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Italian Wedding Soup (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

A comforting soup that works great as a meal and tastes better when the noodles have absorbed the broth and softened.
Print Recipe
Course Main Course, One-Pot Meal, Soup
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • 1 Pot at least 3 quart capacity

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 1/2 lb ground pork can replace with ground turkey
  • 1/2 lb ground beef can replace with ground turkey
  • 3 tbsp almond flour
  • 2 tbsp dried parsley
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 egg

Soup

  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup orzo or other tiny pasta, such as stelline
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp salt to taste
  • 1/2 tsp tumeric optional, for color
  • 3 cups chopped spinach

Instructions
 

Make the Meatballs

  • Add all the meatball ingredients into a bowl and, using your hands, mix it all together until fully incorporated. Set aside.

Make the Soup

  • In a heavy bottom pot, heat olive oil on medium heat and add diced onions and sauté until softened.
  • Add the garlic and diced carrots and continue to sweat the vegetables, about 3-5 minutes.
  • Add the chicken broth and turn the heat to high to bring to a boil.
  • As the chicken broth starts to heat, wet your hands and start rolling small meatballs from the meat mixture, dropping them into the soup 1 at a time. As the broth heats, it will cook the meatballs and cause them to float to the top.
  • Once boiling, add the orzo, and stir frequently to prevent the noodles from sticking to the bottom as they cook. Cook for 10 minutes.
  • Add the nutritional yeast, salt, and tumeric. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Turn off heat.
  • You can serve immediately, but I recommend waiting 20 minutes for the noodles to expand and get softer. Some reason it tastes better this way in this soup.

Notes

This recipe is more of a lazy weekday method to making wedding soup. You get a tasty comforting soup, but I'm not optimizing for the best "gourmet" experience.
For best flavor, bake or pan sear the meatballs before adding to the soup. This step helps seal flavor into the meatballs and makes them more savory. 
Keyword bone broth, chicken soup, meal soup, noodle soup, soup