7 years ago

Italian Wedding Soup with Chicken Meatballs

A comforting soup with delicious homemade chicken meatballs.

8 servings
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes, less if using frozen meatballs

Ingredients
For the meatballs:
1 pound ground chicken
⅔ cup fresh white bread crumbs
2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
¼ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
3 tablespoons milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup diced carrots (about 3 carrots), cut into ¼-inch pieces
10 cups chicken stock
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta such as orzo
¼ cup minced fresh dill
12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 350 F.
  2. For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 ¼-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. You should have about 40 meatballs. They don’t have to be perfectly round. Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
  3. In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
  4. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. 
  5. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. 
  6. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
  7. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. 
  8. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

Tip: Use pre-cooked frozen chicken meatballs for faster prep time.

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa