Italian Wedding Soup with Chicken Meatballs
Flavourful chicken meatballs and lemon take classic Italian Wedding Soup up a notch
Servings 6
Ingredients
Chicken Meatballs
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Seasoned Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup Italianparsley (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for frying
Soup
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic cloves grated
- 300 gram frozen spinach thawed (or 1 bunch fresh spinach)
- 1/2 cup dry orzo pasta (or other small pasta)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- ½ Lemon juiced optional
Instructions
For the chicken meatballs:
- Combine all ingredients together well using your hands or a mixer using the paddle attachment. The meatballs should be about the size of a large gumball. Wetting your hands will make it easier to work with.
- Heat oil in a non stick frying pan
- Add meatballs in batches taking care to not over crowd your pan. Brown the meatballs for about 1 minute then turn them over. They don't have to be cooked through. Repeat with remaining balls adding more oil if needed. Set aside.
- *if you feel you have more meatballs then you need, you can cook them through and freeze them. Just add the frozen meatballs to your favourite soup or sauce.
For the soup:
- In a large pot add oil, onion, carrot, celery, garlic and chilli flakes. Sauté on medium heat for about 10 minutes until veggies are translucent. Stir frequently as you don't want them to burn
- Add chicken broth and bring to a boil then add the pasta and cook for about 8 minutes
- Add Chicken meatballs and spinach and simmer covered for 15 minutes
- Taste for salt and pepper and add lemon juice