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Italian Meatball Soup

This is a healthier version of soup using ground chicken and stuffing mix to make the meatballs. Meatballs are baked, instead of fried, before adding them to the soup. Celery, carrots, onions and garlic sauté and then seasonings and chicken stock are added in. Fresh spinach, orzo and the baked meatballs are cooked until the spinach wilts and the orzo is al dente.
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine American
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8 people

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • ½ cup savory herb or chicken stuffing mix crushed
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 lb ground chicken

Soup:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 celery ribs chopped
  • 2 medium carrots chopped
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 3 cans (15 oz each) Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 6 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 1 ½ tsp grated lemon peel
  • 5 oz fresh baby spinach about 6 cups
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, combine egg, stuffing and salt. Add chicken, mix lightly but thoroughly. Shape into 1 ¼ inch balls. Place in a greased 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan. Bake 14 – 17 minutes or until cooked through.
  2. Meanwhile in a 6 quart stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add celery, carrots and onions, cook and stir for 5 – 7 minutes or until the carrots are softened. Stir in Italian seasoning and garlic; cook 1 minute longer.
  3. Add beans, broth and lemon peel; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low. Stir in spinach and meatballs; cook just until the spinach is wilted. Stir in lemon juice.

Recipe Notes

Using only ½ cup stuffing mix left the chicken mixture very wet, so I added an additional ½ cup. To shape the meatballs I used 1 tbsp measuring spoon which made 28 total meatballs. I cooked the meatballs for 14 minutes, then cut them in half and cooked for 3 minutes longer. After finishing cooking the meatballs, I then cut the meatballs in half again making 112 pieces. The initial meatballs were too big; they puffed up when the stuffing mix cooked. Instead of beans I used orzo pasta, and increased the broth to 9 cups. Lemon peel and lemon juice was omitted.