Quick and Healthy Italian Wedding Soup Recipe with Chicken

This wedding soup recipe with chicken meatballs is light, healthy, and easy! Your whole family will love this version of Italian wedding soup. 

This wedding soup recipe uses basic ingredients and leaves plenty of room for easy substitutions depending on your preferences. The chicken meatballs help to lighten up this recipe and make it the perfect soup to enjoy all year round! 

If you are looking for the most delicious wedding soup recipe with chicken meatballs, this post is for you!

Origin of Italian Wedding Soup

Many people think that Italian wedding soup earned its token name because it was served at weddings. This is actually not true!

Wedding soup comes from the Italian phrase minestra mariata, or ‘married soup’. Why is the soup married? Minestra mariata refers to the perfect marriage of flavors that result from combining meat and leafy greens Meat and leafy greens are the two main components of wedding soup.

This traditional soup originated in the southern Italian region of Campania. However, wedding soup ingredients vary by region, town, and sometimes even by family!

Wedding Soup Recipe Substitutions

Meat and leafy greens are the main components of any wedding soup recipe. The great thing about this soup is that it is so easy to substitute ingredients. I love recipes that can be customized to your family’s preferences and make ensure its a win every time!

Leafy Greens

You have options here. The most traditional leafy green in any wedding soup recipe is escarole, and this happens to be my favorite. Escarole is the perfect happy medium. It is tender enough that it can be cooked quickly, but still has enough integrity to hold its shape. The flavor is pleasantly mild with a touch of bitterness that combines perfectly with those delicious mini meatballs!

You can also opt to use spinach. Spinach is perfect in any soup. It wilts down in two minutes and has a very mild flavor. You may want to consider spinach if you have particularly picky eaters at your table!

Another leafy green option to use in your wedding soup recipe is kale. Kale has really risen in popularity over the last handful of years. It has a more distinct, earthy flavor and definitely has the leafiest (is that a word?) texture. If you have little kids who are sensitive to textures, this may not be your guy. The earthiness of the kale may overpower the delicate balance of flavors and it will stay leafy even when cooked.

If you like the idea of using kale for its health benefits, consider trying tuscan kale (also known as dinosaur kale). It has a lovely, deep teal green color and its texture sits somewhere in-between traditional kale and escarole.

You can also you collard greens. While these leafy greens are not traditional in this soup recipe, I always advocate for adjusting ingredients to your family’s preferences. Collard greens maintain their shape well like kale, but are more mild and less bitter. So, if collard greens are your favorite, I say go for it!

Meat

As with any recipe, you can use whatever kind of ground meat that you like best, or that you happen to have in the freezer. No need to make an extra trip to the store, use what you have on hand! Pair it with your favorite leafy green and you have a perfect wedding soup in-the-making!

In this wedding soup recipe, I use ground chicken. I love pairing chicken with escarole or spinach. The chicken gives a lighter flavor and makes it a perfect soup option for all year round!

Note, if you are going to make a wedding soup recipe with chicken meatballs, make sure you buy regular ground chicken instead of ground chicken breast. This is an important distinction. Chicken is already more lean than beef. If you use ground chicken breast, the meatballs will be very dry and not have very much flavor. So, go for the regular old ground chicken here!

You can also use ground turkey. Ground turkey would go great with kale, spinach or even collard greens. It has a slightly more robust flavor that will stand out more in this soup.

Ground beef is the most traditional choice. I love using ground beef in the winter when I want a nice big bowl of comfort. Ground beef meatballs would be delicious with any leafy green, but especially with escarole. Make sure to buy grass-fed, it’s non-GMO!

Optional: shredded chicken. I always grew up eating wedding soup that had both ground beef mini meatballs and shredded chicken. The bone-in chicken breasts were simmered in water with aromatics to make the base chicken broth. The chicken was removed, allowed to cool and then shredded and added back to the soup. I don’t use that process for this particular recipe. However, it is a great option if you are cooking for a large crowd or want your soup to stretch further since the extra chicken will really bulk up the soup and make it more filling!

Pasta

The best pasta to use in any wedding soup recipe is Acini de Pepe. Any brand will do, but my favorite is this one by De Cecco.

If you can’t find Acini di Pepe at your local grocery store, you can use any small cut pasta that you like. Other varieties that work well in this soup are orzo, ditalini, or fideo.

If you want to use what you have on hand in your pantry, try breaking up spaghetti by hand into small little pieces. I have done this in a pinch. It works perfectly and the kids love it!

Pro Tips

Chill your meatball mixture.

This is especially important if you are going to use ground chicken or ground turkey, as the meatball moisture will be sticky. Combine all your meatball ingredients and then cover the mixture and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This way you can easily roll your meatballs with minimal sticking to your hands. You can also wet your hands to prevent the meat mixture from sticking.

Sometimes I even roll out my mini meatballs in the morning and stick them in the fridge until I’m ready to make the soup later on!

Making a summer soup?

Try using ground chicken for your meatballs and add a grating of lemon zest to brighten up the flavor. This really lightens up the soup for summer and is my go-to when someone catches a summer cold!

Make in bulk and freeze. 

One of the best kitchen tricks is cooking soups and sauces in bulk and freezing the leftovers. That way, when you have a busy weeknight and no dinner plan, all you have to do is defrost a container of wedding soup, boil up your small cut pasta, and you have a delicious, easy meal to serve your family!

Note that if you are going to freeze the leftover soup, do not boil your pasta in the soup. Make the pasta separately and add a little to each bowl as you serve. The pasta does not freeze well, and becomes too soggy when the soup is reheated from frozen.

Use Panko breadcrumbs in your meatballs.

These are much airier and less dense than regular breadcrumbs and they result in a lighter, fluffier meatball. Italian-style Panko works great here!

Chop your greens small.

If you have picky eaters who try their best to eat around the leafy greens, try chopping them up small. They will be harder to eat around and easier to sneak into bites!

Making for a baby?

This is the perfect first baby food. Its a complete meal and freezes perfectly in a silicone food freezer tray. It’s best to find one with a lid like this one to prevent spilling in the freezer. After the cubes have frozen, pop them out and store them in a food-grade silicone storage bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Make sure you skip the salt, as babies’ kidneys are not developed enough to handle added sodium.

Try using either the tiny star pastina or a corkscrew shape if you are trying the baby-led-weaning method.

Home made health spotlight: escarole.

A member of the endive family, escarole has many health benefits. It is rich in antioxidants that help to reverse cell damage and minimize inflammation. Escarole also contains high levels of fiber, folate and vitamin B5. Vitamin B5 plays a role in the breakdown of carbohydrates and fats for energy. Try incorporating escarole into your diet for some of these health benefits!

How to Make Wedding Soup Recipe with Chicken Meatballs

*Note, this is an overview. For complete recipe with ingredients, measurements and step-by-step instructions, continue to recipe at bottom of page.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

Ground chicken (or ground beef/turkey)

Italian-style breadcrumbs

Pecorino Romano cheese

Egg

Whole milk

Fresh parsley

Garlic

Salt & pepper

For the soup:

Extra virgin olive oil

Escarole (or spinach)

Onion

Carrots

Celery

Garlic

Chicken broth (homemade or low-sodium)

Reserved pasta water

Acini di pepe pasta (or any short-cut pasta)

Directions

For the meatballs:

These meatballs are actually perfect. They come together in just a few minutes and will be delicious with any ground meat you choose. Add all the meatball ingredients into a large glass bowl and combine with a fork. Start with a fork before switching to your hands so that you can gauge if they need more breadcrumbs or liquid. If the mixture feels a bit dry, add another splash of milk (or water). I love using milk because it tenderizes the chicken.

If you are making your meatballs in advance, I recommend rolling those babies out and placing them on a large glass plate. Cover them with plastic wrap or a beeswax wrap, pop them in the fridge and they are ready to drop into your soup later. Whew, the hard part is done!

If you want to make your soup right away and are short on time, try wetting your hands so that the mixture doesn’t stick to your hands. Set aside until you’re ready to drop those beauties into your wedding soup.

italian wedding soup recipe

For the soup:

Prep your veggies first! The perfect base for almost any soup is a mix of diced onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Chop them up and set them aside while you heat some good quality extra virgin olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot.

Sauté your onion, carrots and celery until they become soft and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic to the mixture and cook for a few more minutes.

Add in your chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Make sure its not a rolling boil! If it’s too hot, your meatballs will cook too quickly and no one likes a tough ball.

Put on a small pot of water to boil for your pasta. I never cook my pasta directly in the soup because I almost always have leftovers. I like keeping the pasta separate so that its not sitting in the leftover soup getting soggy and soaking up all the broth.

Meanwhile, clean and prep your escarole (or whatever leafy green you decide to use). I like to chop my greens before I wash them, since I don’t particularly love having to dry them off just to cut them. It’s much easier to cut them up first, rinse really well in a large colander, and then pop them right into the soup. Escarole is notorious for being very dirty, so make sure you rinse several times to make sure you got it squeaky clean.

Drop your meatballs and escaole into your soup and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the escarole is wilted down.

While the meatballs and escarole are cooking, boil your short-cut pasta in salted, boiling water. Remember your pasta water should be salty like the ocean! When the pasta has about 1 minute of cooking time remaining, use a large ladle and transfer a few ladle-fuls of that perfect pasta water to your soup (free flavor)!

Now its time for the magic. Add a small scoop of acini di pepe to your bowl, ladle in your delicious wedding soup, and top with fresh pecorino Romano cheese. I am getting hungry just thinking about this soup!

Now that you have the most delicious homemade wedding soup recipe with chicken, you need a perfect dessert. Check out my recipe for homemade birthday cake ice cream!

Wedding Soup Recipe with Chicken Meatballs

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

Meatballs

• 1 lb ground chicken (or any ground meat of your choice)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (Italian style Panko are best)
• 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Soup

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 8 oz escarole (or any leafy green of your choice)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated Pecorino Romano cheese (for garnish)
• 1 lb acini di pepe pasta (or any short-cut pasta you have)

Instructions

 

Meatballs

• Add all ingredients to a medium glass bowl.
• Using a fork, mix until just combined. If mixture is dry, add another splash of milk or water. If it's too sticky, add another 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.
• Finish combining meatball mixture by hand to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Roll into small balls, set on a glass plate and set aside.

Soup

• In a large dutch oven or soup pot, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the onion, carrots and celery to the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté until veggies begin to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté an additional 2 minutes until garlic is cooked.
• Meanwhile, put on a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Add enough kosher salt so that it tastes like the ocean.
• Add chicken broth to soup pot and heat to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, chop your escarole into small pieces and rinse thoroughly until clean.
• Once soup is simmering, add in prepared mini meatballs and escarole. Simmer on low-medium for 15-20 minutes until meatballs are cooked through and the escarole is wilted down.
• While the meatballs and escarole are simmering, cook your pasta to al dente in the salted boiling water. When there is about 1 minute of cooking time remaining for the pasta, transfer about 4 large ladlefuls of the cooking water to the soup. Drain pasta and return to pot.
• In each serving bowl, add a small amount of pasta and ladle soup over top. Top with fresh cracked black pepper and plenty of grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Enjoy!

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