This Italian wedding soup, along with the chicken noodle soup recipe I’ll be sharing soon, tastes and feels healing. Fresh, healthy ingredients and meatballs made with love take off New England chill and soothe your soul. My ancestors are from Sicily, so it’s only natural that I take pride in my meatballs — they’re actually quite easy! I make mine on baking trays in the oven, which is a lot easier than making on the stove — no turning needed.

These meatballs can be used in other recipes and adapted to include fillings if you’d like to switch it up. Sometimes, I add vegetables into the meatball mixture such as onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms. This type of meatball tastes great with spaghetti, tomato sauce and parmesan cheese — another Italian classic!

Cooking With Heritage: Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

Print Recipe
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Italian
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 1 Extra Large Pot
  • 1 Medium Pot
  • 2 Baking Trays
  • 1 Mixing Bowl
  • 1 Spatula Spoon
  • 1 Large Utensil Spoon

Ingredients
  

Spices, Flavor, and Condiments

  • Italian Seasoning
  • Ground Pepper
  • Onion Powder
  • Minced Garlic
  • Worcestershire Sauce
  • Salt Free Seasoned Breadcrumbs
  • Vegetable Oil

Meat & Eggs

  • 2 Eggs
  • 2.29 Pounds 85% Lean Ground Beef

Produce

  • 1 Large Bag Frozen Crinkle Cut Carrots
  • 3/4 Bag Fresh Celery
  • 1 Box Frozen Spinach
  • 1 Cup Frozen Chopped Yellow Onion

Pasta

  • 3/4 Box Radiatori Pasta (Or Pasta of Your Choice) Traditionally, Italian wedding soup is made with orzo or acini de pepe pasta, but I like the heartiness of the radiatori.

Broth

  • 2 Boxes No Salt Added Chicken Broth

Instructions
 

Meatballs

  • Preheat oven to 400F
  • Add ground beef to the mixing bowl and crack two eggs on top.
  • Add 2-3 tablespoons of minced garlic.
  • Add about a cup of no salt added breadcrumbs. This is a rough estimate to start with (you can always add more later if it looks like the mix is too wet and needs some more).
  • Add 3-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce.
  • Add a liberal amount of Italian seasoning and ground pepper (Italians like me don't measure. Shake until it looks and smells right). Go easier on the onion powder (maybe 3 shakes).
  • If you have milk on hand, add a small splash. If not, do the same with water.
  • Mix it all up until blended. If it looks too dry, add more milk/water. If too wet, add more breadcrumbs. However, you want it to be somewhat wet so that the meatballs are moist.
  • Spray both baking trays with cooking spray or grease with oil.
  • Use your hands to form medium-sized meatballs and place in rows on the baking tray.
  • Bake in the oven until cooked. This will be about 20-25 minutes.

Pasta

  • In medium pot, bring water to a boil and cook pasta using box instructions. When you drain the pasta, save some of the water. You can add this to your broth!

Vegetables

  • Rinse celery well to remove dirt and chop/discard a little off the unpleasant ends. Cut the stalk into small half moon shapes.
  • Chop up the leaves of the celery too. This adds flavor!
  • In the large pot on low/medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil and about two tablespoons of minced garlic.
  • Next, add frozen carrots, onions, and a splash of water. Turn to medium/high heat.
  • Once frozen vegetables are thawed in the pot, add the fresh celery bits.
  • Follow box instructions for frozen spinach. Cooking in a small, covered casserole dish in the microwave is easiest for me!
  • Once vegetables in the pot are fully cooked, add cooked spinach and pour most of the broth into pot. Save some broth on the side. You might want to add more to leftover portions once the ingredients soak up the broth. Bring to a boil. (Ingredients soak up a TON of broth, so this is why I cook my pasta in water first. Otherwise, you'll go through about 6 boxes of broth!)

Combining All Three

  • The meatballs, pasta, and vegetables are cooked and the broth is at a boil. Remove any fat that may be clinging to the side of the meatballs (you can just wipe away with a paper towel).
  • Add pasta and meatballs to the large pot with vegetables and broth.
  • Add Italian seasoning and ground pepper until it looks and smells right.
  • After a couple of more minutes, all ingredients are hot and the soup is ready to serve!
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