Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup

When I worked in the East Coast, this was my favorite soup for lunch. I haven’t seen it in the Pacific Northwest nor in Ireland. For what I know it is classified as American Italian food. So when I miss the good old America, I make this soup.

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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb ground chicken
  • 1/2 cup pastina, such as fregola sarda or acini di pepe or any type of small pasta
  • 1/2 cup baby spinach, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1 bunch parsley leaves, chopped
  • 1/3 plain breadcrumbs
  • 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 3 cups of water or chicken broth
  • salt and peper to taste
  • 2 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions:

  1. In a bowl, add ground chicken, breadcrumbs, 1/4 of the onion, 1/2 of the garlic, 1/2 of the parmesan cheese and 1/2 of the parsley.
  2. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
  3. User your hand to form a ball with the diameter of approximately one US quarter.
  4. In a pot, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium until hot.
  5. Add carrot, celery, remaining onion and garlic.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Cook, stirring for about 3-4 minutes, until tender and aromatic
  8. Add water and pastina.
  9. Season with salt and pepper and let it boil.
  10. Add the meatballs and reduce the heat to medium-high.
  11. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until th meatballs are cooked.
  12. Stir in chopped spinach, reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer.
  13. Once the leaves are completely wilted,  remove from heat.
  14. Ladle the soup into bowls.
  15. Sprinkle parsley and parmesan cheese on top. Serve hot.

7 thoughts on “Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup”

  2. I’m smiling, because my mother was born and raised in Italy and never made this soup. She is from the North, I wonder if this is more of a Southern soup, i.e. Sicily. It looks delicious and very easy to make. My mother seems to make this white bean soup A LOT! 🙂

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      3. There are other similar recipes, they add wine… my mother has never cooked with wine. The recipe I sent you is basic, like she does it. She said sometimes she puts a ham hock in the beginning to give flavor; otherwise, use bacon.

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