This Ina Garten recipe for Italian wedding soup caught my attention because the meatballs are made from ground chicken instead of ground beef. The tender meatballs also include ground chicken sausage. These plus pasta and vegetables fill this easy recipe for a classic soup that is delicious!Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We will only recommend products we use, love or think are informative and helpful.
A bowl of piping hot soup is always welcomed on cold, wintry days but even on warmer days, it is a lovely starter or entree with crusty bread or a salad. I served this soup for a friends birthday lunch this week and everyone commented how much they liked it.
Italian Wedding Soup
INGREDIENTS
For the meatballs:
- 3/4 pound ground chicken
- 1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
- 2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the soup:
- 2 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 cup minced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
- 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
- 10 cups homemade chicken stock
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup small pasta such as small shells, tubetini or stars
- 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
- 12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the meatballs
Place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork.
With a teaspoon or scoop, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs).
Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
For the soup
Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot.
Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender.
Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper.
Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.
Serves 8
NOTE: I added just a 6-oz. bag of baby spinach and felt it was plenty.
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Honey Banana Whole Wheat Bread
Our Newsletter is published once every three weeks. Each issue is timely and helpful, jam-packed with food, crafts, occasional DIY, gardening and faith resources. Relevant and seasonal posts to inspire and guide you with current trends. Available only to those who request it, so please accept our invitation to stay connected and join the Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart community. Just click the subscribe button below.
I love the Italian Wedding soup, when I make my soup, I use both chicken and beef broth with either spinach or escarole. It really makes a difference using both broths. Yummy!
I have never tried the chicken always used beef, next time I will try the ground chicken.
Oh, and sometimes, I do add pieces of chicken in as well.
Love your blog 🙂
Delish!! I love soups when it's cooler weather. Thanks for sharing.
xo
Pat
I'm not even a big 'soup eater', but your pics have my mouth watering!! Looks delicious!
Susan
Such yummy soups! I love soup and right now, here in the Andean region the nights are cold, just perfect for soup dinners. Thank you so much for your sweet comment, you are one lovely lady.
Have a blessed Sunday.
FABBY
This used to be one of my favorite soups — but now I don't eat meat. Still, soup is one of my favorite things to eat, any time of year, any kind of weather. I even made a second batch of tomato soup today to eat with the olive bread I made yesterday. Yummo! Have a great rest of the weekend. Tammy
Sounds like another "keeper" I will have to try this one
This sounds delicious, Lorraine.
Blessings to you and yours this holiday week.
This sounds AND looks so yummy! One of my favorite soup, and I can't wait to try it!
Happy Thanksgiving Lorraine! I know your Thanksgiving meal will be really special. We will have the tried and true here…turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce..etc. Love it all…
Oh that does look good. I love Italian wedding soup. I've never made it myself though
I prefer chicken or turkey to ground beef. This looks wonderful!
Sounds and looks delicious, Lorraine, thanks for sharing such great recipes. You make them sound so easy I know it is because you put so much love and enjoy cooking so much.
Enjoy your weekend.
Blessings,
Sue
Your recipes always look so wonderful!
I love this soup, grew up on it actually, and I love it with chopped escarole. Yummy. This soup has been known to get folks off their sick bed and back to the road to recovery. 😉 xo
This looks so so so… good. Gotta try it, but I don't think I've ever seen ground chicken sausage in casing? Or just ask the butcher at the grocery store? Beautiful pictures, too.
Okay, if I didn't know better, I'd think you snuck into my kitchen and took photos while I was making my Italian wedding soup (only my meatballs are made with ground turkey and they aren't Ina's recipe). I took similar meatball photos, used the same sheet pan, and I even have the same china! My post isn't being published until Nov 26 though… hope you'll check it out.
This looks wonderful. I have never made chicken meatballs…they sound delish! xo Diana
Sounds great! I've made the Pioneer Woman's version, gonna try this one next! Happy Thanksgiving Week:@)