Italian Wedding Soup
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Simple ingredients, big comfort—this Italian wedding soup recipe is one you’ll want on repeat all season long.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
My kids love anything with meatballs, so this Italian wedding soup recipe is always a hit at our house. Made with a rich broth, greens, tiny pasta and mini meatballs, it’s a meal unto itself. The name comes from the Italian phrase minestra maritata, or “married soup,” a nod to the way the flavors combine, like a happy marriage.
The traditional recipe can be a bit of a project, but I save time by using store-bought broth fortified with wine and plenty of veggies. For the meatballs, my secret is adding ground Italian sausage to the beef mixture—it packs tons of flavor without the need for extra seasoning.
Rolling the mini meatballs is the most time-consuming part, but I usually recruit the kids to help. To save even more time down the road, you can double the meatball recipe and freeze half—you’ll be glad you did! Serve with warm garlic bread and a Caesar salad.
“Wonderful recipe! Tastes as great as it looks.”
What You’ll Need To Make Italian Wedding Soup
- Lean ground beef and Italian sausage: Form the base of the meatballs, adding tenderness, spice, and rich flavor.
- Egg and Italian seasoned bread crumbs: Bind the meatballs and give them a light, tender texture.
- Fresh chives, sage, and garlic: Lend subtle onion, earthy, and savory notes to the meatballs.
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Adds sharp, nutty flavor to both the meatballs and the finished soup.
- Olive oil: Used to sauté the vegetables and adds richness.
- Yellow onion, carrots, and celery: The classic aromatic trio for a flavorful soup base.
- Chicken and beef broths: Create a rich, hearty base (use regular, not low-sodium, for best flavor).
- Dry white wine: Adds a touch of acidity that brightens the broth.
- Bay leaf: Infuses the soup with a subtle, earthy aroma.
- Small pasta (like ditalini, orzo, or pearl couscous): Gives the soup heartiness and texture.
- Fresh spinach: Stirred in at the end for color and freshness; chard or escarole also work well.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Start the meatballs. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, chives, sage, and garlic with a fork — this helps evenly distribute the flavor before you add the meat and breadcrumbs.
Step 2: Mix in remaining meatball ingredients. Add the ground beef, sausage, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, and salt. Use your hands to gently mash and mix until everything’s evenly combined — don’t overwork it or the meatballs will be dense.
Step 3: Roll and bake. Shape the mixture into tablespoon-size balls and arrange them on a greased, oven-safe rack set over a baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside while you start the soup.
Step 4: Start the soup. Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened and just starting to turn golden, about 8 minutes.
Step 5: Add the liquid and seasoning. Pour in the chicken broth, beef broth, water, and wine, then add the bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot for extra flavor.
Step 6: Add the pasta. Stir in the ditalini and cook, uncovered, at a gentle boil until the pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Step 7: Finish the soup. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Reduce the heat to low, then add the meatballs and spinach. Simmer for a few minutes, just until the spinach wilts and the meatballs are heated through.
Video Tutorial
More Italian Recipes to Bring to Your Table
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ lb 85 or 90% lean ground beef
- ½ lb sweet or hot Italian sausage, removed from the casings
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ⅓ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 6 cups high-quality chicken broth, such as Swanson (do not use low-sodium)
- 2 cups high-quality beef broth, such as Swanson (do not use low-sodium)
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup dry white wine (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper (okay to use black pepper)
- 1 cup small pasta such as dittalini
- 4 oz fresh spinach, stems trimmed and roughly chopped (once prepped, you should have about 3 packed cups)
- Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving
Instructions
- Make the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set an oven-proof roasting rack over top. Spray the rack generously with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg with the chives, sage and garlic. Add the remaining meatball ingredients and mash with your hands until evenly combined. Roll the mixture into tablespoon-size balls, about 1 in (2.5 cm) in diameter (it will make approximately 50 meatballs), and place on the prepared rack. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked through. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, start the soup. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, beef broth, water, wine, bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, uncovered, at a gentle boil until the pasta is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes (or according to package directions). Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Reduce the heat to low and add the spinach and meatballs. Simmer for a few minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the meatballs are warmed through. Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Have you tried the soup without the wine? Just curious if it is a make it or break it with the soup.
Hi Lisa, It does add a lot of flavor but it will still be good without it. 🙂
Made this soup this past week and my 4 and 2 year old ate it all. Flavourful and perfect for this fall weather.
Hi Jenn! I love all your recipes! The recipe calls for 2 stalks of celery but I’m assuming 2 sticks of celery?
Yep – stalks and sticks are one and the same. 🙂 And glad you like the recipes!
Another Jenn winner!! Made exactly as suggested and soup was scrumptious. Soup was easy to make and flavor was sublime! Thanks so much for sharing yet another simple, tasty and family pleasing recipe!
I love Italian wedding soup!
Hi Jenn. Outstanding recipe! These meatballs are truly wonderful. Instead of baking them, I cooked them (in batches) in a pan as hubby prefers crispy. And, this is a great recipe for my family’s preferences: we prefer more veges rather than carbs so I added things I had in the fridge including snow peas, broccoli, zucchini and kale. Shhh…I had some frozen potstickers so I used those instead of pasta. It’s been a week since I made it and am being asked to make it again this weekend. THANK YOU for a great recipe!
I made this for work (it was my turn for soup Mondays). Everyone loved it! For my own personal taste, I may stick with a lower sodium broth as I thought it was just a tad too salty. Maybe because I added a parmesan rind to the broth while it was cooking (and removed it afterwards, of course).
Thank you for a great recipe! It will be one of my go-to favorites 🙂
Hi Jenn
WOWZER!!!! Another winning soup recipe. Absolutely loved it. The broth flavor was so rich and flavorful. Thanks for gifting us with another fabulous recipe.
On another note…I have a question for you. I want to buy a hand held immersion blender when I am making other soups that need this …such as your Chicken Tortilla Soup. I have been using my food processor but want the held device for simplicity.
Thanks!
Sara D
So glad you enjoyed it, Sara! I have a Cuisinart Smart Stick – it’s very inexpensive and works well enough, but some reviews criticize the safety lock feature. Cooks Illustrated recommends the Braun Multiquick 5 Handblender. 🙂
Very easy to make
I made this soup for my family and it was a huge hit! My sister begged me to send her home with some because she loved it so much. My boyfriend who doesn’t like vegetables even liked it. And I myself appreciated having an easy lunch to bring to work all week. From a cook’s perspective, it was an enjoyable meal to make. While at first making the mini meatballs was tedious, it soon became fun once I saw how cute they looks all lined up on a sheet ready to go in the oven.
I will mention the two adjustments I made: 1) I surprisingly preferred the soup with out the cheese on top, a strange revelation coming from a cheese lover and 2) I put in twice the recommended amount of noodles thinking the recommended amount wasn’t enough, and I was wrong haha. Should have listened to Jenn. It made too many noodles and soaked up a lot of the broth that would have otherwise yeilded more soup. Oops. Don’t do that.
Great recipe – I’ll certainly make it again.