I fell in love with Italian Wedding soup when I was going to University- at the cafeteria in U of C's Engineering building, of all places. I wasn't an engineering student, but my best friend was. And she let me in on one of the best-kept secrets on campus- they had amazing soup and it was cheap! Those words were music to a starving student's ears. I have yet to come across a version that was as good as that until I created this Easy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe (with frozen meatballs)!
This delicious soup recipe is most popular during the fall and winter, but great any time of the year. It's also Weight Watchers friendly @ 4 WW points. If you're looking for more comforting healthy fall soups, check out this collection of the Best Falls Soups (that are also healthy!)
🍒Reader Review
"It's a comforting cold weather soup that's not chili or stew. I never would have known mixing meatballs with chicken broth would be so delicious!" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jump to:
- 🍒Reader Review
- 🥘 Ingredients in Easy Italian Wedding Soup
- Ingredient Notes
- 📖 Variations & Substitutions
- 🔪How to Make Italian Wedding Soup (with Frozen Meatballs)
- 💭Italian Wedding Soup History
- 🥗 Side dishes
- 🔢WW Points
- 🌡️Storing
- 👪 Serving Size
- ❔Frequently Asked Questions
- 🥣More Soup Recipes
- ⭐ Comments & Reviews
- 📋 Easy Italian Wedding soup recipe (with frozen meatballs)
I don't know about you, but I don't have time to make little homemade meatballs for soup. That is definitely not happening in this girl's world. Making meatballs is time-consuming. And if I'm making meatballs, I'm going to make my Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs for a special or holiday dinner.
🥘 Ingredients in Easy Italian Wedding Soup
So I keep it fast and simple and use frozen Italian meatballs and frozen spinach. I don't even ask you to chop up carrots for this soup, just an onion. I think that's enough chopping for one meal. Wouldn't you agree?
However, if you want to chop carrots, go for it. Personally, if I really wanted to add carrots to this soup, I'd buy a bag of grated carrots and add some of those. But keep in mind, that it will take a little longer to cook.
Here's what you'll need if you want to make this delicious and FAST Italian Wedding Soup:
Ingredient Notes
- Meatballs. Because making meatballs for a special occasion dinner is one thing, it's an entirely different story for soup! And that's why I use frozen Italian meatballs. I buy a huge bag at Superstore for $10 and it will make a triple batch of this soup. It ends up being around $1.00 per serving for this healthy Italian Wedding soup. So, like the soup at the Engineering building cafeteria, this soup is also awesome and cheap!
- Chicken bouillon. I use chicken and not beef because although it has a distinct flavor, it has a milder taste than beef and adds depth to a soup because it extracts the flavors from the other ingredients.
- White onion or yellow onion (whatever you have on hand). White onions tend to be milder, sweeter, and more tender than yellow onions, but both work in this soup.
- Italian parsley. Because its flavor is stronger than regular parsley, (similar to basil or oregano) it holds up better to cooking and is ideal for hot dishes. It should be added toward the end of the cooking process so that it can best retain its taste, color, and nutritional value.
- Minced garlic. Fresh garlic adds flavor, depth, and nutrition to soup!
- Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese infuses the broth with a powerful kick of umami, giving your soup a rich robust flavor.
- Spinach. I use frozen spinach because I always have it on hand, so it's convenient.
- Acini de Pepe. Ancini de Pepe is actually a tiny pasta that is round in shape (like tiny pasta balls). You can find it at your local Italian store, online, and in some cases, at your grocery store.
*see recipe card for quantities
Although you can make this easy soup recipe in advance, I still like to make it when I get home from work (when the craving hits) and that's why I created this shortcut version. This is THE BEST Italian Wedding Soup!
📖 Variations & Substitutions
- Spinach: you can use frozen spinach (in 10 oz blocks or 1 oz nuggets) or fresh spinach or substitute other leafy green vegetables, such as kale.
- Parmesan Cheese: you can use regular, light, or fat-free.
- Italian Parsley: you can use regular fresh parsley if you can't get Italian parsley, but use a little more because
- Acini de Pepe pasta: If you can't find acini de pepe, you can use orzo pasta, which is a small pasta (rice-sized), is a great substitute. Just keep in mind that the cooking time for orzo is a little longer.
- Meatballs: instead of ground beef meatballs, you could lighten this up even more by using ground chicken meatballs, turkey meatballs, or mini meatballs.
- Add-ins : you could add in some shredded carrots (or diced carrots) for a veggie boost and some color!
🔪How to Make Italian Wedding Soup (with Frozen Meatballs)
- Step 1: Bring the water, with chicken bouillon (to make chicken broth) powder, garlic, onion and frozen spinach to a boil in a large pot.
- Step 2: Add the meatballs (from frozen) and the pasta and continue cooking at a low boil until both the pasta and meatballs are cooked (approx 20-25 minutes). Pasta should be al dente.
- Step 3: Add Italian parsley and parmesan cheese.
- Step 4: Serve immediately (ladle soup into bowls and garnish) or freeze for later. Garnish: Sprinkle parmesan cheese as desired, as well as additional Italian parsley.
💭Italian Wedding Soup History
You may wonder where the name Italian Wedding soup comes from? The term "wedding soup" actually comes from the Italian phrase "minestra maritata", which means "married soup," in reference to the flavor produced by the combination or "marriage" of the greens and the meat or the marriage of flavors.
Although, it's more accurately translated as “wedded broths.” Despite the name, this soup is not served at Italian weddings. Instead, the name refers to the dish’s unique flavors, betrothed as they are blended and simmered, achieving a brothy, meaty tasty union. If you want to learn more about the origin of this soup, click HERE or HERE.
🥗 Side dishes
This easy Italian Wedding soup recipe is really a meal in and of itself, especially if you serve it with bread. If you want to keep it very WW friendly, try it with my 0 (zero) point Everything Bagel Cloud Bread Recipe.
It also goes well with salad, such as my Strawberry Spinach Pecan Salad.
🔢WW Points
This Easy Italian Wedding Soup with frozen meatballs is only 4 WW points.
🌡️Storing
Refrigeration: Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezing: Once cooled, freeze this homemade soup for up to 3 months in a freezer-friendly sealed container.
Reheating: This soup reheats nicely (about 1 ½ minutes in the microwave) or on med-low on the stovetop. But since the noodles will continue to soak up the liquid the longer it sits, I usually add a little water or chicken broth to the leftovers.
👪 Serving Size
This homemade Italian Wedding soup recipe makes 12 servings. However, you can half, double, or triple the recipe by clicking on the serving number and selecting the number of servings you'd like. The ingredient quantities will automatically adjust.
❔Frequently Asked Questions
Most meatballs in Italian wedding soups use ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, parmesan cheese and spices. But you can buy frozen Italian meatballs as I do for this recipes.
If you're using frozen meatballs, you can add them right into the soup (still frozen).
Minestrone generally has more vegetables and also has beans and/or chickpeas. It also has no meatballs and is generally vegetarian.
If you are looking for a hearty soup that's quick, easy, and healthy, you'll love this version of this classic Italian soup. And since it's always soup season, dig in because this soup is healthy and Weight Watchers friendly! And if don't think you have time for it, think again! This soup can be made in 30 minutes and tastes like it took hours.
🥣More Soup Recipes
⭐ Comments & Reviews
Did you know that commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite recipe creators? If you loved this recipe, please comment and rate it in the recipe card or share photos on social media using the hashtag #foodmeanderings or tagging @foodmeanderings !
📋 Easy Italian Wedding soup recipe (with frozen meatballs)
Ingredients
- 12 cups water
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder (12 cups chicken stock)
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
- 1.5 pounds bag frozen, pre-cooked Italian meatballs * or ⅓ a 1.8 kg bag
- 10 oz frozen chopped spinach * or fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup Acini de Pepe
Garnish
- parmesan cheese
- Italian parsley
Instructions
- Bring the water, with chicken bouillon (to make chicken broth) powder, garlic, onion and frozen spinach to a boil in a large pot.
- Add the meatballs (from frozen) and the pasta and continue cooking at a low boil until both the pasta and meatballs are cooked (approx 20-25 minutes). Pasta should be al dente. Add Italian parsley and parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately (ladle soup into bowls and garnish) or freeze for later.
Garnish
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese as desired, as well as additional Italian parsley.
TERI Z
This easy to make soup is a week night hit! It came together quickly and was delicious!
Terri Gilson
Hi Teri: I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Terri
Skip
It's a comforting cold weather soup that's not chili or stew. I never would have known mixing meatballs with chicken broth would be so delicious!
Terri Gilson
Hi Skip,
I'm so happy to hear you loved it!
Terri
Terry Markward
Can I just use cans of low sodium chicken broth instead of boullian powder?
Terri Gilson
yes of course!
Alfred Marquez
Hi again Terry,
I am 67 years old and only started cooking in January after the passing of my wife in November. All my children and grandchildren visited me last week and I cooked your soup for them. Without exception they all loved it. My two daughters and two of my sisters have all requested the recipe. I shared with them both the recipe and your website.
Again, thank you so much.
Alfred
Terri Gilson
Hi Alfred,
I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Wife in January - my heart goes out to you....
That's wonderful that you're taking up cooking though 🙂 I'm so glad you, as well as you family loved the soup! It's also one of our faves. I hope you find many more recipes to enjoy on the site- I do have a lot of easy ones. I've been cooking a long time so sometimes I forget that others are just starting and may miss basic steps. So, if you have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to drop me a line and ask! I'd be happy to help.
Take care,
Terri
Alfred Marquez
This recipe calls for ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon chicken bouillon. Is there a liquid form of chicken bouillon or are we supposed to use the paste. This may be a silly question but I am only now beginning to cook.
Thank you.
Terri Gilson
Hi! Not a silly question at all! I am referring to chicken bouillon powder. You mix it in with the boiling water. Thanks for asking-I will update the recipe to reflect that. I hope you enjoy the soup!!
Terri
Alfred Marquez
Hi Terri,
Thank you so much for your kind reply. But now I have another question. I made this recipe in a vegetarian form and it was GREAT! The trouble I had was figuring out how much Better-Than-Bouillon paste to use. Do you know if it converts 1/1 with the powder?
Kind regards,
Alfred
Terri Gilson
Hi Alfred,
No problem! I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup! I have never used that product myself, but it looks like it’s a cup of broth/stock is equal to a teaspoon of Better than Bouillon. Since this is 12 cups of broth (when you add the powder to the water), you’d need 4 tablespoons of Better than Bouillon. I still think you’d have to do it by taste, to some degree though.
I found a calculator for you for future reference!Better than Bouillon converter
Hope that helps!
Farah
I'm all for a recipe that takes 30 minutes from start to finish, especially one that looks this delicious! Can't wait to try this out!
Terri Gilson
Thank you, Farah - enjoy!
Andrea Metlika
Wow, I can't believe this didn't take hours to make. It looks super yummy and the flavors sound marvelous.
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Andrea! Yes, that's what I love most about it - how quick it is to make 🙂
Suzy
It's such a delicious soup to make! We love the flavors of meatballs and spinach with the broth! It's so good!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Suzy. So glad you loved it!
Raia Todd
Wedding soup is one of my favorites! This is such an easy recipe and so delicious!
Terri Gilson
I hope you enjoy it, Raia!
Charla
Sounds and looks delicious. I love Italian food but have yet to make this recipe, bring it on!!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Charla - if you love Italian food, you'll love this recipe!