This Italian Wedding Soup is chock-full of meatballs and pasta and vegetables- adapted from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics Cookbook.
There are some days when it’s so chilly outside that you feel like you might not make it from the car to your front door without obtaining a bit of frostbite. These are the days that soup feels entirely perfect and comforting for dinner. But can soup be considered a main dish? My husband doesn’t think so. When soup is placed in front of him for his evening meal, he looks at me, smiles and says, “What’s for dinner?” My loving response is, “Sweetheart… some soups are meant to be main dishes. This Italian Wedding Soup is one of them.” And it is!
How to make Italian Wedding Soup:
Prep for this soup first involves making the meatballs. Mix the (turkey & sausage) meatball ingredients and spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet. You’ll need fresh white bread crumbs for the meatballs.
How to make fresh white bread crumbs:
Don’t be tempted to use those yucky dry breadcrumbs sold in a can. You can make fresh breadcrumbs quickly and easily in a food processor or in a coffee or spice grinder with whatever bread you have on hand (even English muffins and pita bread will work!)
You’ll get the best results if your bread is slightly stale. Tear the slices into pieces (remove the crusts first) and fill your processor or grinder about half full. Pulse until you get bread crumbs. If you don’t have a processor or a grinder, you can rub slices of stale bread on a box grater instead.
Baking the meatballs in the oven makes this entire process so much simpler than trying to saute 40 meatballs in a skillet. They’re done cooking after about 30 minutes. Then you can set them aside until you’re ready to add them to your Italian Wedding Soup.
Be careful!
Funny side note: I set my meatballs on the counter once when I was preparing for a dinner party. Then I went into my bedroom to get ready, and when I returned to my kitchen I found that my dog had helped herself to all forty meatballs. I guess she thought they were good too! An emergency call was made to one of my guests to ask her to stop and get some frozen meatballs at the store. They weren’t nearly as good as these though!!
While the meatballs are cooking, you can prep the soup…chopped onion, carrot, and celery with chicken broth and wine. Pasta and fresh dill are added in toward the end.
Your cooked meatballs are then slipped in. It’s set to simmer for a bit before adding in fresh spinach, giving it a taste and adding in any needed salt and pepper.
Now, if this soup isn’t a meal in itself… I don’t know what is.
Warm, comforting, colorful, healthy and delicious. Serve this Italian Wedding Soup to your family knowing that it will fill their tummies and warm their souls in the chilly days of winter. And fyi, my husband is a good guy… a great guy. He just never had homemade soup growing up, and he is actually very happy about having this one for dinner!
Note about leftovers of Italian Wedding Soup:
This soup is excellent when eaten the next day. I find that soups with pasta tend to lose a lot of their broth when sitting overnight in the refrigerator. For this reason, I always buy an extra can of chicken broth to add to the soup the next day. This will ensure you’ll still be eating soup and not just soaked up noodles!
Here are a few more hearty soup recipes you might enjoy:
- Tuscan Pumpkin White Bean Soup
- Tomato Florentine Soup
- Tortilla Soup
- Minestrone Soup
- Busy Day Soup
- Quick Chicken Corn Chowder
- Mexican Meatball and Salsa Soup
Italian Wedding Soup
Recipe Details
Ingredients
MEATBALLS:
- 12 ounces ground turkey
- 8 ounces turkey sausage (casings removed)
- ⅔ cup fresh white bread crumbs
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
SOUP:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup minced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots (about 3 medium)
- 1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
- 12 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup small pasta (any will do, but I like to use mini bow ties)
- ¼ cup minced fresh dill
- 8 ounces fresh baby spinach (trimmed, washed & patted dry)
- grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
PREPARE THE MEATBALLS:
- Place the ground meats, bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, garlic, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (you’ll make somewhere around 40 meatballs). Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
PREPARE THE SOUP:
- Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large stock pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook an additional 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 spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you have some extra broth on hand. When leftovers are stored, the pasta tends to soak up the broth and you'll want to add some more later.
Have made this soup many times and it’s amazing!!! My best friend credits her recovery from COVID to this soup since I brought her down a batch when she was sick!!! I do add a parmesan rind when simmering soup since I think it adds great flavor & I also add small white beans instead of pasta since beans don’t absorb as much broth. As far as the critics saying that it is not “authentic” Italian… I don’t think Ina meant it to be authentic Italian, more her spin on a classic!!! In the words of the immortal Mikey: try it, you’ll like it!!!
I have been making this recipe for years!! Always a favorite and always delicious. I have all of Ina’s cookbooks 🙂
I cook for 45 elderly residents and staff in a residential home. This is just the perfect food for my beloved residents that is say to eat and delicious to taste
So happy to hear that!
I made this recipe with some substitutes I brought paleo chicken sausage meatballs at Costco that had basil and sundries tomatoes. So delicious and time saver. Then I used riced cauliflower instead of pasta. To be healthy and lighter. It was so delicious my son and hubby loved it as well as myself. Will be making again soon.
I know this is a little late to comment, but I have to tell you. I made this soup for my family a couple years ago now and everyone instantly loved it! This is our favorite soup to make, and I’ve even used the meatballs in different recipes. In fact I just made it tonight to take to a party tomorrow. I always have to double the recipe so there’s plenty to go around. I made this to serve as the soup course at my parent’s 30th anniversary party to great reviews! It really is addicting!
Happy to hear!
This soup is amazing and perfect on a frigid Midwest day! I made for the first time a couple of months ago, and my husband loved it so much he me to make it again. I love the turkey meatballs as well.
The only thing I will do differently is add more spinach and yes, it does need a bit more broth. No biggie. The dill is a wonderful flavor, too!
Ina doesn’t have a clue as to how to make an authentic “Italian Wedding Soup”! First of all, the tiny meatballs are traditionally made with ground veal, not turkey! She should stick with her own (pretentious) “French Cuisine”, and not attempt to make dishes which are authentically Italian….since she doesn’t know how to make them. She suggested that you should add oil into your pasta water when cooking it….in order to keep the pasta from sticking together!! NO Italian cook would ever do that, since the oil will keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta. That woman is a total joke, and very ‘pretentious! Also, what’s up with all of those ‘gays’ on her cooking shows in the Hamptons, and doesn’t she ever change her clothes? The only ‘normal’ person on her show is her husband, Jeffery.
I made this tonight, and used ground chicken instead of turkey. I think next time I will use beef/veal/pork. I guess I’m not fond of poultry meatballs, but the dish turned out really good. Like others mentioned, it could’ve had more broth, but like I said, it was very tasty, and filling.
I’m pinning this. It looks so good especially right now that it’s freezing outside. Soup is perfect.
I made this soup this weekend and I loved it! One thing I wish there was more broth, but ill just add some more stock next time.
I made this today. It’s reallllly good. But the only problem is that it’s too much stuff and not enough broth! Does anyone have any recommendations? I don’t know whether to add another cup chicken broth and a no white wine, or a little bit of both.
I always add a little more broth if that happens- and I find it happens often with soup!
I first made this recipe a year ago and it is now a staple that my husband and I make. It is just the perfect soup for a cold night. The hardest part of this soup is not eating all the meatballs before you put them in the soup! Thanks for sharing this!
I grew up eating Italian wedding soup at family celebrations and as a first course on holidays (my mom was Sicilian). With all due respect to Ina, I shuddered at the inclusion of dill (really?) and, please, the soup is much better if you use escarole over spinach, although spinach will do in a pinch.
Good stuff, I skipped the step of baking the meatballs and just dumped them in the soup raw and let the juices cook into the broth.
this certainly is a meal. So much goodness going on there. Love it
Oh and I also used acini di pepe noodles instead. They are the little round balls. LOL
I made this for a work function and this was all anyone talked about. I changed it up a little bit by using ground chicken and hot italian chicken sausage patties. Also I added about 2-3 more garlic cloves to the meatballs and used seasoned bread crumbs and a parmesan and romano cheese mix. I omitted the wine and dill as well. It was amazing and I am now getting requests to make it for other functions. ENJOY
Dear Ina,
I am a soup person. I cook anything for my family from Chinese shark fin soup (premium soup usually served in wedding banquet) to wonton, Korean tofu soup, Thai tom yum, Vietnamese pho… I am planning to make this Italian wedding soup the first time for my office Thanksgiving potluck this Monday. I like your recipe the best, and the picture is worth a thousand words!!! Thank you so much, I am adding this delicious recipe to my soup list. and it will definitely be on my family Thanksgiving dinner as well!
Have a fabulous Sunday,
Best Regards,
Tiffany P.
Just made this… tastes great! Didn’t find 8oz of spinach to be enough… thanks!
Mmm, that looks really good. My roommate would be all over that soup. I should make him some.
So glad you made it and liked it, Lori. I saw her do it…but it looked like such a chore! You make it look simple!
I just woke up and you are making me HUNGRY! Thanks! =)
It’s been really cold here and I am house bound due to an injury, so soup (this one in particular) sounds marvelous. =)
Seeing your description and fab photos, I think I want this for breakfast! It truly does look like a hearty meal. This will be made ASAP before the Phoenix cold weather goes away!
I’ve been wanting to make Italian Wedding soup as I never have. I love Ina’s recipes, so this will be the perfect fit. Thanks for sharing. Beautiful photos!!
Lori, this Italian wedding soup looks delicious. Love Ina Gartens style of cookig – pure & simple.
I’m glad I saw this before I finished my menu planning for the week. This looks delicious! I love that the meatballs are made with turkey and turkey sausage and are baked instead of fried. I’m making this soup this week!
Your photos are awesome, as usual! 🙂
My goodness, this looks delicious. I love that the meatballs are made with ground turkey, making it a healthier option. I’m in such a soup kind of mood lately. This recipe is a keeper.
Every time I see a recipe for this soup, I make a mental note to try it, but for some reason I never have. I’m putting this on my list of recipes to try immediately. It looks wonderful!
I’ve made this before and LOVED it! The only thing I didn’t like was the romano cheese. I’ll use parm next time!
Never made it. Looks lovely.
I made soup this weekend and it was so yummy! That’s one thing I do love about winter! LOL
Have a great week!
I’ve never made Italian Wedding Soup but it does look perfectly comforting for a cold day!
First of all – this soup looks very yummy! Secondly, I am feeling especially like not going outside today because it is -10 degrees here this morning!
Grumpy says the same thing about soups and he never is happy if I try to feed him any kind of sandwich for dinner. He says he eats sandwiches for lunch and wants nothing to do with them for dinner!