Although it’s labeled a soup, it’s really more of a pasta meal. If preferred, top the dish with Parmesan cheese and croutons.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 green bell pepper, cut into chunks
- 1 onion, cut into chunks
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 (16 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 25 frozen, cooked Italian-style meatballs – thawed
- 5 cups water
- 2 cups uncooked macaroni
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the bell pepper and onion in the hot oil until the onions are translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper, meatballs, and water to the pot; bring to a boil. Stir the macaroni into the mixture and cook until the macaroni is cooked through, yet firm to the bite, 15 to 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 786 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 87 g |
| Cholesterol | 145 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 11 g |
| Protein | 43 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 1442 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 31 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this yummy soup today. It was so easy and with the temp at 45 degrees. It hits the spot. I added some fresh spinach instead of the green peppers. SO good! Try this recipe out. You won’t be sorry.
This is really good! Especially if you like tomatoe based soups! Seriously. A lot of tomatoe goes into this. If your family does not like tomatoes then why even try it? So very filling!
Oh look, it’s Thursday! Spaghetti and meatball night! Except it’s already 4:30, I don’t have sauce started, and no meatballs made. So I tried this, and it was great! I didn’t put peppers in (kids don’t like, didn’t have anyway), deglazed the onions and garlic with a bit of red wine before adding everything else, and used chicken/turkey broth. Everyone liked with crusty bread and butter, will make again! I was fooled by the “4 servings” and used way too small of a pot. Use at 6 litre dutch oven! Also, this is way more than 4 servings! So, good thing we liked it ha ha. Edit: This freezes well without the pepper, I made a batch and froze in lunch-sized servings. 🙂
To be fair, I took the advice of other reviewers and added more flavor. Instead of plain water, I used broth. I also used fresh basil and an extra clove of garlic. It was quite enjoyable!
This was simple and a fairly quick supper to put together. I had to make a few substitutions, but I don’t think they made a difference with flavor. I only had a red bell pepper instead of green, and I used diced tomatoes instead of crushed. I added a can of green beans for color and more flavor. I also mixed parmesan cheese into the soup. I think adding kidney beans and corn, as another reviewer suggested, would be good. As written it just wasn’t flavorful enough for us, but I was able to adjust it to fit our tastes.
This isn’t so much soup as just lots of tomato with some pasta & meatballs. We’re not big tomato lovers, so I don’t think we’ll try it again.
This is SO good. The only changes I made were using home canned tomatoes (canned without salt), so I had to add a little extra salt, and I didn’t have any “Italian seasoning” blend, so I used Basil, Oregano and Thyme. I was a little worried it would be excessive on the seasonings, but it’s just right. Oh, and I cut back on the meatballs a bit. I added 18 instead of 25. It’s not lacking. I’m tempted to add white and kidney beans and some corn, and maybe some sun dried tomatoes next time.
Sounds like my favorite “comfort food” from my childhood. The only difference was that my mom cooked and broke up about 1 lb. of ground beef before following the rest of the recipe– I can’t wait to try it!