Italian wedding soup is a hearty savory soup packed full of flavorful meatballs, pasta and tender vegetables. This soup is the perfect marriage of meat and vegetables for a delicious soup the whole family will love.
Ingredients
For The Meatballs
½poundground beef
½pounditalian sausage
⅓cupbread crumbs
¼cupparmesan cheesegrated
2teaspoonsitalian seasoning
1/2teaspoonsalt
1/2teaspoonpepper
1largeegg
For The Soup
1tablespoonolive oil
1/4mediumwhite oniondiced
1largecarrot about 1/2 cup diced carrots
3clovesgarlicminced
1/4teaspoonsaltor to taste
1/4teaspoonpepperor to taste
64ounceslow sodium chicken broth
1cupwater
3/4cupacini de pepe pastasmall, round shaped pasta
2cupsspinachchopped
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 meat with 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 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.
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 spinach to the pot right before serving, and cook until wilted about one minute. Then serve and enjoy.
Notes
Pasta Absorbing Soup Broth When Reheating
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 until you have the right amount of liquid in the soup. The soup will still be plenty flavorful.
What can I Swap For The 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. 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.