Have you ever had a creamy Italian Wedding Soup before? It had been a minute since I remember this one and honestly, I’m upset it hasn’t been on the blog until today. This meatball loaded soup is light, bright and delicious and perfect for those winter months.
The chicken meatballs are great on their own, but add them to a parmesan broth and it’s game over. This soup is going to skyrocket to the top of your fav soups. Serve it alone, serve it with crusty bread, or serve it with garlic bread…. you can’t go wrong!
Italian Wedding Soup
File this under my new fav recipe: Italian Wedding Soup with the best chicken meatballs and Parmesan broth! Omg
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1/2 pound ground chicken
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 cups chicken or vegetable stock (low sodium preferred)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 bunch curly kale, stems discarded and greens torn into bite size pieces, about 4 cups
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan, plus extra parmesan for serving
- 1 cup cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lemon, juiced
Instructions
For the Meatballs
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, parmesan, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley and crushed red pepper. Carefully combine everything with your hands until the ingredients are evenly mixed.
- Form the mixture into small meatballs about 1 inch, about 1 1/2 teaspoon. Place on a baking sheet.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and working in batches if needed sear the meatballs on all sides until golden, about 5 min. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
To Make the Soup
- In a 5-6 quart dutch oven or pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat and sauté the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes for 3-5 mins until soft. Add broth, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium low, add kale to the pot and cook until the kale is wilted about 3 minutes.
- Add the meatballs to the pot along with the beans and simmer 8 mins.
- In a small bowl whisk the egg and grated parmesan, slowly pour the egg mixture into the soup while stirring.
- Add lemon juice and adjust seasoning with more salt, pepper, or crushed red pepper.
- Serve with additional parmesan and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling + Recipe by Adam Pearson
This looks amazing. Do I need to temper the eggs first before pouring into the broth?
you could to be safe if you prefer!! I didn’t tho!
I have never tried to make this before, but you sure make it seem pretty easy. We are deep into soup weather here, so this one will be tested out this weekend!
8 cups of stock?! How many servings does this make?
6 servings!
This soup is just soo good! I have made Italian Wedding soup before but by far this is the BEST recipe yet! I think whisking the egg with Parmesan cheese at the end is what gives it it’s wonderful flavor! I substituted fresh spinach instead of the curly kale. The meatballs are awesome too!
brilliant
How do the leftovers hold up? I’m wondering if I can make this ahead and meet warm in a crock pot. Thanks!
they are great!! I kept them for a few days every time I tested this before running out and eating it all
Made this for dinner tonight. It is delicious. Without exaggeration this is the best soup I’ve ever made. I plan on making it for my next get together. Thank you
This looks AMAZING! Can I bake the meatballs instead of frying?
I was wondering the same thing…
absolutely can!
Can you use orzo instead of or in addition to the cannellini beans to bulk it up a bit?
sure thing
Made this soup today it is so delicious!!! It was a big hit with my Italian family! Thanks for another great recipe, love them all. Your cookbook is the best can’t wait till the next one comes out. 🙂
Delicious! I used orzo instead of beans and baked my meatballs. So easy and soooo good. The fam loved it! Thank you!
I served the leftovers of this soup to my son who is an amazing cook. He loved it. The only question my husband asked was is there anymore left for me. This place is how delicious this soup is. It was so easy to make also.
Nice cold day for this soup I can’t wait to try it !! Your recipe says chicken stock low sodium which is hard to find. Will low sodium chicken broth work as well?
totally
Ground turkey ok? Or would it derail the flavor?
would be delish
Hi! At what temp and for about how long to bake the meatballs?
do you mean if you’re going to skip pan searing them and finish cooking them in the liquid?
Yep!
I don’t like eggs. Can I leave it out in the broth of the Italian wedding soup?
of course
It looks like this is missing eggs from ingredient list for meatballs? I see it in bottom but not on top list.
hmmmm there’s an egg in the meatball ingredient list and in the soup ingredient list!
Good grief, I see it now. My apologies!
If I was going to skip pan searing them and finish cooking them in the liquid, at what temp and for how long would I bake them?
haven’t tested them that way!!
My husband and I really enjoyed this soup. I feel like it took longer than 35 min total, but glad I have leftovers for tomorrow night!
Delicious! Def took me much longer than 35 minutes – but I doubled the recipe and chose to make my own breadcrumbs. Since I had my broiler on to toast the bread to make the breadcrumbs, I decided to broil the meatballs too. I broiled the meatballs for about a total of 5 minutes. (And they are delicious on their own, btw). The good thing about doubling was that it used the entire bag of kale I got from Trader Joe’s (even after removing the stems, I still had plenty) as well as using the entire can of beans.
This soup was amazing – I swear the leftovers were even better. I think the meatballs are my favorite. I doubled the meatball recipe and froze half of them and am looking forward to using them in another meal. The only substitutions I made was ground turkey and spinach instead of kale. I think I need to temper my egg next time, it looked a bit like a scrambled egg in my soup. I didn’t care, though, because it tastes AMAZING! Thanks for the great recipe!
This soup is amazing, even more so the next day. I used 1lb ground chicken and doubled the beans and a few other ingredients by preference. Amazing! Having my gallbladder removed in a few weeks and I plan to live off this soup!
Any recommendation to replace the kale? I’m afraid we’re not kale lovers in our home. Spinach maybe? Thanks.
spinach or chard!
This was AMAZING and the perfect recipe for a chilly, quarantined day. Only thing I’d change is tempering the egg/parm with some stock so it doesn’t scramble once you add to the soup (this was probably my fault, but how I plan to avoid the mistake in the future). That said, my slightly scrambled parm eggs tasted just fine going down! Thank you 🙂
I doubled the meatball recipe and froze half to have on hand when I wanted to make the soup again. Very tasty.
Making this tonight! Looks wonderful.
Can I use turkey meat??? I love this recipe it was soo good but I have extra turkey meat lol
absolutely
This soup is light, refreshing, and seriously delicious. I almost ate the meatballs on their own before adding them to the soup. It’s nice that it doesn’t include cream, since I don’t always have it on hand.
This was GREAT! Loved by old and young. I made mini meatballs and added carrots to cater to a toddler. I doubled the recipe and am so glad I did! I didn’t use all of the broth called for; I think it was closer to 12 cups because that is all that would fit in my dutch oven, but I worked well with that amount.
Thank you!
I cannot urge you enough to make this soup immediately!! It’s delicious! My family of 5 (3 which are 10 and under) loved it and all ate multiple bowls.
Just made this soup and it is AMAZING!! I read through the comments in advance, and I’m so glad I did! I tempered the eggs before adding them in, and they didn’t scramble – worked out great making the soup super creamy and delicious! I also subbed spinach in for the kale as I have hypothyroidism, so I try not to have too many cruciferous vegetables. I doubled the meatball recipe and set some aside just to have with other meals – they’re SO GOOD!! This definitely took me longer than 35mins to make, but it was well worth it. I’ll be making this a staple for the colder winter months!
Such a simple recipe with absolutely amazing flavor! My family was raving about it! I have made other versions of this soup and this is so superior. The lemon at the end gives such a little punch of brightness! Kudos! You knocked this one out of the park!
My son had seconds, which is a win since he complains about every meal lately! Easy to make and flavorful-will make again! Doubled the meatballs 🙂
Crushed it again!
Thanks Gab!
-Tyler
My egg addiction turned into scrambled eggs! I added it slowly while stirring. Suggestions? Besides that it was amazing! Meatballs were tender and full of flavor
reduce the heat even more next time perhaps? it should be at medium low and if that was too hot, I’d try low!! Perhaps your flames are stronger than mine
Super filling, easy, and delicious. The meatballs were so flavorful.
So easy and tasty! Great weeknight dinner!
This was so good for a snowy quarantine day! Just bought your cookbook. So excited to make more of your recipes!
I assume you could do the soup portion in the crockpot after seating the meatballs. Thoughts?
haven’t tested it!!
Made this today. The meatballs are a big hit and turn this into a meal for the teenager in my house. I found the broth lack luster though. So pick your broth carefully and/or consider ways to liven the flavor.
Weird question but my family isn’t a fan of beans. I know I could sub orzo, but I’m wondering if it would work to put the soup in a blender after adding the beans? I’d like to include them because – healthy Obviously would need to add the kale after that step – maybe spinach instead since it would probably wilt faster.
This hit the spot & kept me cozy this weekend during a storm. I doubled the recipe to ensure I had plenty for lunches this week.
I made this for a Superbowl party. I mashed the beans instead of leaving them whole and added tortellini. It was a total hit!