Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Easy Italian Wedding Soup recipe with frozen meatballs and simple pantry ingredients that comes together in about 30 minutes.
Try it with our House Salad Recipe for a light, yet filling meal!
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- Easy Italian Wedding Soup
- Why You’ll Love this Recipe for Italian Wedding Soup
- Italian Wedding Soup Ingredients
- How to Make the Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- Tips for Making the Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- What to Serve with this Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- Italian Wedding Soup Recipe Easy Storage
- More Favorites from Little Broken
- Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- Comfort Soup Recipes
Easy Italian Wedding Soup
In every season, soup can be just right. In the colder months, it’s heartier type soups whereas in the warmer months it’s the light, brothy type of soups. This easy wedding soup is somewhere in between.
Made with mostly pantry staple ingredients in about 30 minutes. It’s got the perfect combination of broth, basic veggies, pasta, and meatballs. It’s filling enough to enjoy on its own or easily paired with a green salad, such as Green Goddess Cobb Salad.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe for Italian Wedding Soup
The secret to this Italian style wedding soup is simply using frozen meatballs. You can make your own meatballs and freeze them or simply pick up a bag in the freezer aisle on your next grocery store run.
Try Chicken Meatballs, Turkey Pesto Meatballs, or whatever meatballs you have on hand. Basically there are no rules when it comes to the type of meatballs for this soup.
No need to thaw out the meatballs either. Add frozen meatballs to the soup and simmer until done. They’re ready in about 5-7 minutes. If using pre-cooked or fully cooked meatballs then you’ll want to check the package for cooking times and adjust the recipe as needed.
Italian Wedding Soup Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Mirepoix – onions, celery, carrots
- Garlic
- Chicken broth – make your own or buy good quality tasting broth
- Water
- Pasta – small shaped, such as ditalini
- Meatballs – homemade or store-bought
- Fresh spinach
- Parsley
What Pasta is Best for this Italian Wedding Soup Recipe?
Traditionally, acini di pepe pasta is used, which looks like little pearls. I like using ditalini pasta or orzo pasta because it’s easier to find at supermarkets.
Also vermicelli or even angel hair pasta works. Simply break it into smaller threads with your hands before adding to the soup.
How to Make the Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Step 1: Cook the veggies – The soup base is your basic mirepoix, made up of onions, celery, and carrots. You can chop them up yourself or even better pick up diced veggies at the store to save on prep time.
Heat olive oil in a large dutch-oven and cook the mirepoix with a pinch of salt over medium heat until the onions are soft, about 5-7 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Step 2: Add the liquids and pasta – Next, add the chicken broth and water. Use good quality broth as it will make a big difference in the taste of the soup. Don’t forget to season the broth with salt.
When the broth is simmering, add pasta and cook for 5 minutes, uncovered. You want the pasta partially cooked before adding the meatballs.
Step 3: Add the meatballs – Drop meatballs one by one to the simmering pot of soup and continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Cook time will depend on the size of the meatballs. I used 2-inch frozen turkey meatballs, which took 5 minutes to cook.
Step 4: Finish with spinach and parsley – In the last minute or so of cooking, add spinach and stir until wilted. Then stir in the chopped parsley.
Tips for Making the Best Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- If using homemade meatballs, sear them in a skillet to lock in flavor before adding them to the soup.
- If you plan on having leftovers, cook the pasta separately. Then, add it to your soup just before serving. This prevents it from absorbing too much broth and becoming mushy.
- Adjust the cooking time as needed depending on the size and type of meatball you use.
- For the best taste and texture, buy a block of parmesan cheese, and grate it yourself. Pre-shredded varieties contain anti-caking agents that prevent them from melting as easily.
- Garnish with fresh herbs right before serving for an extra punch of color and flavor.
What to Serve with this Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Best way to serve homemade Italian wedding soup is with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and crusty bread. But if you want to make it more of a meal, here are some great sides to pair with the soup:
Italian Wedding Soup Recipe Easy Storage
Leftover Italian wedding soup stored in an airtight container will stay fresh in the fridge for 3-5 days. I do not recommend freezing this soup as the taste and texture change once thawed.
Reheat the soup with the pasta in a pot over medium heat on the stove or in the microwave in 30-second increments. Add an extra splash of broth as needed to freshen it back up.
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Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Easy Italian Wedding Soup recipe with frozen meatballs and simple pantry ingredients that comes together in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 1/2 cups mirepoix (chopped onions, celery, carrots)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 cups chicken broth (good quality/tasting broth, recommend homemade)
- 2 cups water
- 3/4 cups dry ditalini pasta
- 12 oz. frozen meatballs (see note)
- 6–7 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cups fresh chopped parsley, plus extra for serving
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large dutch-oven over medium heat. Add olive oil and when hot, add the mirepoix with a pinch of salt. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until onions are soft, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth and water, and bring to a boil. Season the broth with salt and pepper, to taste. Add pasta. Simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally so the pasta does not stick together. You want the pasta partially cooked before adding the meatballs.
- Drop in the meatballs one by one and continue to cook for an additional 5-10 minutes longer or until the pasta is tender and meatballs cooked through.
- Last minute of cooking, stir in spinach. Taste the soup for salt. Turn off heat and stir in fresh parsley.
- Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and more parsley, if desired.
Notes
- Meatballs: I used 2-inch frozen turkey meatballs for this soup. You can use whatever you have on hand, whether homemade or from the store. Keep in mind, mini meatballs will require less time to cook, about 2-3 minutes total. Also if using pre-cooked or fully-cooked meatballs, check the package for cooking time and adjust as needed.
- Leftovers: Leftover soup will keep refrigerated for 2-3 days when stored in an airtight container. I do not recommend freezing this soup.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 396
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 916.6 mg
- Fat: 21.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.5 g
- Protein: 19.7 g
- Cholesterol: 47.6 mg
Originally published October 2017, updated April 2020 with additional information.
Comfort Soup Recipes
Hi! I'm Katya -- a former corporate paralegal turned full-time recipe developer and blogger behind Little Broken. Here you'll find family-friendly and seasonal recipes made from real ingredients.
I made this recipe tonight, and I LOVE it! I know it’s annoying when people post their reaction to a recipe in which they include all of the ways they detoured from the recipe. 🙂 But I made some minor adjustments that I don’t think alter the intention or flavor of the recipe, and it worked beautifully. (1) I made this plant-based by using Better than Bouillon vegetarian no chicken broth and Beyond meatballs. The meatballs were perfectly cooked after 10 minutes of simmering in the broth. And (2) because I didn’t want mushy pasta in the soup leftovers, I cooked the pasta separately in some of the broth. I reserved the broth when I drained the pasta to include in the soup. When I eat the leftovers, I’ll add some of the pasta before reheating.
Otherwise I made this exactly like the recipe, and I can tell you, this is a great recipe! It is DELICIOUS! And my home smells so amazing after making it. It also comes together very quickly and easily, especially if you by precut mirepoix, as I often do for making pots of soup midweek. Yum! This is definitely going on repeat rotation!
Thank you Amy! I so appreciate your feedback and glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I keep coming back to this recipe. Grest for meal prep with pasta added when served.
Thank you! I’m so happy you’re enjoying it.
How many does this recipe serve approximately? Thank you!
It feeds 6 people.
Delicious family meal — even on a weeknight! Big hit with my husband and two boys (12 & 8). I did make some changes so it could work for me and what I had on hand: used a bag of 20oz frozen spinach (thawed) and I defrosted the meatballs (reg; not mini). Thanks, Katy’s! This is going in the dinner rotation!
Delicious and super easy. I didn’t find mirapoix but I used a frozen veg mix from the grocery store with carrots & peas and it was fine. Lasted us several meals, and tasty every time. Thanks!
The mirepoix ? Is that 2.5 cups of celery, onions and carrots each? Or combined?
That’s 2.5 cups combined
Fantastic! Used mini frozen meat balls from Target–expensive but really tasty and quite a timesaver. Also added a tiny bit of Vegeta seasoning which makes any bland chicken broth taste homemade. Would recommend doubling pasta and cook outside of soup plus would reserve extra fresh spinach if planning on having leftovers.
Im glad I chose this one ! Great recipe and all liked it!
When making my own turkey meatballs do I add bread crumbs and egg to them before freezing?
I’m not sure I understand your questions. For meatballs, regardless of which recipe you’re making, you want to add all the ingredients, roll, and freeze.
Made a few changes, and plans to do things differently next time too.
My spouse doesn’t like celery so I added celery salt to get some similar flavor. Added 2.5x as much of the pasta cause I prefer a heartier soup. I used frozen meatballs added to the soup as suggested. Next time I will airfry the meatballs first so that they brown a little and have a crisper texture.
I enjoyed this soup today. Delicious. So easy to follow. Such a great recipe. Thank you so much.
I made this for tonight’s dinner. It was request from teenage daughter via tik tok. The soup was a success as it went down very well and leftovers we for lunch tomorrow. thank you for sharing.
Would this recipe work using frozen spinach instead of fresh?
You can try it- I think it would taste better with fresh spinach.
Thank you
If using frozen, would there be a change to the amount needed?
I use frozen in a loose package, not the brick. Works fine.
Excellent!! Next time I make it, I’ll go with homemade meatballs and broth to cut the sodium. Great for meal prep work lunches.
Thanks for sharing such a Lovely Recipe.
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
This soup turned out so great. I appreciate how straightforward the recipe is. I often “tweak” recipes, but decided to follow this one all the way. The only small change I made was using frozen meatballs, which I heated and then quartered. I used a really nice organic chicken stock, which I think helped build the flavor well. My family loved it. Thank you.
Thank you Amanda. So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup.
I made this soup without changing anything from the recipe and it was absolutely delicious!!! Thank you for sharing!!
That’s so good to hear! Thank you Michele. I appreciate your feedback.
I made this today – delicious! Thank you.
That’s awesome! Thank you!
Looks delicious, perfect for the cold and rainy weather.
Thank you Valya! Couldn’t agree more.