This Best Italian Wedding Soup is one of those Italian soup recipes you’ll want to have in your back pocket.  It’s an amazing soup that’s made with ground turkey meatballs and vegetables simmered in an amazing richly flavored broth.

pot of Italian meatball soup

Italian Wedding Soup is a timeless classic soup, and it’s one of my favorite Italian soup recipes to make during cold winter months.  It’s richly flavored and easy enough to make any night of the week.  Your whole family will love it!

pot of Italian soup with meatballs

WHAT IS ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

Italian Wedding Soup is also known as Minestra maritata (“married soup”), which really only means that green vegetables and meat go well together, not that this Italian style wedding soup is served at weddings.   

WEDDING SOUP RECIPE

For the ground turkey meatballs

  • Ground turkey
  • Italian sweet turkey sausage
  • Bread crumbs
  • Minced garlic
  • Flatleaf parsley
  • Parmesan (plus more for serving)
  • Whole milk
  • Egg 

For the soup broth

  • Olive oil
  • Yellow onion,
  • Carrots 
  • Celery
  • Chicken stock
  • Water
  • White wine (or sherry) (optional)
  • Fresh dill
  • Spinach (either fresh or frozen spinach)

HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

How to make turkey meatballs

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Mix ingredients for meatballs. Combine the ground turkey, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, milk, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix gently with a fork.
  3. Shape meatballs. Make small teaspoon sized meatballs and place onto the cookie sheet.
  4. Bake. Pop the meatballs in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

How to make chicken broth soup

  1. Saute onion, carrots and celery. While the meatballs are baking, heat the olive oil over low heat in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Saute until softened – approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Add wine (if using). Stir in the wine and let simmer until it reduces by almost half.
  3. Pour in broth. Pour in the chicken broth and water and bring to a boil.
  4. Add baked meatballs.  Add the meatballs to the soup and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
  5. Stir in spinach and dill. Add the fresh dill and the spinach and cook just until the spinach barely wilts.
  6. Enjoy. Ladle the soup into bowls and add parmesan cheese

pot of Italian soup with meatballs

This wedding soup recipe is another family favorite that I make all the time.  It was one of my dad’s favorites.  I remember way back in the day, when I was contemplating making this soup for the first time…I was very apprehensive about making it because it looked like it was a process, but this is one of those pretty straight forward Italian soup recipes comes together in just about 40 minutes.

bowl of Italian soup with meatballs

MORE ITALIAN SOUP RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE

This awesome Italian Chopped Salad goes great with any one of these Italian soups.

Published 2.2019 – updated 12.2020

Pot of Italian soup with meatballs
Yield: 6 servings

Best Italian Wedding Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

According to my family, this is the Best Italian Wedding Soup out there!  This is a gluten-free version, made with gluten-free bread crumbs and without the noodles.

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • ½ pound Italian sweet turkey sausage
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
  • 4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (plus more for serving)
  • 4 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 egg (lightly beaten)
  • Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Broth

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped yellow or sweet onion
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ cup white wine or sherry (optional)
  • 1 cup small pasta
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  • 3 cups fresh spinach, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Combine the ground turkey, sausage, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, milk, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix gently with a fork.
  3. Make small teaspoon sized meatballs and place onto the cookie sheet.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.
  5. While the meatballs are baking – heat the olive oil over low heat in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Saute until softened – approximately 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  6. Add the wine and let simmer until it reduces by almost half. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the meatballs and the pasta.
  7. Cook for approximately 5-7 minutes.
  8. Add the fresh dill and the spinach and cook just until the spinach barely wilts.
  9. Ladle the soup into bowls and add parmesan cheese

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 629Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 21gCholesterol: 167mgSodium: 1218mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 3gSugar: 9gProtein: 45g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations.