Italian Wedding Soup

This Italian Wedding Soup is a classic comfort is the perfect weekday meal for those cold months. Flavorful broth and filling meatballs will warm your belly and leave you feeling full and satisfied!

One of my personal goals every year (of course) involves food. Believe it or not, I often get very tired of what we eat for dinner and get stuck in a rut.

WHAAA?! A "food blogger" who doesn't know what to make for dinner?!

The TEA! ?☕️

But it is the truth. I am human too. We all get stuck in ruts eating the same thing week after week with lack of inspo.

Last year I made a reasonable and doable goal of making 1 new recipe a month. That's it. Just 1. No pressure to cook elaborate meals that take 2 hours every week.

Just 1 meal sometime in 4 weeks. Complicated or not, it didn't matter, just 1. And you know what? It was a great goal! I could do it--I did do it!

I will have you guess what one of those recipes was. Yeah yeah I know, it is cheesy and obvious but this one.

I have said this 100,000 times but as soon as temps drop below 50 I am in full-on hibernation mode. It can be cold and it is 75 degrees out. So since temps have enjoyed hanging out in the FREEZING DREARY range for the past whoever knows how many weeks I have been buried under all the blankets, next to a space heater eating cups and cups of soup.

My favorite thing about Italian Wedding Soup is that it is

• filling but light
• brothy but substantial
• packed full of flavor and veggies
• it is an all-around win-win

How to Make

The base of this soup comes from the meatballs.

I like to use ground turkey but pork, beef or a combo can be used. Just a couple of ingredients bring the meatballs together then they are formed into balls. Traditional Italian Wedding Soup has fairly tiny meatballs.

I do not have time to roll out teaspoon-sized meatballs so I just use my smallest ice cream scoop and fill it ½-3/4 of the way full and use that as a guide. I ended up with 60 - 1 inch sized meatballs. You will think this is way too many but trust me, you could even use more as the soup comes together!

Just about 5 minutes until the outsides are toasty brown. Take them out and set aside.

The rest is very easy.

1. Saute carrots, onion, and garlic.
2. Add broth. Boil.
3. Add in meatballs and bring back to a boil (this will finish cooking the insides of them).
4. Add in spinach and bring back to a boil.
5. Finally, add pasta and let simmer until cooked.

I used a tiny pasta called Acini di Pepe which gets almost 4 times the size once cooked. You could also use Israeli couscous, orzo, or this awesome Harvest Grain mix from Trader Joes that I love. Soup can be served once the pasta is ready or can be kept on low until ready to eat.

This will feed a crowd and make excellent leftovers. Just store in the refrigerator and when ready to reheat add a little bit more broth or water. I found the pasta continues to soak up the liquid as it sits or is stored overnight and needs a little more to thin it out.

So get snuggly under a blanket, serve this soup with some crusty buttered bread and some ribbons of parmesan. You will put this Italian Wedding Soup in your "I don't know what to make for dinner" rut rotation. ?

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