Homemade Italian Wedding Soup
This Homemade Italian Wedding Soup is a delicious hearty dish loaded with everything we love in this meatball soup. Delicious meatballs and vegetables combine with a savory broth and pasta to make the perfect soup for any time of year.
We love to make soup any time of the year, but when fall and winter roll around, we go into a soup frenzy. We’ll make everything from heavy, creamy soups to light soups like this one. They’re always perfect on a cold day, and that’s just the thing you want during the gray months.
However, we’ll make this homemade Italian wedding soup year-round. It’s hot and filling enough for the winter, but it’s also light enough for spring and summer, making it the perfect all-weather soup for any time you get a craving.
Homemade Italian Wedding Soup
This soup is the perfect combination of light and hearty. You might be wondering how that’s possible. Well, we’ll tell you. The base for this soup is a simple broth. It’s not thickened whatsoever, which means it isn’t too heavy. Then we add the delicious meatballs made with beef and pork and finish it off with tasty vegetables like onions, carrots, celery, and spinach.
It all comes together with the addition of dainty, Stelline pasta to create a dish that is big on flavor but won’t leave you feeling like you swallowed a boulder.
Ingredients
Because this recipe uses homemade meatballs, it has a few ingredients to it, but they’re all incredibly simple ones. Most of them are kitchen staples, in fact. The only thing you might have to shop for is the Stelline pasta.
For the Meatballs
- Lean ground beef
- Ground pork
- Bread plain crumbs
- Parsley, chopped
- Oregano
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Egg
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Olive oil
For the Soup
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion, diced
- Carrot, diced finely
- Celery, diced finely
- Garlic cloves, minced
- Chicken broth
- Stelline pasta
- Baby spinach, chopped
**See the recipe card at the end of the post for quantities and cooking times.
Instructions
Making this soup is incredibly simple. The simple ingredients come together, well, simply, and it’s all done in no time. Even cooking the meatballs doesn’t take very long.
Step 1: Prep
Dice the onions, carrots, and celery and mince the garlic. Then measure out all your ingredients.
Step 2: Make the Meatballs
To make the meatballs, combine all the meatball ingredients except the olive oil in a large bowl, mixing by hand until well-combined.
Step 3: Cook the Meatballs
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add as many meatballs to the skillet as you like so long as they don’t touch and cook for four to five minutes, flipping them halfway through. Set aside.
Step 4: Saute the Vegetables
Sautee the onions, carrots, and celery on medium-high heat in a large soup pot until tender. Then, add the garlic and cook for another thirty seconds.
Step 5: Cook the Soup
Add the chicken broth to the soup pot and bring to a boil. Then, add the pasta and meatballs. Reduce the heat to medium and cover. Cook for ten to twelve minutes. Finally, stir in the spinach and let cook until the spinach wilts. Enjoy!
Hint: Do NOT overcook the garlic when sauteing the vegetables. Garlic becomes bitter if it burns.
Variations
The thing about Italian wedding soup is that if you change too much about it, it’s not Italian wedding soup anymore. We don’t recommend changing up this recipe too much, but there are a couple of things you can do if you don’t have the exact ingredients on this list or want to save some time.
Frozen Meatballs
If you don’t want to make your own meatballs, simply buy them frozen. They’re usually pre-cooked, so you can just cook them directly in the soup without the need to brown them in a skillet. We never do this because well, it’s just not anywhere as good. But it is an option.
Any Small Noodles Work
We used Stelline pasta, but you can use any small pasta. Any of them will work.
Storage
You can store this soup in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for between three and five days. You can’t freeze it. The noodles can’t stand up to the process.
Tips
We have some tips here that will make your homemade Italian wedding soup the best that it can possibly be. Hey, even easy recipes have little secrets!
Small Dices
Always dice your vegetables small for this soup. This is a soup that’s all about daintiness. It doesn’t require – or even call for – large chunks of vegetables.
Don’t Overcook the Garlic
Be extremely careful that you don’t overcook the garlic. Unlike onions that get a little sweet even if they burn a little, garlic just gets bitter and awful.
PIN IT!!
More Soup Recipes
If you love soup, we have some recipes here that we think you’ll love.
Slow Cooker Kielbasa Potato Soup
FAQ
This FAQ answers all the most common questions about Italian wedding soup, so be sure to give it a look before you dive into the recipe.
Why do they call it Italian wedding soup?
Unlike what many people think, it gets its name from the marriage of the flavors in the soup. It’s not actually a special marriage soup.
What goes with Italian wedding soup?
The best way to serve this soup is simply with some grated parmesan cheese on the top and a nice hunk of crusty bread.
How long can wedding soup last in the fridge?
It will stay good for three to five days.
Can I freeze this soup?
No. In general, you can never freeze any soup made with pasta or noodles. The pasta or noodles become complete mush, and the entire thing is inedible.
What kind of broth should I use for this homemade Italian wedding soup?
Any high-quality chicken broth will work well. We like to look for a broth that is free of added ingredients. The more natural the better. even better is to make your own chicken broth if you have the time.
Can I use frozen meatballs for Italian wedding soup?
Absolutely. They work just as well as homemade meatballs if your in a rush. But there is nothing like homemade.
Homemade Italian Wedding Soup
Just like the name says, this Italian wedding soup is the perfect marriage of delicious meatballs and vegetables. It’s all melded together in a light, delicious broth with dainty pasta, making it the perfect soup to enjoy any time of year. Give this homemade Italian wedding soup a try, and we know you’ll find yourself making it again and again.
Homemade Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1/2 lb. ground pork
- 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
- 2/3 cup bread plain crumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the Soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced finely
- 3 stalks celery, diced finely
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup Stelline pasta or other small pasta
- 1 cup baby spinach, chopped
Instructions
- Begin preparing the meatballs by adding all meatball ingredients except olive oil to a large bowl.
- Knead everything together with your hands.
- Pinch off a tablespoon worth of meatball mixture and roll into balls.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add some of the meatballs to the pan, only as many as will fit without touching, and cook for 4-5 minutes , flipping halfway through.
- Cook remaining meatballs and set aside.
- In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and saute onions, carrots, and celery until tender.
- Stir in minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Add pasta and meatballs, reduce heat to medium, and cover. Cook for about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in spinach and let cook until spinach wilts. Serve hot!
