Easy Meatball Soup is filled with mini meatballs, veggies, and ditalini in a rich tomato broth. Secretly healthy and absolutely delicious! This Italian soup recipe is easy to make on the stovetop, or in a crockpot or Instant Pot! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox.
If you’re looking for a unique soup recipe that’s full of flavor – this Italian meatball soup recipe is for you! It’s a richer, more flavorful version of classic Italian Wedding Soup thanks to the rich tomato broth!
Unlike other recipes that use processed ingredients and/or frozen meatballs, ours includes homemade mini meatballs that are made from scratch.
This soup recipe proves that a quick and delicious dinner can also be a nutritious one.
Why you’ll love this soup recipe
- Easy to make. With simple steps and mostly pantry ingredients, it’s a breeze to put together, making it the ideal go-to recipe when you’re craving a wholesome meal without the fuss!
- Three cooking options. When you’re not in a rush, cook your meal in a dutch oven on a stovetop, or let it slow cook in your crockpot. But, if you’re short on time, make the tiny meatballs and ditalini pasta soup in an Instant Pot.
- Hearty and nourishing. Loaded with an abundance of vegetables, this Italian soup is a nutritional powerhouse. There are plenty of carrots, tomatoes, and spinach, making it the perfect veggie loaded meal that doesn’t compromise on flavor or nutrition!
Ingredients for Italian Meatball Soup
For the meatballs you’ll need:
- ground beef – you could also use ground turkey or chicken
- egg – this binds the meatballs together
- breadcrumbs – these also act as a binder. You can use gluten free breadcrumbs if necessary
- parmesan cheese – use a good quality parmesan cheese!
- onion, garlic
- spices
For the soup you’ll need:
- olive oil
- onion, garlic, celery, carrots
- spices
- parmesan cheese rind – have you tried adding this to your soups? It adds SO much flavor. You remove it at the end like a bay leaf!
- chicken broth – beef broth or veggie broth also works. I always use low sodium broth!
- crushed tomatoes – if you have leftover tomato sauce that will also work too!
- spinach
- ditalini -We love this tiny pasta shape because it cooks quickly and doesn’t absorb too much of the soup broth.
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Ground Beef: We like 80/20 ground beef. Feel free to use leaner ground beef depending on what you like. I haven’t tried making this with ground turkey or ground chicken but I think it would work.
Broth: Broth and stock are the same thing! You can use any broth or stock interchangeably. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Pasta: I tested this recipe with orzo and thought it was delicious! You could also use noodles, broken up spaghetti, alphabets – any small pasta! I haven’t tried it with gluten free pasta, but I think it would work. I would cook gluten free pasta separately and add it to a bowl when serving rather than cooking it in the soup to prevent it from getting mushy.
Other vegetables: You can add cauliflower rice to this soup if you’d like. Feel free to add more carrots, celery, spinach, or onion.
Spices: This recipe is delicious as is, but if you want to use fresh herbs it’s even better! Try adding a tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley or basil.
Beans: This soup is delicious with beans added to it! We like cannellini beans or great northern beans. Alternatively, you could also add mini meatballs to our Pasta Fagioli.
Choosing the Healthiest Ground Beef for Meatballs
We love using ButcherBox ground beef whenever we’re making meatballs or really any recipe with ground beef! (like this Taco Pasta and Hamburger Casserole)
We’ve been ButcherBox customers for many years and love how convenient it is. They have an awesome promo going on right now where you can choose your own free protein for a year!
This is one of the best promos I’ve seen from ButcherBox in years and it’s only going on until the end of the month!
How to Make Meatball Soup
- Mix meatball ingredients until combined. Drop 1/2″ round meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot and saute onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots for an additional 3 minutes.
- Add ingredients (except chopped spinach and pasta) to the pot! Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the directions on the package call for.
- Once the pasta is cooked, remove the bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind. Stir in chopped spinach until wilted and serve!
Liz’s tips for the best soup
- Use a food processor to chop your veggies! A food processor can save you so much time
- Don’t worry about the shape of the meat balls. It can be tough to make tiny little balls with your hands, so don’t worry if they’re not perfect. Once they bake and cook in the soup you won’t even notice because they’ll be so tender.
- Save time by chopping and prepping ahead. We like to make the mini meatballs the day before we plan to make the recipe, and you can even chop the veggies ahead if you want to!
Serving Suggestions
- Veggies, like Green Beans Almondine, Lemon Asparagus, or Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan
- A simple side salad, like our Italian Chopped Salad or our Healthy Caesar Salad
- Bread or rolls – We love this sourdough bread!
Don’t forget – right now when you try ButcherBox you can get free ground beef and $10 off!
Meatball Soup FAQ
The key to preventing soggy meatballs is to not under or overcook them. The proper ratio of cheese, breadcrumbs, and eggs will also help you not have soggy meatballs.
Storing & Reheating
Storing: This soup will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing! If you can, we recommend freezing without the pasta, but if you can’t do that, the pasta might just be a little soft when you thaw it.
If you need more freezer friendly recipes check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook with 22 easy freezer meals!
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Ideas. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Easy Meatball Soup
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- ½ cup minced onion
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
For the soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion diced finely
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 4 cloves
- ¾ cup celery diced
- 2 cups carrots cut in half circles
- 1 teaspoon dried basil parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional – I recommend skipping and adding to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 parmesan cheese rind optional
- 8 cups chicken broth low/no salt
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups spinach chopped
- 3/4 cup ditalini uncooked
Instructions
Stove Top Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- In a bowl mix together all ingredients for meatballs until combined.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop 1/2 inch round meatballs. They can be fairly close together as they do not spread. You can make the meatballs slightly bigger, but I prefer them smaller!
- Bake meatballs for 10 minutes, until golden brown.
- While meatballs are cooking, in a large pot, heat olive oil. Add onions and garlic,saute for 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots to the pot. Sauté for an additional 3 minutes until onions start to soften.
- Add cooked meatballs, spices, tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind to the pot. Do NOT add the chopped spinach or pasta to the pot! Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
- 10 minutes before serving, turn the heat back to high. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the directions on the package call for (the pasta will continue to cook so it’s best to undercook it!)
- Note: To avoid soggy pasta you can cook it in a separate pot and
- Once pasta is cooked, remove bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind.
- Stir in chopped spinach until wilted.
Crockpot Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- In a bowl mix together all ingredients for meatballs until combined.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop 1/2 inch round meatballs. They can be fairly close together as they do not spread. You can make the meatballs slightly bigger, but I prefer them smaller!
- Bake meatballs for 10 minutes, until golden brown.
- While meatballs are cooking, in a large pot, heat olive oil. Add onions and garlic,saute for 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots to the pot. Sauté for an additional 3 minutes until onions start to soften. (Note: You don’t have to saute the veggies but we highly recommend it!
- Once cooked, add to the crockpot base.
- Add cooked meatballs, spices, tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind to the pot. Do NOT add the chopped spinach or pasta to the pot! Cook the soup on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
- Before serving, cook pasta (you can slightly undercook it so it doesnt get soggy. Once soup is cooked, stir in chopped spinach + serve over cooked pasta.
Instant Pot Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- In a bowl mix together all ingredients for meatballs until combined.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop 1/2 inch round meatballs. They can be fairly close together as they do not spread. You can make the meatballs slightly bigger, but I prefer them smaller!
- Bake meatballs for 10 minutes, until golden brown.
- While the meatballs are cooking, set your instant pot to sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add onions and garlic, saute for 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots to the pot. Sauté for an additional 3 minutes until onions start to soften.
- Add cooked meatballs, spices, tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and parmesan cheese rind to the pot. Do NOT add the chopped spinach or pasta to the pot!
- Set the instant pot to sealing and Pressure cook for 7 minutes. Allow the soup to natural release for 5 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
- While the soup is cooking, cook pasta per directions on the package on the stove. (You can also set the pot to saute, bring the soup to a boil and cook the pasta right in the pot but you may need to add more chicken broth.
- Once soup is cooked, stir in chopped spinach + cooked pasta.
Brigitte says
The flavors in this soup are incredible! We cheated and used frozen meatballs because we already had them, but I’m sure there homemade ones make it taste even better! Cooked it in the crockpot and it turned out perfectly! Will definitely make again!
Mer says
Great soup!
I used half a small can of tomato paste instead of crushed tomatoes, and the broth was great.
I don’t eat wheat, so I skipped the breadcrumbs and the meatballs were perfectly fine without it.
They were a little labor-intensive, but so worth it.
I added potatoes instead of pasta, which I thought would be maybe be a little weird, but it was fine.
I also substituted kale for the spinach.
Shawna Bartimoccia says
Delicious and the meatballs were so aromatic!
Larissa says
This is the best soup recipe ever!
Love + Be Well says
Excellent easy, cozy, rich recipe that your whole fam will love! I added crushed fennel seeds and a can of white beans to the broth, however the recipe is super as is😊
Reva says
This soup was absolutely amazing! The mini meatballs are totally worth the extra work! Great flavor, lots of veggies, and perfect amount of spice! Top contender for favorite soup recipe!
Kim Kauffman says
This was awesome! I have to do low sodium for my husband so I used no salt tomatoes and herb ox salt free bouillon for the broth. I added a little salt and it came out to about 240 mg sodium which is wonderful!
Tina sonders says
This soup is so good!! The meatballs had great flavor and held their shape perfectly. Nothing was mushy. I used the stovetop instructions and didn’t change a thing. I did make extra servings but the calculations worked well. My two teenage boys ate two bowls each!!
Julie says
I made the soup and really liked the meatball addition. I must have done something wrong as it tasted rather bland even with all the wonderful vegetables in it. Maybe I needed more spices or garlic or onion. Maybe I am just not used to eating such healthy Food! I do like all the ingredients but would like some advice as to what to add to get more taste. Also, we are not spicy people so maybe that was my mistake by it adding them. Any advice?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi! thanks for your feedback! No one else has commented that it was bland and we’ve made it quite a few times so I’m not sure what went wrong! You could try doubling the spices if you’d like. This isn’t a spicy soup, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to there!
Danielle says
Perfect comfort food for a snowy New England day!!
Kendra says
5/5. This was a winner with everyone. Even my picky 11 year old! Served with a loaf of sourdough and it hit the spot on this cold winter day.
Danielle Sherman says
This recipe was the perfect New England snowy day soup. Warm and hearty, a new family favorite!!
Tiffany says
I’m always looking for great soups to add to the dinner rotation during colder months. This one is definitely a hit! The work that goes into the meatballs is worth it. My 4 year old, who proclaimed he “hates soup,” ate several servings.
Kelly Greene says
The soup is so good! My husband is currently eating his second bowl for dinner. The meatballs are so tender and yummy. Love all the veggies. Great flavor and very comforting!
Ro says
I made this and it was good. The broth has a wonderful flavor as did the whole soup. I made mine in the instant pot for a quick and deliciously fast version.
Wendy Jaffe says
Can this recipe be made without the crushed tomatoes? Will taste be ruined?
The Clean Eating Couple says
It won’t ruin the taste but it definitely wont be as good!
Elizabeth says
Omg so amazing!! Next time I make this I need to follow the advice to make the meatballs VERY small as I think it will take it over the top! We will definitely be making this again!
Jennifer Mueller says
Did you make this on the stove ? Debating how to cook it and what’s best 🙂 thanks
The Clean Eating Couple says
We tested it on the stovetop, instant pot and the crockpot. They’re all good, but I like the stovetop especially if you’re going to cook the pasta right in the soup.
Jennifer says
Thanks ! It turned out amazing! Making it again today 😊🙏🏻