Italian wedding soup is the soup of my childhood. I was an incredibly picky eater when I was a kid, except for when it came to Dad’s wedding soup. It’s nourishing with tons of veggies like kale, carrots, onions, and celery, but it’s also nourishing for the soul. This is the kind of soup you want when its cold outside or you have a cold yourself. It’s my “Italian penicillin” when I’m sick. My parents came to visit over New Years a few years back and both my husband and I had horrible sinus infections resulting in a hole in my ear drum. It was miserable. All I wanted to eat was this soup and sleep. Dad made sure to stock our fridge with a huge batch so we could eat on it for days. Mom also may have made orange jello, because truly I’m an infant when I’m sick and insist on all my childhood favorites.
I was promised a cold front in Charleston this week, so I figured it was the perfect time to bust out Italian wedding soup out for the season. It made enough to have leftovers for the nights I was working late at the office. Seriously, I love it when I can come home and either dinner is made or it’s super simple to put together. If you need help figuring out how to use a framework on weeknight meals, check out my free weeknight meal guide. I promise it’ll be super simple to whip together meals straight out of the pantry or fridge.
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 3 large eggs divided
- 1 lb. ground beef (88/12 or 90/10)
- 2 teaspoon olive oil divided
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 2 medium celery ribs diced
- 7-8 cups kale chopped
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup pastina or acini di pepe uncooked
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, milk, and 1 egg until fully incorporated. Add ground beef, mix until just combined.
- Roll meat mixture into small meatballs. Heat 1 tsp. oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Cook meatballs, turning occasionally for about 5 minutes. Meatballs may not be cooked through at this point, they will finish cooking in soup. Set meatballs aside on a paper towel to wick away excess oil.
- Heat 1 tsp. oil over medium high heat in a large stock or soup pot. Add in onion, carrots, celery, and season with salt/pepper. Saute vegetables for 6-8 minutes. Stir in kale and cook until kale is wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Add in chicken broth, meatballs, and pastina (or acini di peppi). Bring to boil, lower heat to simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes.
- While soup is simmering, whisk together 2 eggs and Parmesan cheese. Once soup is finished simmering, drizzle egg mixture into soup. Wait at least 30 seconds until egg begins to set, then stir to allow egg mixture to break up.
- Serve immediately and top with extra Parmesan if desired.
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