I have a secret to tell you. Come here. Sit right here. I’m gonna whisper it into your ear drums. Ready?
I didn’t make these meatballs.
WHAT? YOU DI—WAIT A MINUTE, NOW.
Don’t be hatin’! I know this is a food blog and all and I COULD have made the meatballs. I HAVE made the meatballs a kajillion times before and I loved every single second of it. Swear it. BUT, today the shortcut seraphim drizzled its sweet nectar upon my brittle soul and I had Italian wedding soup on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Plus I had gifts to wrap and Laverne and Shirley shenanigans to focus on. THOSE GIRLS.
Who did make the meatballs? Al Fresco! Did you know they even had meatballs? I didn’t either until I received a pretty pimp care package from them a while back with quite the array of goodies to try. And let me tell you, the meatballs looked so good right in the package I wanted to tear it open with my teeth and gnaw on them straight up cold.
But then I remembered I’m not a grizzly bear.
You guys, look at me. Listen.
Al Fresco meatballs = totally awesome time saver = dang tasty meatballs actually = you can make Italian wedding soup on a weeknight and receive instant echos of praise from your family’s faceholes = fist bumps all around.
Now, I think I’ll go sew a large B on all my shirts.
*This is not a sponsored post. I was not compensated for this, other than the free products. All opinions expressed are my own, dudes.*
Weeknight Italian Wedding Soup:
What it took for 4:
* 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 1 (12 oz) package Al Fresco tomato and basil chicken meatballs
* 1 small onion, diced
* 3 carrots, thinly sliced
* 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 pinch crushed red or green pepper
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 5 cups chicken stock
* 1 cup orzo
* 10 oz baby spinach
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat 1 Tbs. oil in a small skillet and brown the chicken sausages on all sides, until heated through, 5 minutes total. Remove from heat.
In a deep pot, heat the remaining 2 Tbs. oil over medium-high. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Add the crushed pepper along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute until the veggies start to soften, 6 minutes.
Add the wine and stock. Bring to a light boil.
Add the pasta and cook until al dente, 6 minutes.
Add the chicken sausages and spinach. Simmer for about 5 more minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Ladle into bowls and serve with crusty bread. I dumped a lot of freshly grated parmesan cheese on mine and it turned my life upside down.
SLURRRRRRP.
Meatballs!? I had no idea! Looks amaze-balls Bev… sorry had to.
Dang that looks good!
italian wedding soup is my numero uno favorite soup which means that you, by posting this, are my numero uno favorite blogger of the day. i made it for the first time (rather than getting it from the local cafe) last month + loved it. it’s actually pretty similar to your recipe, except i made it with mini meatballs, because as we know, everything becomes cuter when it’s miniaturized. =)
love that orzo shot. i used to work at an italian restaurant and we used to call this “italian marriage soup” haha, we’re silly. anyway, this is ballin’ ..har har
i had to…
Looks delicious! Nothing wrong with short cuts
Mmmm! I love soup!
Cheater meatballs… I love it! Awesome idea!
mmmm, meatballs. ya know, i had a flashback to my childhood when you said, “look at me. listen.” i was always a good girl and ate my meatballs though, so no worries.
I am ALL about shortcuts. Just call me Sandra Lee. Or not. This looks delicious!
YES, PLEASE!
This looks delish and your pics make me want to dive into that bowl. They continue to get prettier and prettier and im convinced you must start shooting your ‘dinner’ pics at about noon in order to get them this light and bright and airy looking!
I need to get over my prejudice of Italian wedding soup. This looks so appetizing!
Will you marry me? Or at least my husband? We could be fabsie sister wives forever. The end.
This looks so good. I made your REAL meatballs this week, you know, the turkey ones. They were sooo tasty! If there were any left over, I’d put ‘em in this soup, but let’s be honest here, I ate ‘em all up like there was no tomorrow. xo.
This will be great for either Christmas Eve meal or NY day one…or BOTH! Now, where do I find Al Fresco locally?
Cindy, you can find it at Hyvee or Hen House!
Thanks, Bev!
I do believe this made my day!
This looks so great. I love weeknight soups…totally wish I had some leftover of this for lunch today!
I have been on soup diet for a few weeks now. First the husband wasn’t feeling well, then I went downhill too. But this soup. Oh so drool-worthy. I am sure my sinuses would thank you
Beautiful soup! Perfect for a chilly day!
I like shortcuts. I like this recipe. I like you.
Love Italian wedding soup, meatballs are so fun in soup aren’t they!?
i clearly need to get on board this italian wedding soup train. and since i like shortcuts, i will probably like this soup.
beautiful pictures, girl!
Holy balls! Hehehe…I just wanted to say that. PS- get Al Fresco to send me some meatballs too! Yumola.
OMG, this is my favorite. get.in.my.mouth. sorry, had to do it!
what kind of wine is good to use in your recipe?
Julie, I used a dry chardonnay that I was drinking and it was great! Anything dry, like a sauv blanc or chardonnay and you’re good to go!
thanks a bunch!!
Yay! I was looking for a good soup with meatballs in it. This look delicious!
OK, everyone else seems to be in the know, while I stare at the screen pensively with scrunched up eyebrows. Why is it called Italian “wedding” soup? Is it typically served at weddings in Italy? I hang my head in shame at my lack of knowledge…
So glad you asked because I had no idea! Just wiki’d it and here. we. go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_soup
Ah, the green veggies and meat “marry” well together. Thanks! (And thank you for being down to earth and dignifying my question…it seemed like such a “duh” question!)
Oh gosh, no problem! I’m glad you asked because I had been wondering too and was too lazy to google it. That’s pretty sad, isn’t it?
I’m always up for a shortcut…nothin wrong with that! This looks mighty tasty.
I love the turkey meatballs from Trader Joe’s. I always have some around, and I can not tell you how many different ways they have been flavored. They have yet to make it into soup, but that is about to change.
Get.In.My.Belly! haha, that’s my best impression of a Bev comment! This soup looks awesome!
I’m totally ok with the premade meatballs. In fact, I usually have a bag of IKEA meatballs in my freezer for a quick dinner (or just because I love them!) This soup looks amazing!!
Just found your blog. I love that the meatballs are store-bought. That means I can actually accomplish this with three children training for pro-wrestling. You rock, Bev. xoxo
Our local Wegmans has Al Fresco products, but not the meatballs. So, I’ll make my own. Great pictures and I love the way you write!
I loved your shots so much that last night I
I loved your shots so much that last night I decided to go for it and make my own wedding soup!
Loved it, and making the meatballs was easy too – two skinless free range chicken breasts, the rind of one unwaxed lemon, a large handful of basil, a clove of smoked garlic, half a white onion and lots of salt and pepper – blitzed until smooth in the food processor and formed into little meatballs before frying then poaching.
Bliss! Thank you so much for putting this post up as I’ve discovered yet another delicious soup to love.
Here’s a pic of mine if you fancy a look http://instagr.am/p/ZTxWg/
http://secretdiaryofafoodie.blogspot.com/
Mrs P x
Fabulous! Oh, it looks so so good. And I’ll have to try your meatball recipe. Thanks for letting me know!
This looks absolutely amazing! I’m putting the ingredients at the top of my next shopping list…it’s getting cold here. Thanks!
this soup is right up my alley!
Hello Bev,
This recipe looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing it. I love finding easy weeknight meals like this.
I actually am the editor of RecipeLion.com and my readers are always looking for easy weeknight dishes. Would you be interested in letting us add your recipe to the site (with credit to you of course)?
I know they’d love this! Let me know if you’re interested or have any questions.
Thanks for the great posts!
Sarah @ RecipeLion
JUST HAPPENED UPON YOUR BLOG AND SO GLAD I DID! i love all of your recipes and gorgeous photos!
I had never heard of Italian Wedding Soup until we moved to Upstate NY, and it quickly became my favorite! We tried your version last night, and I am in LOVE!
So yummy, hearty and good for you, too! I didn’t have any white wine on hand, so I just used the chicken broth and it still turned out yummy! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe 
Thank you for the recipe inspiration! I made my own variation of this soup and totally loved how quick it was. My husband and I loved it, but we also love the Progresso Italian Wedding Soup in a can.
I blogged about my experiences making this recipe.
http://bloginspiredcooking.blogspot.com/2013/02/italian-wedding-soup.html
I too used pre-made meatballs and found that mine puffed up after adding them to the broth. Weird!