy Soup With A Twist- Wedding soup feels a lot like classic chicken noodle soup, but those tender meatballs gives everything an extra burst of flavor and makes the soup feel hearty.
• Italian Restaurant Quality– I grew up eating wedding soup both that my grandma made, and in multiple Italian restaurants. This soup brings all the quality that you’ll get at a restaurant with all the coziness of enjoying it at your own table and makes the best Italian wedding soup!
• Family Favorite– Make meatball soup again mom! This savory soup is a favorite for kids and adults.

Ingredients For Italian Wedding Soup

For The Meatballs

• ground beef – can also use ground turkey
• Italian sausage – with casings removed or loose ground pork sausage
• bread crumbs – Italian or plain
• parmesan cheese grated
• Italian seasoning
• salt
•  pepper
• egg

For The Soup

• olive oil
• white onion diced
• carrot about 1/2 cup diced carrots
• garlic minced
• salt
• pepper
• low sodium chicken broth
•  water
•  acini de pepe pasta small, round shaped pasta, can swap other small pastas like orzo or even pearl couscous
• spinach chopped. I used fresh baby spinach, you can also swap in frozen spinach, but you may need to warm it slightly longer.

I did not add celery to this soup, but you can a piece or two of celery diced up small if you prefer.

How To Make The Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

Making The Meatballs

1. In a large bowl place the sausage, beef, Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, bread crumbs, and an egg.

2. Mix the meat mixture with clean hands until just mixed. Scoop into 1 tablespoon meatballs, about 28-30 meatballs. Keep these scoops on the smaller side and gently roll each meatball smooth with a quick roll with your hands.

3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large pot or dutch oven and warm over medium high heat. Add half the meatballs and brown. Turn the meatballs regularly, about 4 minutes per batch. Place meatballs on paper towel lined plate after browning. Repeat browning with the second half of the meatballs in the pot.

Making The Soup

1. Place the diced onion and diced carrot in the same pot. Cook in the meatball drippings for about three minutes over medium heat to soften the vegetables. Add garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes.

2. Add the chicken broth and one cup of water into the pot. Turn up the heat to medium high and bring to a boil so it is rolling across the top of the pot. Once boiling, turn down the heat until the soup is at a simmer.

3. Add the meatballs and cook, adjusting the heat up so the soup pot continues to simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes, some of the meatballs will begin to come to the surface.
4. Pour pasta in the pot and cook at a simmer for 9-10 minutes until the pasta is tender and soft. You can turn the heat down to medium-low until ready to serve.
5. Place chopped fresh spinach to the pot right before serving, and cook until wilted about one minute. Then serve and enjoy, adding more salt and pepper at the table if desired. Top with fresh parsley or more parmesan cheese if desired.

Variation Ideas For This Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

Try A Different Pasta– I’ve used acini de pepe pasta which is a tiny circular-shaped pasta and is traditional in this soup. Any small pasta works in this soup, try shapes like orzo, pastina, stellini (stars), ditalini or any small pasta shape. Pearl couscous also works! Here are a few more small pasta shapes to try in soup. I have also in a pinch cut spaghetti up with a sharp knife into tiny pieces and added that to my soup.

Make It Spicier – You can add some red pepper flakes to both the meatball base and the soup broth. Add a little at a time to your desired spice level. Spicy sausage can also give this soup a kick.

Use Other Italian Seasoning Blends– I made this soup using Trader Joe’s Italian Style Soffritto Seasoning and the soup was even better than the original! A Tuscan style Italian seasoning blend is another great option to mix up the flavor a little bit.

Try Different Sausages– Sweet, mild and spicy sausage are traditionally offered at the grocery store, and all three work well for this soup. You can use most Italian style sausages in this soup, or even brats in a pinch. I would skip breakfast-style sausage, as it’s usually sweetened with maple and may taste a little off in the soup.

Add Chicken – Use shredded chicken or diced cooked chicken to this soup can be really delicious. You can cook it in the same pan after cooking the meatballs, before adding the broth or just use leftover or rotisserie chicken.

Swap The Greens– Spinach is one of my favorite greens to add to soup, but kale is also especially delicious with the meatballs in this soup. (Just remove the hard stems!) You can also use your favorite leafy greens that work in soups.

Can You Use Frozen Meatballs?

You can use frozen meatballs rather than make the meatballs from scratch. The trick is to use meatballs that are a little bit smaller. You can use beef, chicken pork, or turkey frozen meatballs, whatever you prefer.

What Makes Italian Wedding Soup Different From Other Soup Recipes?

All Italian wedding soup is going to have meat, vegetables, a light broth and usually some type of small shaped pasta, though acini de pepe pasta is traditional. Most Italian wedding soups have mini meatballs included, but some will include shredded chicken also.

I am Italian American (and Irish and German too!) and wedding soup was a regular part of our meals growing up. Most often we ate wedding soup at an Italian restaurant, but sometimes when my mom or grandma made homemade meatballs they would make wedding soup.

Why Is It Called Wedding Soup?

Wedding soup comes from the Italian phrase minestra maritata which means married soup. The name comes from the idea that the flavors of the soup ingredients are married in the soup giving it a delicious flavor.

Most people assume when they hear wedding soup that the soup is served at Italian weddings. While this delicious soup is sometimes served as a course at weddings, the name has less to do with brides and grooms and more to do with the flavors working well together.

How Long Does The Soup Leftovers Last?

Expect this soup will last for about three days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Can You Freeze Leftover Wedding Soup?

Yes, you can absolutely freeze this soup. The meatballs freeze beautifully and the pasta also freezes really well. I actually eat this soup for lunch quite often from frozen, I use these silicone one cup trays to make bowl-sized portions. Using these trays is much easier to use for meal prep and single-sized portions.

When you freeze the soup (just like when you store leftovers in the fridge) the pasta will soak up quite a bit of the liquid over time. Simply add more water to the soup until it looks like the right amount of broth for the bowl or pot, I usually just eyeball it. If you are unsure, start with about 1/2 cup of water at a time.