This Italian wedding soup recipe is a cozy, soul-warming classic! Ours is made with tender mini meatballs, delicate pasta, and kale in a rich, savory broth. Light yet deeply comforting, every spoonful is balanced, nourishing, and full of old-world Italian flavor.
This time of year is all about warm, nourishing meals, and this Italian Wedding Soup is one of our favorites. Packed with flavor, it’s comforting and delicious, and always a crowd pleaser.
Our version features light, tender turkey meatballs simmered in a deeply savory, herb-scented broth. While escarole is traditional, kale is easier to find and adds a hearty texture along with a boost of nutrients. Comforting yet nourishing, each spoonful feels cozy and restorative. A final squeeze of lemon brings everything to life, adding a bright, fresh finish that makes the flavors sing.
Why is it called Italian Wedding Soup?
Despite the name, Italian wedding soup isn't traditionally served at weddings. The name comes from the Italian phrase "minestra maritata," which means "married soup," referring to the perfect "marriage" of flavors between the greens, meat, and broth.
Italian Wedding Soup has a rich cultural background that dates back centuries. It originated in Southern Italy, where it was typically made with seasonal greens like escarole and various meats, particularly leftovers from festive occasions or family gatherings. The combination of ingredients varies by region, reflecting local customs and available produce.
Italian Wedding Soup Ingredients
- Ground turkey: For the meatballs. Or use lean ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken, or a plant-based “meat” substitute.
- For the meatballs: Egg, panko breadcrumbs (gluten-free if needed), garlic powder (or garlic cloves), onion powder (or onion or shallot), nutmeg (freshly grated if possible), fresh parsley, and Parmesan cheese or Pecorino Romano.
- Yellow onion, carrots, celery, and garlic cloves: Sauté the veggies in olive oil for an aromatic, savory base.
- Chicken broth: Use low-sodium chicken broth if possible. See the notes for how to make your own quick chicken broth.
- Kale: Or use the more traditional escarole if you can find it! You can also substitute endive or fresh spinach.
- Fresh thyme: Or substitute dried or fresh oregano.
- Pasta: Use a small pasta like acini de pepe, pastina, pearl couscous, orzo, or ditalini. If gluten-free, substitute a quick-cooking long-grain rice.
- Fresh parsley: For a fresh, herbal flavor that makes this soup taste even more rustic.
- For garnishing: Fresh lemon, grated Parmesan, and Aleppo or red pepper flakes.
Meatball Variations
- Lemon zest: Add a bit of lemon zest to the meatball mixture for vibrant, citrusy flavor.
- Minced thyme: Freshly minced thyme adds an earthy, slightly minty flavor that boosts the rustic feel!
- Make vegan meatballs! Use a plant-based meat alternative and use vegan Parmesan.
What Type of Pasta to Use for Italian Wedding Soup
Use a small-sized pasta for Italian Wedding Soup to ensure each spoonful is well-balanced. Traditional Italian Wedding Soup is made with acini de pepe, but other small shapes like pastina, pearl couscous, orzo, or ditalini are great substitutes.
How to Make the Best Italian Wedding Soup
1. Mix the meatballs. Add the egg to a medium bowl, then beat it with a fork. Stir in the breadcrumbs and add garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg, parsley, and Parmesan. Mix, then fold in the meat.
2. Shape the meatballs. Pick up a handful of the meatball mixture with your non-dominant hand. Pinch off about a teaspoon of the mixture and roll it between your fingers to form a small meatball. Repeat until all of the mixture is used up! You should end up with around 80 cute little marble-sized meatballs.
Tip: Make the meatballs ahead of time for easier prep!
3. Sear the meatballs. Add olive oil to a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Sear the meatballs over medium-high heat, working in batches. If possible, use the same pot you plan to make the soup in to capture all the flavor. Set aside on a paper towel-lined plate.
Or, bake the meatballs! Bake on a sheet pan in a 375°F oven for 15 minutes.
Alternatively, for a faster version, you can simply drop the uncooked meatballs into the soup in step 5. Browning them does elevate the flavor.
4. Sauté the vegetables. To the same pot, add olive oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, kosher salt, and black pepper. Sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
5. Simmer the soup. Add low-sodium broth, meatballs, kale, thyme, and pasta. Turn to medium-low heat and cook for 10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente.
6. Taste and adjust. Season with salt and pepper and add fresh lemon juice to taste. Serve and garnish with grated Parmesan, fresh herbs like parsley or basil, and Aleppo flakes or red pepper flakes.
Chef’s Tips
- Use fresh grated onion and shallot, and pressed garlic. This will build a more aromatic, complex flavor versus using powdered alternatives.
- Prep the meatballs beforehand. Assemble and cook the meatballs a day or two ahead to reduce prep time when making the soup.
- If possible, sear the meatballs. Searing gives the meatballs a much deeper flavor.
- Short on time? Skip searing the meatballs. Scoop them up with a teaspoon and add them straight to the broth. Let them cook gently and soak up the savory broth flavor!
- Make your own ‘quick’ chicken broth! Simmer chicken parts, or a couple of bone-in thighs, with roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic (including the peel), salt, and pepper in water for 30-45 minutes. Skim any foam, then strain. You’ll have light, flavorful broth fast! For more depth and richness, add a Parmesan rind.
- Want a richer broth? Once the soup is finished, turn off the heat. Whisk 1-2 large egg yolks in a bowl, then add a ladle of hot broth to temper, while stirring. Slowly stir the mixture back into the pot. The broth will become glossy, richer, and almost creamy!
- Use a small pasta size. Smaller pasta shapes will disperse evenly throughout the soup for a more well-balanced spoonful. For traditional Italian wedding soup, use acini de pepe. Or, pastina, pearl couscous, ditalini, and orzo make great substitutes.
Serving Suggestions
- Bread: Serve with warm, crusty bread like sourdough or focaccia. Or top with croutons!
- Salad: Serve with a simple salad like fig and arugula salad, Caesar salad, Caprese salad, antipasto salad, cauliflower salad, or burrata salad with beets.
- Other pairings: Serve with Caprese grilled cheese, charcuterie, or fig bruschetta!
Storage
Store leftover Italian Wedding Soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days. Cool soup before storing.
If planning to store leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl when serving. Storing the pasta separately from the soup will prevent it from getting mushy.
You can also store Italian Wedding Soup in the freezer for 3-4 months. Thaw overnight before reheating on the stovetop.
FAQs
Traditional Italian Wedding Soup is made with simple ingredients, like broth, homemade meatballs, escarole, acini de pepe, and Parmesan.
Yes! Prep the meatballs ahead of time or skip browning them and simply drop them right into the soup.
The name comes from the Italian phrase, “minestra maritata,” meaning “married soup.” This refers to the “marriage” of flavors between the greens, meat, and broth.
More Italian Soup Recipes
⭐️ After you try this Italian Wedding Soup recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Tonia
Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: Dinner, entertaining, fall, freezer meal, Italian recipe, meal prep, one pot meal, Soup, winter recipes
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
This Italian wedding soup is a cozy classic made with tender meatballs, delicate pasta, kale, and a rich, savory broth full of Italian flavor.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (sub gluten-free if needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves garlic pressed or grated)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder (or 3 tablespoons grated onion or shallot)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped fine
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese or pecorino romano, grated
- 1 pound ground turkey (or use ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken, better than beef crumbles, beyond beef)
Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped small
- 2 cups carrots, chopped- about 2 large carrots
- 1 1/2 cup celery, diced- about 3 ribs
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 cups chicken broth, low-sodium (see notes)
- 5 cups kale, roughly chopped (escarole, endive, or fresh spinach)
- 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried (or fresh oregano)
- 1/2 cup small pasta- acini de pepe, pastina, pearl couscous, orzo, or ditalini
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
Garnish with fresh lemon, grated parmesan, Aleppo or red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Mix meatballs: Beat the egg with a fork in a medium bowl, stir in the bread crumbs. Add in garlic powder, onion powder, nutmeg, parsley, and parmesan. Mix together and fold in the meat.
- Form meatballs: Hold a palm-sized portion of the mixture in your non-dominant hand. Pinch off about a teaspoon of meat and gently roll it between your fingers to form small meatballs. Keeping some of the mixture in your hand makes this quicker and easier, and helps keep the meatballs a similar size. You will get about 80 cute little marble sized meatballs. It takes some time but so worth it! (Make the meatballs ahead of time for easier prep.)
- Cook meatballs: In your large pot or Dutch oven add olive oil and sear the meatballs over medium-high heat in batches. It is good to do this in the pot you are making the soup in to collect all the flavor. See notes for alternative cooking methods.
- Sauté aromatics: Add olive oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring often for 5 minutes.
- Simmer: Add broth, meatballs, kale, thyme, and pasta. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-low heat until pasta is al dente. Stir in the parsley.
- Adjust flavor: Add salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice to taste. Serve with grated Parmesan and Aleppo flakes or red pepper flakes.
Notes
Store leftovers in a sealed airtight container in the fridge for 4 days. To avoid mushy leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl while serving, though smaller pasta varieties absorb less liquid.
Alternatively, bake meatballs in an oven at 375°F for 15 minutes. Or drop them into the soup uncooked in step 5.
Short on time? Keep the meatballs rustic-just scoop with a teaspoon and drop them straight into the broth, skip the browning step, let them cook gently and soak up all that savory broth flavor.
Need flavorful chicken broth fast? Simmer chicken parts, or a couple of bone-in thighs, with roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic (peel is okay!), salt, and pepper in water for 30-45 minutes. Skim any foam, then strain. And you’ll have light, flavorful broth fast! Add parmesan rind to the broth for richness.
Enrich the broth with whisked egg yolk: Once the soup is finished, turn off the heat. Whisk 1-2 egg yolks in a bowl. Add a ladle of hot broth to temper (warm) the eggs, and keep whisking as you pour. Slowly stir the brothy egg mixture back into the pot of soup. The broth will become glossy and fuller, almost creamy.
Meatball enhancements- searing the meatballs will give a lot of extra flavor. Use fresh grated onion or shallot and fresh garlic ( vs. onion powder and garlic powder). Adding a bit of lemon zest and minced thyme will only enhance the flavor.
Using a small pasta size allows it to disperse evenly throughout the soup, delivering a well-balanced spoonful. Quick cooking and a sturdy texture keep it from turning mushy. The traditional choice is- acini de pepe. These alternative pastas work just fine: pastina, pearl couscous, ditalini, or orzo.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups
- Calories: 320
- Sugar: 5.5 g
- Sodium: 576.4 mg
- Fat: 11.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 29.2 g
- Cholesterol: 87.6 mg
I’ved been making this soup for over 70 years (I’m now 85), and it’s a classic. There are myriad different versions. Personally, I prefer escarole to kale and beef to turkey, but it’s all personal taste. The basic idea is about the same. I use ditalini instead of pastina, but pasta is pasta. Some cheese in the meatballs is essential, so it’ll never be kosher. My 45-year old daughter makes this almost monthly for her kids, and it’s a favorite with many variations. Use whatever is available. I used to run an office lunch catering business, and this was on the menu at least weekly. If I missed making it for a week, I heard loud protests about it.
So nice to hear from you Stukin! Love hearing your experience and encouragement to create with variety.
Made this recipe a few days ago. Took the time to make mini meatballs but they were a bit wet so stuck to my pan. Unfortunately my only ground turkey option was in a tube and wasn’t the best quality. I added more panko but didn’t want to add too much so I just went with it and scraped up the browned bits and threw the meatball “chunks” in the soup. It was delicious! I will definitely this again and will make sure to buy better turkey and brown the meatballs in my cast iron skillet so they don’t stick.
Hi Sharon, Glad you made the best of it and enjoyed. Appreciate your helpful review!
A wonderful winter soup. It is dumping snow where I am at and this will be a perfect cozy meal for the next couple days. I followed the recipe almost exactly. I had ground pork sausage so I used that instead of turkey. I used the powdered ingredients, instead of grated, but they still turned out great. I also let my homemade chicken broth simmer with a parm rind as suggested and added the yolk at the end to enrich the broth. I used kale, as suggested, because the store did not have escarole. I was able to find acinic di pepe and used that for the first time–I loved it! Everyone really enjoyed this flavorful and cozy soup. I highly recommend this recipe. It would be great for a big group.
Perfect Lynn! Thanks for taking time to share your process, so glad you enjoyed!
Awesome soup/ in fact, it was better than I had expected! I was glad that I took the time to sear the meatballs, as the finished broth tasted very rich. I used minced garlic and shallots in the meatballs, and couscous for the pasta.
So happy to hear this Karen!
Oooh! I love this soup! I made it completely vegan and it is so delicious and so homey for these cold January days. What a hit!
Nice to hear this Cheryl, glad it worked out!
Hey Cheryl- tell us how you made it vegan? Just curious!
Such a good soup!! I love the tiny meatballs hehe. I used plant-based meat. I forgot to buy breadcrumbs, so I used hemp hearts instead. It works. This soup is so warming, it makes me sweat! A welcomed sensation after the freezing ice storm last week. Thanks for your incredible recipes!!
Nice Angeli- stay warm! Always love how you adapt for veggie versions.
Can’t wait to make this.
Love to hear how it goes!
The meatballs were time consuming to make but such a delicious soup. All I had was couscous but it worked. Your recipes always work. Thank you
Nice to hear this Ivy! It’s true the meatballs are a labor of love, somehow the tiny-ness makes them taste so much better. 🙂
Another one to add to the favorites! Loved the flavorful meatballs though I was lazy and made them larger. Next time I’ll take the extra time to make them smaller because I would prefer them tiny. Chilling the meatball mixture before shaping made it a lot easier. Supermarket had prechopped escarole which was a bonus. Had pastina on hand so I used that up but definitely prefer couscous. Love that this recipe makes a generous amount so I’ll save some to stash in the freezer. Thanks for inspiring my weekly winter soup making!
Yay Lyn! Glad you gave it a try. Appreciate your helpful review!
Delicious! The lemon and Aleppo pepper lift the flavours at the end!
A comforting and light soup
Wonderful, so happy you enjoyed Amanda!
Delicious! The lemon and Aleppo pepper lift the flavours at the end.
Comforting light soup!
A family hit.