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!
• 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

• ½ pound ground beef – can also use ground turkey
• ½ pound Italian sausage – with casings removed or loose ground pork sausage
• ⅓ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large egg

For The Soup

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 medium white onion diced
• 1 large carrot about 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 64 ounces low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup acini de pepe pasta small, round shaped pasta, can swap other small pastas like orzo or even pearl couscous
• 2 cups spinach chopped. I used fresh baby spinach, you can also swap in frozen spinach, but you may need to warm it slightly longer.

How To Make Italian Wedding Soup

INSTRUCTIONS 

For The Meatballs

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

• 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.

• 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.

This soup is traditionally made with meatballs that are rolled a little smaller than a tablespoon so they fit on the spoon. I use a tablespoon because I can quickly portion the meatballs with a small cookie scoop. If you prefer small meatballs that are even smaller than mine, split each scooped meatball in two when rolling.

For The Soup

• 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.

• Pour broth and one cup of water into the pot. Turn up the heat to medium high and bring the soup to a roiling boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat until the soup is at a simmer.

• Add meatballs and adjust the heat up so the pot continues to simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes, some of the meatballs will begin to come to the surface.
• Pour pasta in the pot and cook at a simmer for 9-10 minutes until the pasta is soft. You can turn the heat down to medium-low until ready to serve.
• Place chopped fresh spinach to the pot right before serving, and cook until wilted about one minute. Then serve and enjoy.

Variation Ideas

• 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.

What Makes It Italian Wedding Soup?

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 this Soup Last?

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

It is normal for the pasta in this soup to soak up quite a bit of the broth when it is in the refrigerator overnight (or sometimes almost all the broth!) Add more water to the bowl or pot when reheating, the soup will be plenty flavorful.

Can You Freeze This 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.