Italian Wedding Soup with Chicken Meatballs

Endings are always bittersweet. This post is my last one as a 2016 Chicken Farmers of Canada Brand Ambassador. On one hand, I can reflect back on the year and the fun I’ve had sharing delicious chicken recipes and other important info about the Chicken Farmers of Canada. I love sharing their great contests and helpful tips to help you in the kitchen with your chicken recipes. Still, I’m a bit sad to see it come to a close. I think my last recipe is fitting – comforting and tasty chicken soup. I need some comfort food to make me feel better!

Chicken Farmers of Canada is an excellent source for great recipes. I visit their site and their Shopping app often for inspiration. This Italian Wedding Soup with Chicken Meatballs was on their site and jumped out at me when I was searching for soup recipes to try. I’ve tried Italian Wedding Soup before at restaurants, but never made my own at home. That will change now that I’ve made this easy recipe. It was a hit with my family.

This recipe is perfect for feeding a crowd. It makes a lot of soup! That’s a good thing though. Because leftovers. It saved me from having to cook anything the next day because we had so much left. It was just as tasty heated up.

The only thing I changed was omitting the fresh parsley from the meatballs. I forgot to buy it when I was picking up the ingredients. My bad. It still turned out great though. The meatballs were perfect, in my opinion.

I wanted to quickly point out the type of pasta used in the recipe: Acini de Pepe. The name was completely foreign to me and I had no idea of what I was looking for in the pasta aisle. They are the tiny round circles. My small town grocery store carried it. If yours doesn’t have it, substitute another type of pasta like orzo or Ditali pasta.

What is your favourite recipe for chicken soup?

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Yield: 12

Italian Wedding Soup with Chicken Meatballs

Prep Time:10 minutes

Cook Time:45 minutes

Total Time:55 minutes

A bowl of comfort food! This easy soup is perfect to enjoy on a cold winter’s day.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground chicken
• 16 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups acini de pepe
• 2 slices whole wheat bread
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
• 6 cups baby spinach

Directions:

1. Cook acini de pepe until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Add chicken broth to a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to medium low.
3. Tear bread into tiny pieces by hand and add to a large bowl. Add in ground chicken, egg, garlic, onion powder, pepper and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Mix together with clean hands. Form 1 tbsp of the mixture into balls by hand.
4. Place meatballs in simmering broth, cover, and bring back to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through.
5. Stir in baby spinach and acini de pepe pasta. Cook until spinach is wilted and pasta is heated, about 3 to 5 minutes.
6. To serve, ladle into bowls and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Farmers of Canada

Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.