The soup I sampled at an Italian wedding served as the inspiration for this substantial soup. It will surely appeal to the majority of people! Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over top and serve hot.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra-lean ground beef
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup dried bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 3 tablespoons minced onion
- 2 ½ quarts chicken broth
- 2 cups spinach – packed, rinsed and thinly sliced
- 1 cup seashell pasta
- ¾ cup diced carrots
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the beef, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, basil and onion. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls and set aside.
- In a large stockpot heat chicken broth to boiling; stir in the spinach, pasta, carrot and meatballs. Return to boil; reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring frequently, at a slow boil for 10 minutes or until pasta is al dente, and meatballs are no longer pink inside. Serve hot with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 169 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 71 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 1045 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Easy, fabulous flavor and even the Grandbabies loved it! That’s saying something!
I have made Italian wedding soup by this recipe and it was good. Then I made Italian wedding soup “almost” by this recipe, and it was great. The two changes that I made were that I used sweet Italian sausage instead of ground beef and beef stock instead of chicken broth.
I liked it but next time I make it I will fry the meatballs first for extra flavor. Otherwise they are gray and a bit tasteless. Also maybe using consomme’ or beef broth and a bit of red pepper flakes for more flavor. It is a great recipe but my husband wanted a bit more ‘pep’ to it.
We loved it! Used frozen spinach and parsley in the meatballs.
Excellent! everyone loved it!
I should have doubled or tripled it. Delicious.
I changed very little. I sautéed celery carrot onion and garlic in a bit of butter until slightly browned in the soup pan, then added the broth. I baked the meatballs for ten minutes to get some of the caramel flavor from that to add to the soup before bringing everything to a boil.
I followed the recipe for the most part but mined some garlic to add to the meatball mixture. the dish was amazing! Next time, I will make more broth. This will definitely make another appearance this winter.
Turned out nice! Needed to add salt and pepper to soup and I added garlic to the meatballs.
This was tasty. I used orzo as that’s what I had on hand. Used others suggestion of baking the meatballs first. They held together and the little color added a nice flavor. Will definitely make this again.
Yummy!
It was great. I added more of the pasta to make it a little more hearty.
I browned the meatballs before adding to the broth. But I LOVED this soup. Ate it everyday for a week and looked forward to it each time.
We LOVED this soup! We only had 1 qt of chicken broth, so we used vegetable broth for the remaining 1.5 qts. We also added brussel sprouts and used a package of frozen spinach instead of fresh. Came out great!
Great recipe. I made it almost exact but I did add 4 cloves of Garlic, and chopped onion to the sausage. I also doubled the broth and added some cooked pasta at the end. Delicious.
This was one of the best soups I have ever had. Italian wedding soup is just ok for me usually but this was phenomenal. I added some extra seasoning like italian blend and salt pepper and garlic. I used all of the recommended broth and pasta(just cooked separately) and added the Parmesan and egg cheese balls a few reviews recommended and they took it over the top!!! Great recipe though even without the additions. Thanks!!!
This came out very good. We use escarole instead is spinach and two cups was not enough for our liking. I will try 3 cups next time.
It was good with parmesan cheese. The meatballs were a little bland, I would like to add salt next time to the meatballs themselves.
I think I would like it better if I had substitured thyme for the basil. Other than that it was rather good.
magical
I made this in the slow cooker. I put the cooker on high. Added the broth, vegetables, pasta, and added one chopped celery (one stick). as while. Let that cook on high while I did the meat ball mixture. To the meat ball mixture. I added a 1/2 a tsp of garlic salt. As suggested previously. I cooked the meatballs at 350 F in the oven 15 min each side. Then added these precooked meatballs to the slow cooker, with the broth & vegetables. Let that cook on high 90 miN.