Italian Wedding Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Tender meatballs, veggies, and pasta in a rich and flavorful broth, Italian wedding soup is a meal unto itself.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
My kids love anything with meatballs in it (especially mini meatballs), so there’s always excitement at our house when Italian wedding soup is on the menu. The name “wedding soup” comes from the Italian phrase minestra maritata—or “married soup”—which is a reference to the way the flavors combine, like a happy marriage. Wedding soup is traditionally made from a rich, long-cooked homemade chicken stock. To save time and mimic the same rich flavor, I use a combination of high-quality store-bought broth fortified with wine and lots of veggies. For the meatballs, my secret is to add ground sausage to the beef mixture, which adds tons of flavor without the need for lots of other seasonings.
The most tedious part of the recipe is rolling the little meatballs (the recipe makes 50!), so I usually get one of the kids to help. Italian wedding soup is hearty and truly a meal unto itself. Serve it with warm bread—focaccia is especially good—and a Caesar salad, and dinner is served!
Table of Contents
“This soup is perfect for a cold evening meal, and a real crowd pleaser.”
What You’ll Need To Make Italian Wedding Soup
Note that the recipe calls for regular (not low-sodium) chicken and beef broth. I find the soup to be a bit bland with the low-sodium varieties, but if you special dietary considerations, go ahead and use low-sodium and season to taste before serving.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by making the meatballs.
In a large bowl, beat the egg with the chives, sage and garlic.
Add the ground beef, sausage, cheese, breadcrumbs, and salt.
Mash with your hands until evenly combined.
Roll the mixture into tablespoon-size balls (about 1 inch in diameter) and place on a greased oven-safe rack. (If you don’t have an oven-safe rack, it’s fine to cook the meatballs directly on the baking sheet; it’ll just be a little harder to get rid of the fat as it tends to collect around the meatballs.)
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside.
To make the soup, heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes.
Add the chicken broth, beef broth, water, wine, bay leaf, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.
Add the pasta and cook, uncovered, at a gentle boil until the pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes (or according to package directions).
Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Reduce the heat to low and add the spinach and meatballs.
Simmer for a few minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the meatballs are warmed through. Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Make It Ahead
If you’d like to make this soup part of your rotation and want to shave off a little time for the next time around, double the recipe for the meatballs and freeze half. That way, all you’ll have to do is make the soup and add the meatballs to it as directed in the recipe. (They may take a few extra minutes to warm through if you’re adding them directly from the freezer.)
Video Tutorial
You May Also Like
Italian Wedding Soup
Tender meatballs, veggies, and pasta in a rich and flavorful broth, Italian wedding soup is a meal unto itself.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ lb 85 or 90% lean ground beef
- ½ lb sweet or hot Italian sausage, removed from the casings
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ⅓ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 6 cups high-quality chicken broth, such as Swanson (do not use low-sodium)
- 2 cups high-quality beef broth, such as Swanson (do not use low-sodium)
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup dry white wine (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper (okay to use black pepper)
- 1 cup small pasta such as dittalini
- 4 oz fresh spinach, stems trimmed and roughly chopped (once prepped, you should have about 3 packed cups)
- Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set an oven-proof roasting rack over top. Spray the rack generously with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg with the chives, sage and garlic. Add the remaining meatball ingredients and mash with your hands until evenly combined. Roll the mixture into tablespoon-size balls, about 1 inch in diameter (it will make approximately 50 meatballs), and place on the prepared rack. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, start the soup. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, beef broth, water, wine, bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, uncovered, at a gentle boil until the pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes (or according to package directions). Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Reduce the heat to low and add the spinach and meatballs. Simmer for a few minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the meatballs are warmed through. Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be frozen for up to 3 months but wait until you reheat the soup to add the pasta. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until simmering, add the pasta, and cook until the pasta is tender.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Calories: 359
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Sugar: 5 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 23 g
- Sodium: 930 mg
- Cholesterol: 83 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
My family loves this soup. As I’m re-reading the recipe just realized I forgot to add the pasta! We dunked a baguette into our bowls. My kids weren’t so into the spinach. Next time I’ll substitute a veggie they like as I think anything will taste good because the soup is flavorful.
Ha! Agree on the veggies – I sometimes throw in small broccoli florets.
We made this soup for dinner last night and everyone loved it. Next time I would make the meatballs a little smaller but everyone agreed this recipe should go into regular rotation over the winter. I’ve requested the pre-order of Jenn’s Cookbook for a Christmas gift and am looking forward to enjoying many more great recipes from her!
This is now our favourite soup! I used spicy Italian sausage meat and skipped the fresh herbs in the meatballs and it still was delish! Does it freeze well? (In the event we have leftovers!!!) Thank you for your recipes by email… love trying them! Have had great success every time!
Hi Kimberley, Glad you enjoyed the soup! If you’re planning to freeze it, I’d suggest waiting until you reheat it to add the pasta, otherwise it may get mushy.
Can’t go wrong with a Jen recipe. This is no exception. Flavors of the local Italian restaurant down the block. We made the meatballs into 1/2″ balls instead just because that is what we grew up with. So delicious, nice comfort food on an early December evening. Can’t wait for our cookbook to arrive!
Great recipe!! I made a few adjustments but followed most. Came out great. LOve her recipes and bought her book. ❤️❤️
Love the variety. Passed her site to my friends.
Delicious! I made this today and it is very good. I only had low sodium chicken broth, but the soup is still really good.
This is super easy to make.The chicken and bone broth I made for my pregnant daughter-in-law came handy with store-bought beef broth. I used the Dutch oven, and sat for half an hour before serving (heavy traffic delayed my son and his family). This turned out to help the dinner be hot enough and not piping hot when everybody sat down to eat. Everybody loved it, commented this is the most delicious comfort food on a wet and cold evening.
Hello Chef Jenn,
I just finished making the Italian Wedding Soup recipe and it’s delicious! I wouldn’t change a thing!! I take care of my parents & served them a bowl and they love it as well. My Dad mentioned how much he likes the tiny shell macaroni, so that might be the only thing I might change. I will email you a picture of one of my bowls of soup! Thanks so much for this delicious recipe!! Mary
Hello Jenn! I love this recipe! If I wanted to prepare “most” of it and freeze it, would you recommend I freeze the baked meatballs separately, or would it be OK to drop them in, freeze the soup starter, and add the pasta and spinach when I reheat it? As always, thank you for your wonderful website. (PS–I pre-ordered your cookbook!)
Thanks for your support with the cookbook! 🙂 I think it would be perfectly fine to freeze the meatballs in the soup. Hope you enjoy!
I made this soup for dinner tonight. It was delicious, so much flavor! My only critique is that I put the pasta in about an hour before serving and the noodles were very soft. Will definitely make again. Thank you!
Easy! Meatballs with sausage delicious!! A delightful party in our mouths!!
Hi Jenn,
Anything I can replace eggs with for a binder? Thanks for sharing all your fab recipes? I use them all the time and can’t work for your book!
-Natalie
Hi Natalie, I think you could get away with a few tablespoons of milk here. I’d love to know how it turns out. 🙂
I just made the Italian Wedding Soup and it was so tasty. The perfect dinner paired with a Caesar Salad (your recipe too!) These recipes are keepers and will be part of our dinner rotation throughout the winter. Thanks for continuing to post great recipes that always satisfy and spark my interest. Great site with excellent photos and directions.
Hi Jennifer, haven’t made this soup yet, but plan to. need help either question about racks that fit in baking sheets. Are they same as cooling racks? I thought it would be a different type rack fo placong meat on for oven baking. Thanks for ur help. Heidi
Hi Heidi, You just need to find a cooling rack that is oven safe, like this one. If you don’t have one, it’s fine to just cook the meatballs directly on the baking sheet; it’ll just be a little harder to get rid of the fat as it tends to congeal around the meatballs.
I made this soup yesterday and Wow! I followed the recipe to the T except I did use one can of Swanson’s low sodium chicken broth. I used 4 cups of regular Swanson’s chicken broth and one can of the beef broth. This is absolutely delicious! I have never made meatballs before but it was easy. And I couldn’t resist sampling a few once they came out of the oven. I used 85% lean ground beef and hot Italian sausage. This is a keeper of a recipe. Thank you!
Excellent! The only change I made was to use all chicken broth (personal preference). Thanks again for another winning recipe!
Hi Jen! Love your blog and I have made many of your recipes. All were delicious! Wondering if you recommend using only italian sausage for the meatballs? I have enough on hand to cover the ground beef needed and was hoping to use it all up.
Hi Rhonda, I think it’ll work, but the meatballs will taste more like sausage than meatballs — not a bad thing, I guess :). If you go that route, you can omit the salt. I’d love to know how it turns out.
This soup was amazing! I made it once with sausage only meatballs and it was delicious! My family loved it so much I made it again a week later but followed the recipe and used burger mixed with the sausage…and the verdict was that the sausage only meatballs were tastier! I also used orzo instead of pasta both times. I am never afraid to try your recipes! They are always a hit at my house therefore I am pre-ordering your cookbook…one copy for me and one for my sister. Thank you for the work you have put into sharing your talent! I am so happy to have found your blog and so is everyone I feed!!😊
Glad you like the recipes, Rhonda – and thanks so much for your support of the cookbook! 🙂
Made this for dinner last night and my family loved it. The little meatballs are DELISH…I had to stop my kids from stealing them all off the pan before I added them to the soup!
I can’t wait to make this, but is if I don’t have fresh sage or chives, can I substitute with dried? Thanks for all your great recipes
Hi Laura, You can omit the sage no problem but for the chives I’d substitute 1 tablespoon minced onion or shallots.
Hi Jenn,
Italian Wedding Soup is one of my favorites! Your recipes never disappoint and I can’t wait to try this one this weekend. Quick question, would orzo work in place of dittalini? I am a huge orzo fan.
Thanks! Katy
Yes, definitely! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes. 🙂
Hi Jenn,
This recipe looks delicious and would love to make it but my husband must watch his salt intake and you specify not using low salt broth. The regular version has too high a salt content for him. He loves homemade soups and I’d love to try it but need some input on what would happen if we use a lower salt version of the broths or even make my own which would be very lightly salted.
Hi Merryl, It will still be good with the low-sodium broth — just not quite as flavorful. I definitely wouldn’t let that stop you from making it. 🙂
Jen, thank you so much for sharing your expertise! I have made 4 recipes from your website and they have all been wonderful.
I love this soup. However, I’m trying to cut down on carbs. I plan to leave out the pasta. What can I use instead of breadcrumbs?
Hi Melvina, so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes you’ve tried! The breadcrumbs keep the meatballs tender but if you really want to leave them out, you could try adding some more cheese. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Hi Jen, I added 2/3 cup of cheese instead of the breadcrumbs to the 1/2 cup of cheese recommended. It came out great.
Thanks for sharing your talents, this soup is so nourishing, and now I have a way to cook vegetables and make them tasty. Bought vegetables from farmers market this morning, and this soup is outstanding!
Thinking of doubling the recipe and was wondering how this would freeze? Thanks!
Hi Abbie, Doubling it would be fine. And this should freeze nicely, but I’d wait until you’re reheating it to add the pasta; if not it’ll get pretty mushy. Hope you enjoy!
Wow what a delicious soup! Actually simmered with the cooked meatballs and spinach for an additional two hours and it really upped the flavors. So glad I doubled the recipe. I so look forward to getting a notification in my inbox when a new recipe comes out knowing it will be 5 stars!!
Jenn,
I love your website and make so many of your delicious recipes.
I made this Italian Wedding Soup tonight for dinner and it was yummy and so flavorful.
I also made a loaf of crusty French Bread to go with it. For dessert we had a Pineapple angel food cake. It was a perfect meal for this cold weather we are having. Again Thanks so much for your recipes. Sandy C
I made Italian Wedding Soup tonight and we really enjoyed it. We had some crusty bread with it and called it dinner.
A suggestion: If you don’t plan on serving the soup as soon as it’s ready then don’t add the pasta. Cook the pasta separately and add it to the soup bowl before pouring the hot soup over it. This way the pasta doesn’t overcook in the soup.
Just made this. Most of the recipes here are quite good. This one is not worth the effort. I actually think her liquids are way off. We are going to throw this out but still like the site.
I have just made this. It’s still in the pot actually and have had my first bowl. This is just stupidly good. An embarrassment of flavour permeates the palate! Jenn, I have used a number of your recipes and each one has delighted. Thank you. Just, just, thank you!!
This looks like a great recipe for wedding soup the best i have seen in a while , I am really looking forward to trying it and sharing it with my Family and friends
Made this soup for dinner. Well let me tell you my family absolutely loved it there was very little left over. I used chicken instead of pork for the meatballs didn’t change the taste of the soup.
This is DELICIOUS!!! I tried it today and had every ingredient except spinach. Even without it, the soup was great! Your recipe is outstanding!
Absolutely delicious soup! I used an organic brand of broth and it tasted wonderful.
Which kind of meat can I substitute for the italian sausage? Cannot eat pork meats.
Thank you
Hi Rosemina, you can replace the pork sausage with turkey sausage. Hope you enjoy!
Delicious. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Great recipe! I love the sage in it!
My recommendation would be to add some “royale” to the soup. My German grandma used to always add home made royale to her wedding soup recipe and it is a very tasty addition. A royale recipe can be found here: https://www.thespruce.com/eierstich-recipe-royale-as-soup-garnish-1447340
Hi Jennifer,
Have you ever tried freezing this soup? I love having soups in the freezer for busy week days. I can’t wait to try this one. Thanks
Hi Veronica, I think this would freeze nicely, but I’d suggest waiting until you heat it to add the pasta. Hope you enjoy!
Hello Jenn,
I have successfully tried so many of your recipes and i have enjoyed them all. Thank you so much for sharing them. All the best to you.
Denis.
This recipe tops them all for my family’s favorite soup. I make it on a regular basis during the winter, and this recipe will make it even better. Thank you
The way I make my meatballs is I bake them directly on the cookie sheet with beef broth. And then add left over broth to the soup.
Hi Terri, Some people poach the meatballs directly in the soup, which eliminates a step, but I find that they have a much nicer texture when baked — and when you do it on a rack, they brown all over and it’s easy to get rid of any excess fat.
My husband is so spoiled by homemade soups that he cannot eat canned and I plan on making this tonight. He cannot take a lot of heat, so I am wondering how spicy the meatballs are. Also, I have chicken stock that is not low sodium, so assuming that will work?
Hi Rochelle, The meatballs are not spicy at all – and feel free to use sweet Italian sausage. The recipe is best with regular chicken stock (not low sodium) so you’re all set.
Just to let you know, the soup turned out wonderful! One of my husband’s favorite soups is this soup and he said it was a great recipe and more flavor than others he has had. I too have the recipe book listed on my wish list for Xmas.
😊
Looks yummy! Do you think I could use ground turkey or chicken instead of beef?
Hi Marla, I think ground turkey (and turkey sausage) will work well here.
I have been looking for a good Italian Wedding Soup for a while and this one looks amazing! Thanks Jen! One question though: why not using the low sodium broth?
Hi Lu, I tried it but thought it made the broth taste really bland.
My family doesn’t care for sage, do you have another suggestion of herb to use in place of it.
Hi Ellen, You can just leave it out – or thyme would be nice.
love love love italian wedding soup. your addition of sausage to the meatballs is a great idea. i don’t cook my pasta in the soup mixture but do it separately, adding as needed to each serving. otherwise, it absorbs alot of the broth. and i also switch out greens, using swiss chard or baby kale.
This looks wonderful! I was wondering if you can tell me the brand and type of rack you used for baking the meatballs? I’ve been searching for a good one for years!
Hi Natalie, This isn’t the one I used here but it’s a good one: oven-safe rack
Thank you so much!
Can I ask why the recipe calls for low sodium broths? I always use low sodium but if it really makes a difference, I will try the regular when I make this.Thanks!!
Hi Mary, I typically do as well, but I found that the low-sodium broth made this soup very bland.
My mother-in-law’s version of this soup was served at my Italian wedding. It was a big hit.
P.S. I love almost all of your recipes but I can’t give 5 stars to any recipe that has celery in it. Sorry.
Hi Jenn! Thanks so much for this recipe! Italian Wedding Soup is one of my favorites. I eat a lot of soup in the winter, and prefer to make my own so that I can control the ingredients. I know that if it’s one of your recipes, it will be delicious. I live alone, so I plan on cooking the pasta separately and adding it to each serving so it doesn’t get mushy. Pinned it to all my group boards!
GREAT SOUP….FULL OF FAVOR….LOVE IT
This looks amazing! Perfect cold night dinner – thanks!
This is my favorite soup but I never tried to make it. Now I will. Thank you Jen!