Delicious meatball soup suitable for an Italian wedding or romantic dinner for two!
Who doesn’t love love? Romance and passion swirling together into a mix of emotions, like a soup filled to the brim with rich greens and savory meats, the culmination of which becomes stewed together into a beautiful thing: marriage. The marriage of flavors – from beefy meatballs to verdant spinach, colorful carrots, and tasty tomatoes – is what contributes to the namesake of Italian wedding soup!
Italian wedding soup traditionally consists of meatballs and green veg alone, but we’re not afraid to go on double dates with brighter and more rustic flavors, here! We’ve taken some of the essentials for a classic Italian wedding soup and spruced them up with nutritious and delicious ingredients like peeled carrots, onions, and celery stalks to make it our own! All of the romantic flavors of Italian wedding soup meet the nutritional benefits of beta-carotene, vitamin C, and dietary fiber in our meatball soup – like a match made in heaven.
My Big Fat Italian Wedding…
There has been speculation in social circles surrounding the reasoning for the name minestra maritata or “wedding soup”, including one which claims that the soup was traditionally served at weddings to give the newly nuptial couple “vigor” for their wedding night. Despite this hearsay, however, the only reason for the name “wedding soup” is that the flavors are married together during the cooking process! As such, there’s no strict recipe to follow to create Italian wedding soup – the important thing is that the meatballs and the vegetables all get along and come together to create delicious flavors you’ll fall in love with.
It was only in the immigration to the United States that Italian wedding soup took on its current form, with fewer leafy green vegetables – becoming a highly simplified version of its former self. Anyone who’s been married knows that it’s never so simple as the union of two people, but that a wedding is a gathering of many! That’s why our meatball soup embraces the style of Italian wedding soup without the limitations of leafy green monogamy. The important thing to remember about Italian wedding soup isn’t whether or not it adheres to recent traditional recipes, nor if it’s even truly Italian – the most important thing for good wedding soup is flavors that meld together in a broth so well, one could only call it true love.
How to Make Ahead and Store?
Meatball soup is delicious fresh out of the pot; however, if you really want to marry your flavors together, you’ll let the soup cool and store overnight! Soup ingredients really get the chance to meld into one another and create a more unified flavor with time. So keep your meatball soup in resealable containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. Then, you can reheat the individual portions by microwaving them in their refrigerating container or boiling them on a stovetop for that hot out-the-pot flavor.
My Soup Is Too Runny and Thin, How Can I Fix It?
Runny soup is usually caused by having too much water/stock in the pot. While it may sound absurd to complain about watery soup, if the consistency between filling ingredients and broth is wrong, you’re gonna have a bad time. So, in the event your soup ends up too watery, you can try adding a small amount of cornstarch slurry to the broth or mixing in a dry cheese (like our recommended Parmesan) to help absorb that excess water.
Serving Suggestions
This Italian wedding inspired meatball soup tastes fantastic when coupled with other Italian favorites! Serve your soup with an appetizer of appealing pasta salads like Orzo Salad (especially topped with a Homemade Italian Dressing), Caprese-Style Pasta Salad, or Pasta Salad with Pesto. Alternatively, try serving meatball soup as an appetizer for Classic Italian Baked Chicken or Pasta Chicken Marsala! When all is done, you can’t go wrong with a bit of dessert. Follow up your Italian wedding inspired meatball soup with an Olive Oil and Ricotta Pound Cake so good you’ll have to share it with the one you love!
Meatball Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 can 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 cup small pasta such as ditalini or orzo
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until well combined. Form into 1-inch meatballs.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides. Remove meatballs and set aside.
- In the same pot, add onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
- Pour in beef broth and diced tomatoes with their juice. Stir in dried basil. Bring to a simmer.
- Return meatballs to the pot and add pasta. Simmer until pasta is cooked and meatballs are no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot, garnished with extra grated Parmesan if desired.
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