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With the cold weather being here, it’s soup season! This is a delicious and flavorful soup that will be a hit in the coldest months of the year, or even any time of the year! It’s “Italian Wedding Soup”, but not because it’s a hit at weddings, rather it’s because of the marriage of Italian flavors that come together to make this warm, flavorful and delightful soup!
INGREDIENTS:
- 30-40 meatballs, frozen
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 T minced garlic cloves
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 14 oz. can beef broth
- 1 cup pearl couscous or small pasta
- 5 oz. baby spinach
- 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
- Bake your frozen meatballs following the directions on the package. (You can also make homemade meatballs if you so desire). Italian meatballs tend to be the best, but use what you have.
- For the soup: In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and celery, and cook until the vegetables start to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Gradually stir in the salt, pepper, chicken broth, and beef broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, and add the couscous. Cover and cook 8 minutes or until the couscous is just tender.
- Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, 1 minute. Stir in the meatballs and cook until the meatballs are warmed throughout, 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
- Serve the soup in bowls, and top with additional parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, and black pepper.
Tips/Tricks/Hints:
- Life is busy, so frozen meatballs do just the trick. Choose Italian for the most original flavor, but use whatever you have/can. If you want to make homemade meatballs, you can use any of my meatball recipes here. Just make sure you make small meatballs so they can fit on a spoon. Italian Meatballs (our favorite!) | Swedish Meatballs (great dairy free option!) | Chicago Style Meatballs (another classic, just make them small instead of huge!)
- If you can’t find pearl couscous, you can use a small noodle like elbow macaroni or something else that is small and can be bite size for soup.
- Using a vegetable chopper makes the work easier and gives you uniform size in your chopped carrots, celery and onion. Here’s one vegetable chopper that has different size features that you can use for other things, too. You can even use it as a mandolin slicer.
- Did you know you can squeeze lemon juice out of a lemon very easily! Roll your lemon with some pressure on the counter, then stick a toothpick in the end with the point opposite where the lemon was attached to the tree on the stem. Then, you’ll be able to squeeze lemon juice out of the lemon! Stick the toothpick back in and it’ll last a few days! Easy way to use fresh lemons for more flavor!