Why It Works
- A mixture of beef and pork (and optional veal) produce meatballs that are flavorful, tender, and juicy.
- Robust seasonings in the meatballs, including garlic, herbs, and Parmesan cheese, ensure there’s big flavor in every bite.
Big life events can change people—and recipes. Italian wedding soup, as it’s made in Italy, overflows with multiple cuts of meat layered with long-cooked wilted vegetables like escarole, and a generous dose of cheese. It’s a kind of rustic opulence—born not of wealth, but of deep ties to the land and its agricultural products. The meats may not be the priciest cuts, but they’re generous to the point of gratuitousness, and they’re delicious.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
But the dish took on a new form when Italians immigrated to the States. The original’s embarrassment of meats got pared down to little tasty meatballs bobbing in a broth, the heaps of vegetables a more restrained pot full of simmered spinach or another leafy green, along with some basic aromatic vegetables. Those are the kinds of changes people make when they can’t get their hands on specialty imported products in a new land—and often couldn’t afford them even if they could. Ground meat, though, stretched with bread for meatballs? That’s doable, and no one’s going to complain about meatballs.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Today, the soup known as Italian wedding soup in the US shares little with its ancestor beyond a brothy base of meat and vegetables. That, in fact, is the marriage being described—it has nothing to do with weddings.
If you want my unvarnished opinion, I think the original Italian wedding soup is more interesting, more delicious, and more soulful. But it’s also a lot more work. The Americanized version here wins on the convenience-to-flavor payoff, offering a warming, satisfying one-bowl meal that checks all the boxes and delivers more than enough deliciousness.
There are a few keys to building flavor in this soup, and I’d argue it starts with the broth, which is made from a base of chicken stock and lightly sautéed vegetables. Use homemade stock if you can; it will push the soup much farther ahead in the flavor department before you add much extra. Store-bought stock can, of course, work, but its boxed-stock flavor will come through in the finished dish.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Also important are the meatballs, which are the soup’s secret weapon for deeper flavor in every bite. I like to use a roughly equal-parts mix of ground beef and pork: beef for its richness, pork for a more tender texture. If you can get a ground meatball mixture that also contains veal, your meatballs will be even more tender and juicy.
In many of my prior meatball recipes, I’ve been adamant that the better approach is to use a panade made from bread soaked in a liquid like milk, which delivers a much softer texture with welcome added moisture. Here, though, I opt for the convenience of breadcrumbs. They make meatballs that are denser and drier, but since they’ll end up in the brothy soup, it doesn’t matter as much—the meatballs will soak up broth in the pot and the bowl.
Since the meatballs carry the show, I try to flavor them every which way: with herbs, with cheese, and with lots of garlic.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
One last note: If you use spinach for this, please try to get mature spinach, not baby spinach, which has become ubiquitous. Mature spinach retains more texture when cooked and doesn’t cross over into the damp, slimy, disintegrating wisps that baby spinach does. If baby spinach is all you can find, you’re better off using a heartier, more flavorful green like Swiss chard or escarole. After all, if you’re involved in a life event as big as marrying greens to meat, you may as well pick the ones that are ready for the job.
The Italian Wedding Soup I Make Any Night for Quick Comfort
Cook Mode
(Keep screen awake)
For the Meatballs:
1 pound (475 g) ground meat for meatballs (see notes)6 medium cloves garlic, finely minced
2 large eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (3 ounces; 85 g)
1/2 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 ounce; 28 g)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons (8 g) kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume or the same weight
Freshly ground black pepper
For the Soup:
3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium carrots (8 ounces; 225 g total), diced
2 large celery ribs (5 ounces; 140 g total), diced
4 medium cloves garlic, smashed
8 cups (2 L) homemade chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound (454 g) leafy greens, such as mature spinach, Swiss chard, and/or escarole, washed very well of all sand and grit, tough stems trimmed (if applicable), and cut into 1-inch strips
Kosher salt
1 pound (454 g) cooked small dried pasta (see notes), such as ditalini or shells
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving
For the Meatballs: In a large bowl, use a clean hand to thoroughly mix together the ground meat with the galic, eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley, Parmigiano-Reggiano, oregano, salt, and a generous grinding of black pepper until meat develops a slightly sticky texture. Set aside.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
For the Soup: In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add carrots, celery, and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables have softened but not browned, about 6 minutes.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add leafy greens and cook until wilted and tender. (This will depend on what kind of leafy green you use; spinach will cook very fast, chard and escarole will take longer.)
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Working quickly with clean hands, roll meatball mixture into 1-inch balls and drop into simmering soup. Cook until meatballs are all cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
When ready to serve, add about 1/2 cup cooked pasta to each serving bowl, then ladle soup, meatballs, and vegetables on top. Top with grated cheese and serve.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Special Equipment
Large soup pot or Dutch oven
Notes
An equal-parts mixture of ground beef and pork is perfect for meatballs. If you can get a meatball mixture that contains veal in addition to the beef and pork, feel free to use that.
Many small pasta shapes can work here. To prepare the pasta, boil it in salted water until al dente, then drain and lightly toss with oil to prevent the pasta from sticking. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to serve.
