Use frozen meatballs to create this easy Italian Wedding Soup recipe in under an hour! Hearty meatballs are floating in a rich and brothy soup with a bounty of fresh veggies and tender pasta. This easy meatball soup always hits the spot!
Why You’ll Love This Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Italian wedding soup is always a favorite when we make it. The name comes from the Italian phrase “minestra maritata”, which means “married soup”. It refers to the perfect marriage of flavors between the meat and the greens. It’s often served at weddings and other celebrations, but it’s delicious any day of the week! Here’s why you’ll love our recipe:
- All That Flavor: This soup has everything you need: tender meatballs, hearty pasta, lots of veggies and fresh spinach in a rich tomato based broth.
- One-Pot Wonder: Traditional Italian wedding soup is a lot of work! But with our frozen meatball hack, we’re able to whip up this Italian meatball soup quickly and easily all in one pot!
- Family Favorite: Our kids always love this soup served with a side of crusty bread or garlic bread that they can dunk in the savory broth.
- Hearty: Packed with protein-rich meatballs, fiber filled vegetables and a little tender pasta tossed in, you won’t leave the table hungry!
Are you loving how easy this recipe comes together thanks to the frozen Italian meatballs? This is a hack we use often and is really successful in our instant pot spaghetti and meatballs, these easy baked meatballs and our crockpot French onion meatballs!
What You’ll Need
Since we’re using frozen meatballs, the recipe list couldn’t be easier. We bet you have most of this in your freezer and pantry! Scroll down to the recipe card for exact amounts.
- Olive Oil
- Veggies: We’ll be using yellow onion, carrots, celery, baby spinach and fresh garlic.
- Italian Meatballs: We love using frozen meatballs to keep this soup really easy!
- Fire Roasted Tomatoes: You can use regular canned diced tomatoes, but fire roasted tomatoes add a great depth of flavor to the broth!
- Chicken Broth: You can also use a veggie or beef broth.
- Pasta: We like to use ditalini pasta or acini di pepe for this soup, but any small noodle variety will work.
- Salt & Pepper: Freshly cracked pepper will give you the best flavor.
- Parmesan Cheese: Optional, but really good as a garnish!
How to Make Italian Wedding Soup
Some soup recipes can often feel overly complex and lengthy, but that is not the case with this recipe for Italian wedding soup! Scroll to the recipe card at bottom of the post for full detailed instructions.
- Sauté: In a large heavy bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven, cook the onion, carrots, and celery over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and add the meatballs and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Broth: Add the tomatoes and broth and bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes stirring every so often.
- Pasta: Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.
- Serve: Stir in the spinach just before serving. Enjoy warm, with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese on top!
Cook’s Tips
Here are a few tips and tricks from our kitchen to help you make the best Italian wedding soup imaginable!
- Greens: Wait until just before serving the soup to add the spinach. It wilts really quickly and if you add it too soon, it can get too soft and a little mushy. If you prefer a heartier green like kale or Swiss chard, you can add it when you stir in the chicken broth as Kale needs a longer cook time.
- Meatballs: We’ve mentioned it before, but using frozen meatballs is an amazing hack for this soup! We added 30 to our pot of soup and it was perfect. But feel free to add or less based on preference.
- Pasta: If you’re planning on having a lot of leftovers, you may want to boil your pasta separately from the soup. Pasta will soak up a lot of the broth in the fridge and freezer, which changes the consistency of the noodles and the overall soup.
- Parmesan Rind: To add even more depth of flavor, you can add a parmesan rind and let it simmer away. Remove and discard the rind right before serving.
- Spice It Up: If you like a little spice in your soup, add about a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. It’ll add a nice, but subtle amount of heat.
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Meatball Soup
Soup always makes great leftovers and somehow always tastes even better the next day. With that said, we like to cook our pasta separately when we are planning for leftovers. Otherwise, the pasta will soak up a good amount of broth overnight. Here’s how to store and reheat this tasty soup:
- Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Reheat: If you stored soup with the pasta, you may want to add more broth when you reheat it. We usually reheat a single bowl in the microwave, or multiple servings on the stovetop. If you stored the pasta and soup separately, add a little pasta to a bowl and cover it with the soup. Heat as normal.
- Freeze: This Italian wedding soup recipe freezes really well as long as you keep the pasta separate. Store your soup in a freezer safe bag frozen flat for up to three months.
More Easy Soup Recipes
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Loaded Potato Soup
- Crockpot Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
- Easy Chicken and Dumplings
- Crockpot Tortellini Soup
Yield: 6 servings
Italian Wedding Soup
This easy Italian Wedding Soup dresses up frozen meatballs in the most delicious way! Hearty meatballs are floating in a rich and brothy soup with a bounty of fresh veggies and tender bites of pasta. Made in under an hour, this easy soup recipe always hits the spot!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 celery ribs, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 (16 oz) bag frozen Italian meatballs
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, do not drain
- 8 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup ditalini pasta, acini di pepe, or any small pasta
- Salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 3 cups packed fresh baby spinach
- Parmesan cheese, optional garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery, cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the minced garlic and meatballs, and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring often for 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and chicken broth, stir and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Bring the soup to a low boil and add the pasta. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the pasta is al dente.
- Stir in the spinach and serve immediately. Serve with warm crusty bread and extra parmesan cheese on top!
Notes
Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. We like to cook our pasta separately when we are planning for leftovers. Otherwise, the pasta will soak up a good amount of broth overnight.
Reheat: If you stored soup with the pasta, you may want to add more broth when you reheat it. We usually reheat a single bowl in the microwave, or multiple servings on the stovetop. If you stored the pasta and soup separately, add a little pasta to a bowl and cover it with the soup. Heat as normal.
Freeze: This Italian wedding soup recipe freezes really well as long as you keep the pasta separate. Store your soup in a freezer safe bag frozen flat for up to three months.
Greens: Wait until just before serving the soup to add the spinach. It wilts really quickly and if you add it too soon, it can get too soft and a little mushy. If you prefer a heartier green like kale or Swiss chard, you can add it when you stir in the chicken broth as Kale needs a longer cook time.
Pasta: If you’re planning on having a lot of leftovers, you may want to boil your pasta separately from the soup. Pasta will soak up a lot of the broth in the fridge and freezer, which changes the consistency of the noodles and the overall soup.
Parmesan Rind: To add even more depth of flavor, you can add a parmesan rind and let it simmer away. Remove and discard the rind right before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving, Calories: 327kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 61mg, Sodium: 1340mg, Potassium: 491mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 5099IU, Vitamin C: 9mg, Calcium: 76mg, Iron: 2mg
