Italian wedding soup nourishes the belly and soul and is easy to make.
Made in just one pot, this Italian Wedding Soup recipe is filled with mini-meatballs, pasta, and veggies, in a delicous broth.
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You’ll Fall In Love With Italian Wedding Soup Because…
- Wholesome ingredients mean this is filled with goodness in every bite.
- It’s easy to make and needs just one pot.
- Prep this recipe up to two days ahead, and the flavors will continue to blend.
- Italian wedding soup is a cozy ‘marriage’ of flavors; everyone loves it.
What You’ll Need to Make Italian Wedding Soup
- Meatballs: I love the flavor of meatballs made with ground beef and pork, but if you have only ground beef (or ground turkey), you can use all beef.
- Broth: Boxed broth makes this easy. Low-sodium varieties work well, too.
- Vegetables: Celery, carrots, and onions add a savory flavor to the broth.
- Greens: Spinach is added to Italian wedding soup for a bit of freshness—it can be replaced with kale or escarole.
- Pasta: Use a smaller pasta shape like acini de pepe or ditalini for this recipe.
Variations & Ingredient Swaps
- Replace white wine with additional chicken broth if you like.
- Stretch this meal a bit further and add flavor by adding extra vegetables and 2 cups of broth.
- Save time by using frozen meatballs, adding them in Step 5.
- No tiny pasta? Small dice a few potatoes, or use white rice or a can of cannellini beans instead. Anything goes!
How to Make Italian Wedding Soup
- Make Meatballs: Mix meatball ingredients (recipe below) and shape into small meatballs. Brown them and transfer them to a plate.
- Cook Vegetables: Soften the veggies and add the seasonings.
- Simmer Pasta: Add the broth, pasta, and meatballs and simmer until the pasta is tender.
- Serve: Stir in spinach before serving. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
We love to serve wedding soup with crusty artisan bread, crescent rolls, or dinner rolls.
Storage & Freezing
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days. The pasta will absorb additional broth as the soup sits—add extra water or broth if needed.
Freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to four months. Thaw in the refrigerator, or reheat straight from the freezer in the microwave or on the stovetop. Add some fresh spinach to the reheated soup.
More Italian Soup Recipes
Did your family love this Italian Wedding Soup recipe? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 8 ounces lean ground beef
- 8 ounces lean ground pork
- ½ cup fresh bread crumbs see notes
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Soup
- 1 medium yellow onion minced
- 2 large carrots peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ cup dry white wine or additional chicken broth
- 9 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup acini di pepe or other small pasta suach as ditalini or orzo
- 5 ounces baby spinach fresh, chopped
- shredded Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add ground beef, ground pork, bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, egg, salt, oregano, and pepper to a large mixing bowl. Gently mix until fully combined. Shape into small meatballs, about 1 inch in diameter.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add about half of the meatballs and cook for about 3 minutes per side, turning so they can brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
- Reduce heat to medium and add onions, carrots, and celery to the Dutch oven, adding additional oil if needed. Cook for 6 minutes, or until softened. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Season with pepper and dill.
- Add wine and deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil.
- Add pasta and meatballs to the pot and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until pasta is tender and meatballs are cooked through. During the last minute of cooking, add spinach and let it wilt. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
- Serve hot, sprinkled with shredded Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
In Italy they don’t serve it at weddings
And it’s not called wedding soup
It’s called married soup
Thanks for sharing that info, Rose! We call it Italian Wedding Soup here, so that’s good to know!
Fantastic recipe! Thank you!
For crockpot:
Make as shown but cook pasta in a separate pot & drain.
Pour hot soup into crockpot ( slowly!) heat on medium/ high 1-2 hrs.
15 minutes before serving add cooked pasta & spinach,
top with chopped parsley
Thanks for sharing, Sandra!
I have made alot of Italian weddings soup. and have found a short cut. I just use seasoned sausage and just brown and crumble. It’s better than the meatball and saves lots of time! Love.
Thanks for sharing that tip, Jan!
How do I get a hard printed copy of your soup recipes. Love soups.
Hi Sue, you can use the print button at the top of each recipe card to print your favorites ❤️
Excellent! Definitely a keeper!
Y’all…run, don’t walk, to the store now and get the ingredients to make this soup! I don’t care if it’s not true Italian wedding soup, it will knock your socks off. Searing the meatballs is a must. This recipe develops layers of flavor starting with the meatballs. So simple and flavorful. Make it now!
Do i have to use fresh spinach. My granddaughter doesn’t like spinach. Can I substitute for something else. We love wedding soup.
Hi Eileen, I have only tried the recipe as written. You could try substituting for kale or you could omit it. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Absolutely delicious! Couldn’t believe the flavor in just a few ingredients. Perfect for a cold rainy day Enjoy!!
Right?! It is so delicious and so easy to make!
I love Italian Wedding Soup and so does my youngest , I searched thru several recipes till I came across yours. I loved all of it but decided to try 8 oz of ground veal, and 8 oz of ground turkey (dark meat) instead. It was soooo good I was asked to make it again LOL. Will add more broth next time there wasn’t enough to go around. Thank you for taking the guesswork out for me. I always thought it was more complicated than this. We are keeping this one in our recipe book to make it again.
I doubled your recipe, made about 7 quarts. Gone within 2-3 days. Everyone loved it especially granddaughters who thought it was the best they every had. They ate it at my house and each took a quart home, including their mothers. This is a keeper.
I am making this recipe for the 3rd time today. The 1st time I made it I made the meatballs as written and it was good. The 2nd time I used frozen meatballs cut in 1/2 and it was just as good and a whole lot easier. Today I will do the same and can’t wait to smell the wonderful aroma as it cooks in the slow cooker. (4-5 hours on LO). I add barley instead of the pasta the last 20 minutes and the spinach the last 10 minutes. One optional addition is adding 1 tsp. of sugar which just adds to the depth of flavor. My family LOVES it! Thanks Spendwithpennies!
Thank you for sharing your tips Susan, so glad you’ve loved the recipe!
I won’t rate your recipe because mine is so much different. Just some comments on the recipe and some memories. I’m 73 years old and although your history of the name says it has nothing to do with a real wedding, I wish to disagree. Growing up in a small town in western Pennsylvania in a small town consisting predominately of Italian immigrants , a couple got married at around 8AM at the local Catholic Church. After the ceremony they went to have pictures taken then they rested or napped. At around 1 PM there was a dinner held in the basement of the church with all the older Italian women making the meal – it was always the same. It consisted of (surprise, surprise) Wedding Soup, Green Salad, Baked chicken (Chicken cut up and seasoned with salt, pepper and italian herbs and drizzled with some Olive Oil – very tasty. There was also Pasta (usually Rigatoni or Mosticccoli served with homemade meatballs. I don’t remember dessert. The reception was usually held at a hall at around 7 PM where the kids ran around drinking bottles of “pop” (flavored soda) and eating cookies. There was a beautiful wedding cake but the real star of the goodies were the cookies. For weeks before the wedding the relatives and friends of the couple would make cookies. Probably 15 different varieties and a total of about 12 to 18 cookies were made for each person invited. They were wonderful. No Chocolate chips cookies and stuff like that – they were amazing. Just a little trip down memory lane! Hope you don’t mind. My wedding soup also includes shredded chicken and the meatballs are very tiny – I made some not long ago and I get about 200 of them from 1 # of meat – I use about 1/2 tsp. of the meat mixture per meatball. Never, never use large meatballs!
I do like your website and use some of your recipes regularly. Thanks for the recipes!
Thank you so much for sharing this memory Jane! So happy this soup brought back such a sweet one. The cookies though!! That sounds like such a fun and delicious tradition :)
Loved your story. I, too, grew up in a small town in Western Pa….Rural Valley( predominantly Italian) and our Catholic Church had to build a hall to handle all the weddings, funeral luncheons, etc. Baked chicken, roasted potatoes, polenta with browned butter and sage, salads, veggies and a huge pot of wedding soup. The dessert table was filled with all kinds of cakes, pies, cookies, layered desserts of all kind. Wonderful traditions!
Love the recipes!
Amanda, this soup was fabulous! Thank you sharing. Also recently made your beef barley and that to was amazing. These are now my favorites!
Never cook acini de pepe pasta in the soup. It creates too much starch. Cook separately, rinse and then add to soup. Much better taste that way.
Thanks for the suggestion Archman!
I’m can’t wait to try this!! I’ll post when I do.
Can’t wait to hear how it went Rita!
Make the Italian Wedding Drop soup. It is excellent and I will make it again.
Thanks Carol. So glad to hear that!
Love your recipes. I have a strange question. Most recipes use either all ground beef or a combination of ground beef and ground pork for the meatballs. Yet your soup broth is chicken broth, not beef broth? Why?
That’s a great question Shirley! Traditional Italian Wedding Soup uses a clear chicken broth, and we kept to the tradition.
I want to see videos of recipes not print
The print button is located just above the ingredients list.
I want your cookbook if available. I love love your recipes.
Thank you so very much Jill! I don’t have a cookbook at this time but hopefully someday soon!
I’m so excited to announce that my cookbook Everday Comfort is available for purchase! Thank you so much for your support ♥️