Italian Wedding Soup

I bake the meatballs at 350 for 15 minutes. I use escarole instead of spinach. And I cook the pasta separately and add to each bowl while serving; this way the pasta doesn’t get mushy in the leftovers.

There's hardly any way this soup can be prepared in the 15 minutes the recipe indicates. It includes forming 80 small meatballs! And there's onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to peel/chop too. It is a great soup though.

To streamline the meatball making, I make a square or rectangle out of the entire meatball mixture about 1" thick. Then cut into 1" squares. To brown I broil watching carefully. My family isn't fussed if the meatball shape isn't round :)

To make it Diabetic friendly I substitute rinsed canned white Cannelloni beans instead of pasta. Yes, carbs present but much less and a good amount of fiber.

So I don't do 80 meatballs.. I do 30. But I have a round scoop with handle releaser (like ice cream) and I scoop them and lightly press. Then I roast them 15m in 375 oven. Then put in soup. Also before that, to make this much faster, I put all the meatball ingredients into bowl, and use a potato masher. Makes very fast work of mixing and is very even. Then scoop and shape. Roast on parchment for quick cleanup.

My Italian grandmother always made her version of this soup for the winter holidays. She used her tried and true meatball receipe and our job as children was to roll tiny tiny meatballs, which were much smaller than this. She used escarole instead of spinach and did not serve the aromatics used to flavor her homade chicken broth. Finally she beast an appropriate amount of eggs and stirred them into the simmering soup right before serving. It was delicious and I remember her each time I make

Been making this for yrs each winter - few suggestions: 1 lb ground lamb instead Mix Breadcrumbs w/ 2-3 T of milk Finely chop ½c mixed herbs: italian flat parsley & 2T chopped rosemary, OR ½ & ½ mint & parsley OR marjoram, parsley & savory OR tarragon Sea Salt ⅓ L sweet onion fine chop 5-10 garlic confit cloves & T garlic olive oil Soup: 2/3 L sweet onion fine chop Scuccuzzu pasta (italianharvest.com) Swiss chard Shape meatballs w/ sm round scoop & lightly press. Roast 15min first.

This soup is Wonderful!! I added a Parmesan rind to broth

We’ve made this soup for generations for the holidays. Meatballs can be boiled in a separate pot and then added to the soup (so there’s less grease). Use escarole instead of spinach. Note - sometimes escarole is hard to find. When I find it, I wash it (very well) and freeze it in plastic bags until I’m making soup. I’ll even boil the pasta separately and then add to the soup later so it’s less starchy depending on the pasta.

We use escarole instead of spinach .

Delicious! My family and I simply adored the tiny meatballs. To respond to other commenters, you may bake the meatballs to brown them prior to simmering them in the broth. However, you are missing out on the delicious fond (i.e., tasty browned bits) that will form at the bottom of the pot upon frying and give your sauteed veggies that extra savory oomph. I also highly recommend making your own chicken broth (I follow instructions by NYT's very own Melissa Clark). Wonderful cozy soup for Autumn!

Has anyone tried baking the meatballs instead of frying them?

I buy pre-made meatballs at my local Italian store. That is the biggest part of the prep. I boil chicken thighs to form the base and put chicken in. To me it needs both meatballs and chicken. I add escarole not spinach. I use pastina (not always easy to find) but acini di pepe is the second choice. Ditalini or orzo would be too thick. I like to put some beat up egg in at the end and pecorino romano cheese, not parmesean.

Escarole. Has to be escarole.

Yes.. works really well. See my complete notes.