Tomato Meatball Soup

A light and “brothy” tomato soup with tender chicken meatballs, ditalini pasta is a quick and satisfying dinner. The aromatic vegetables – onion, celery, carrots and garlic add lots of flavor and texture. 

This soup is so simple to prepare and both my husband and I were absolutely in love with the flavor. It’s homey, comforting and light at the same time. With a tomato based broth and small cubes of onions, carrots and celery, this soup has tender chicken meatballs and small ditalini pasta to round it out and make it more hearty. It’s perfect served with Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs and some fresh bread, Garlic Bread or Garlic Knots. Doesn’t that sound like an incredibly delicious combination?

It also freezes really well, which means you can freeze a portion of it and it will give you a very easy dinner sometime in the future. Simply defrost it in the refrigerator the night before and then reheat.

Instructions:

Finely chop the onions, carrots and celery and mince the garlic.

In a dutch oven or a large pot, heat the butter or oil until hot, adding the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, until the vegetables are softened.

Add the broth. Puree the diced tomatoes in a food processor (or blender) and add to the soup (with the tomato liquid). Bring the soup to a boil. (If you want the soup to have a more distinct tomato flavor and have a thicker texture, you can add an extra can of tomatoes.) Season with salt and ground black pepper. You can also add some Italian seasoning or any other dry herbs to the soup.

Meanwhile, make the meatballs.

Pour the milk over the breadcrumbs and set it aside for about 5 minutes, until bread has been absorbed by the milk and is soft. Grate the onion and add all the ingredients to the meatball mixture and mix until well combined.
Using damp hands, form the ground meat mixture into approximately 1/2 Tablespoon meatballs and drop into simmering soup. Add the pasta and cook until pasta it’s as tender as you like. Add more broth if you want the soup to be thinner. 
Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and fresh minced parsley and/or basil.

Freezing the Soup:

This soup freezes really well.

If you’re going to freeze the soup, cook the pasta only until aldente, since the pasta will plump up more if it’s frozen and then reheated again.

Store the soup in an airtight container in the freezer for 3-6 months. Thaw and reheat on the stovetop.

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Tomato Meatball Soup

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A light and “brothy” tomato soup with tender chicken meatballs, ditalini pasta is a quick and satisfying dinner. The aromatic vegetables – onion, celery, carrots and garlic add lots of flavor and texture.

  • Author: Olga's Flavor Factory
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 60 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Soup

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 onion (finely chopped)
  • 2 celery stalks (finely chopped)
  • 2 carrots (finely chopped)
  • 1–2 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1 Tablespoon butter or olive oil
  • salt (ground black pepper, to taste)
  • 2 (14.5 oz each) cans canned diced tomatoes (pureed in the food processor)
  • 8 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
  • 1 cup ditalini pasta
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs (parsley, basil)
  • Parmesan cheese (finely grated, to garnish the soup)

Chicken Meatballs

  • 1 lb ground chicken
  • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/4 – 1/3 cup milk (enough to cover the bread)
  • 1 egg (slightly beaten)
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (finely grated)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
  • 1–2 teaspoons dry herbs (optional)

Instructions

  1. Finely chop the onions, carrots and celery and mince the garlic.
  2. In a dutch oven or a large pot, heat the butter or oil until hot, adding the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, until the vegetables are softened.
  3. Pour in the broth.
  4. Puree the diced tomatoes in a food processor (or blendeand add to the soup (with the tomato liquid). Bring the soup to a boil. (If you want the soup to have a more distinct tomato flavor and have a thicker texture, you can add an extra can of tomatoes.) Season with salt and ground black pepper. You can also add some Italian seasoning or any other dry herbs to the soup.
  5. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
  6. Pour the milk over the breadcrumbs and set it aside for about 5 minutes, until bread has been absorbed by the milk and is soft. Grate the onion and add all the ingredients to the meatball mixture and mix until well combined.
  7. Using damp hands, form the ground meat mixture into approximately 1/2 Tablespoon meatballs and drop into simmering soup.
  8. Add the pasta and cook until pasta it’s as tender as you like.
  9. Add more broth if you want the soup to be thinner.
  10. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese and fresh minced parsley and/or basil.

Notes

Freezing the Soup:

This soup freezes really well.
If you’re going to freeze the soup, cook the pasta only until al dente, since the pasta will plump up more if it’s frozen and then reheated again.
Store the soup in an airtight container in the freezer from 3-6 months. Thaw and reheat on the stovetop.

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22 Comments

  • Tina

    This looks fabulous!!! I love soups and on the way to try this one out. Thank you so much for such a great recipe. Blessings!

  • Olga Vorobey

    Olga, I made this soup today since the weather isn’t so great..Soup sounds really good for this type of weather….The soup is really good and fast to make…I was just wondering how much pasta to add because it was not on the recipe? Thanks Olga and God Bless you in all that you do…

    • olgak7

      Sorry about that Olga! It’s one cup. I just added it to the recipe. I’m using a new way of writing in the recipe. It’s much more convenient to print, but it’s a lot easier for me to miss something:) Enjoy the soup. My husband really likes it.

  • Alla

    I made this tonight for dinner. It was very good and hearty but light at the same time. I also put some heavy cream in it at the end to make it a little creamy. Very good. Thank you!

  • Alla

    Made this soup twice now. My husband loves soup, and anything that is tomato based. We both enjoyed it. Even my picky children tried some… if it has meatballs they will try it! =)
    Thanks for sharing the recipe. Defenitely a keeper!

  • Maria

    Delicious soup (if you like tomato base). Very healthy, love that it’s almost completely from scratch. I make soup 2-4 times a week, so I’m always looking for a different variety.

  • Milana

    By far the best tomato soup Olga! This was the soup that hubby and I ate while we were fighting the cold, and it always hit the spot. Thank you Olga for the awesome recipe!

  • Oksana

    Just made this soup tonight. Had to have a bowl right away, with some of your great homemade sandwich bread, also baked today. Great combination.
    Personally in my bowl I added some hot pepper flakes too, perfect on a cool evening here.

    • olgak7

      If you use a large onion, you can grate part of it to be used in the meatballs and chop up the rest to use in the shop. Otherwise, you can use a small onion for the meatballs and a medium onion of the soup.

    • olgak7

      Canned diced tomatoes are canned in liquid, so they will have a thinner consistency that tomato puree, but you can use whatever you like.
      Also, diced tomatoes don’t have as much tomato peel in them as the tomato puree or crushed tomatoes do, so I personally prefer the diced tomatoes for that reason as well.

    • olgak7

      It really depends on the size that you make the meatballs, but in any case, the meatballs will be cooked through all the way by the time the pasta is cooked through, if you follow the steps the way
      I have them written out in the recipe, meatballs first, then the pasta.

      • alison

        Thank you! I made this and it’s so good! Also, the steps for the meatballs mention grated onion, but that’s not listed in the ingredients. How much grated onion should be included?

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