Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding soup is so comforting and easy to make. With kale, pasta and tiny, juicy meatballs, this soup is such a treat.

Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup was a popular dish on the menu everywhere in Upstate New York where I grew up. Even though I grew up with mainly Eastern European food, I also grew up in a small town with a lot of Italians. Pizza, Chicken Riggies, Tomato Pie and so many amazing Italian bakeries were bountiful in Utica, NY.  

I love the simplicity of the Italian cuisine, which always seems to achieve incredible flavors. I’m told that Italian Wedding Soup is a very common dish in the Italian household, probably just like Russian Meatball Soup in our family.

The light, flavorful broth pairs so well with some basic aromatics, like onions, carrots, celery and garlic. I chose to make the soup with kale, but you can make it with spinach or even lettuce. Since Italians are so famous for their meatballs, it’s no wonder this soup features them too. With a bit of small pasta and some Parmesan cheese, this soup will delight your taste buds. It’s perfect for the summer because it’s so easy and fast to prepare. Who wants to be slaving over a kitchen stove during the gorgeous summer days? “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Ingredients:

Soup:

  • onion (yellow or white onion)
  • carrots
  • celery
  • garlic
  • olive oil (for sauteing the veggies)
  • chicken broth
    • Homemade chicken broth is the absolute best, especially in such a simple recipe where it’s a key ingredient. Of course, you can also use store bought broth.
  • white wine, optional
    • You need a dry white wine, I like sauvignon blanc. You can omit the wine and just use more broth.
  • small pasta (orzo, ditalini, etc.)
  • meatballs (recipe included)
  • kale
    • any kind of kale will work in this recipe. Green curly kale and dinosaur, aka Tuscan kale are my favorites. Instead of kale, you can use spinach or other dark leafy greens.
  • Parmesan cheese,
  • fresh parsley
  • salt, ground black pepper
Ingredients For Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs:

  • ground meat
    • for most classic Italian meatballs, a mixture of ground beef and ground pork is used. I also often use just ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey. They will all work great in this recipe.
  • onion
    • Since I only use half of a grated onion in the meatballs, I chop up the remaining half and use it in the soup, along with the other whole onion.
  • panko bread crumbs + milk to soak the crumbs
  • Parmesan cheese
    • grated cheese in the meatballs is so good
  • fresh parsley
  • salt, ground black pepper
Ingredients for Meatballs in Italian Wedding Soup

How To Make Italian Wedding Soup:

  1. Prep all the ingredients.
    • Chop the onion (s), carrots and celery.
    • Mince the garlic.
    • For the kale, remove the center stem and finely chop the leafy green leaves. (It’s pretty easy to strip the center stalk with your hands or you can use a knife to cut it out.)
  2. Make the meatballs.
    • Mix all the ingredients in a small or medium bowl. (Let the bread crumbs soak in the milk for about 5 minutes first.)
    • With dampened hands, shape them into small meatballs, about 1/2 Tablespoon each. You should have 55-60 tiny meatballs.
  3. Saute the aromatic vegetables first. In a medium/large pot or a dutch oven, heat up the oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 8 minutes, until the veggies are tender.
  4. Pour in the chicken broth, water and the white wine. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes.
  5. Add the pasta and the meatballs. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the pasta and the meatballs are almost cooked through.
  6. Finally, add the kale. Cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  7. Garnish the soup with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Keep in mind that the longer the soup stands, the more liquid the pasta will soak up. If you serve the soup immediately, this doesn’t matter, but if you’re making enough to have leftovers or are making it ahead of time, add more liquid than you think you’ll need.

How to make Italian Wedding Soup

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Italian Wedding Soup
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Italian Wedding Soup

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Italian wedding soup is so comforting and easy to make. With kale, pasta and tiny, juicy meatballs, this soup is such a treat.

  • Author: Olga’s Flavor Factory
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 35 mins
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Soups

Ingredients

Scale

Soup:

  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 1–2 celery stalk, sliced or finely chopped
  • 3–6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup white wine (sauvignon blanc)
  • 1/2 cup small pasta (orzo, ditalini, etc)
  • 4 cups chopped kale, packed 
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1–2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
  • salt, pepper, to taste

Meatballs:

  • 6 oz ground beef
  • 6 oz ground pork
  • 1/2 onion, finely grated
  • 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • 1/2 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Prep all the ingredients. Chop the onion (s), carrots, celery and mince the garlic. For the kale, remove the center stem and chop the leafy green leaves.
  2. To make the meatballs, mix all the ingredients in a small or medium bowl. (Let the bread crumbs soak in the milk for about 5 minutes first.)
  3. With dampened hands, shape them into small meatballs, about 1/2 Tablespoon each. You should have 55-60 tiny meatballs.
  4. Heat the oil in a large pot, then add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste. Saute until the veggies are softened, about 8 minutes, on medium heat. 
  5. Pour in the chicken broth, water and white wine. Season with salt and pepper, if needed. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes. 
  6. Add the pasta and the meatballs. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the pasta and the meatballs are almost cooked through. Add the kale. Cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  7. Garnish the soup with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese.

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The original recipe for this Italian Wedding Soup was published on June 23, 2014. I updated the photos, clarified the instructions and added a video.

21 Comments

  • blueberry

    Hi Olga! First of all, congratulations on your new home! Enjoy homeownership!
    I never tried celery or kale in my cooking.. I think this will be a perfect try for it! Thanks for posting new recipes even with your such busy schedule!

  • Yuliya

    Спасибо большое ! С удовольствием готовлю по ваших рецептах. Суп просто замечательний !!! Теперь жду мужа с работы… думаю оценит 😉

  • Susanna

    Congratulations Olga! I wish you all the best in your new home! Soup looks awesome too, will have to try it soon 🙂

  • Karen

    Olga:

    May I use the “Progresso” bread crumbs (plain) instead of the panko bread crumbs?

    Thanks for sharing such a variety of cuisines with us! Best of luck in your new nest 🙂

    Karen

    • olgak7

      I prefer using panko bread crumbs, Karen. They make the meatballs very light and tender. Plain breadcrumbs will make the meatballs slightly denser, in my opinion. Of course, it’s up to you.

    • olgak7

      I use sauvignon blanc wine. If you taste the wine by itself, you will see that it’s not sweet at all, it’s a dry white wine, so the soup should not have become sweet from the wine. I’m not sure what to tell you Olga. Are you familiar with using wine in cooking? Maybe you just don’t like the taste of wine in food? Or maybe the brand of wine you bought has a sweet taste? Did you try it by itself?

  • AnnaPark

    I made this soup and I did really like it although had a couple things.. I skipped the wine and did more broth, but is that why the soup almost comes out tasting sweet? I don’t know if it’s lack of wine, or too much carrots or celery? Just not sure why it’s almost sweet. Any suggestions? Also I had to cook the orzo for 10+ min to get it to fully cook so I’ll know next time to pay attention to the pasta I buy. Thanks 😊

    • olgak7

      Adding the wine helps to add acidity to the broth and keeps it from being too sweet. It’s possible that the carrots added more sweetness to the soup. It also depends on the broth that you used. You can certainly use less carrots and celery and add more pasta, meatballs and/or kale to the soup to balance out the sweetness.

  • Volha Melnichenko

    This soup will be my favorite one! I loved it ! I had friends over at my house . The pot was full but 2 hours later there was a half of the soup left… !!!!! Wow! Thank you Olga !



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