Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs and Shredded Chicken

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Italian wedding soup’s popularity in my hometown of Pittsburgh is incredible, and I have been a happy witness to its glory for decades.

Pittsburgh has a strong Italian American dynamic – and as a member of that cultural demographic, I personally understand that we not only know how to make a good bowl of Italian wedding soup, we love to eat it whenever we can!

We’ve daintily slurped its broth as a classic starter selection at countless weddings, fought with family members at Christmas and Easter feasts over who gets to munch on the last few mini meatballs, and have ordered it countless of times at many chianti-filled Italian restaurants.

Peek in the freezers of some households, and you may just see a pint container or two of prepped soup, ready to be defrosted for a delicious dinner.

Just start to whisper you’re craving a hot bowl while you’re in front of a group of gabbing ladies gathered outside a noon church service, and there will surely be a heated argument as to what local bar, restaurant, or catering venue makes the best batch.

Its caliber as a Pittsburgh classic is so high that a recipe for “Pittsburgh Wedding Soup” is featured in “Big Flavors from Italian America,” a cookbook published by Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen.

The cookbook is available on Amazon, if you’re interested in getting a Pittsburgh native you know a holiday food read!

Needless to say, the soup is a mainstay in this city, with slight variations depending on who is preparing it for you.

While it is certainly a popular choice to serve at weddings and other large gatherings, the name of it was never intended to be connected to the actual event of a matrimonial ceremony!

Its original name in Italian, minestra maritata, translates to “married soup” or “wedded soup”  connoting that the main ingredients go so well together in the same dish – a happy union of tasty flavors!

Rivaling minestrone and pasta e fagioli, Italian wedding soup has a leg up on these meat-free recipes. Swimming with tender tiny meatballs and shredded chicken, my version of the recipe makes for a delightfully comforting dinner, or a hearty first course.

You’ll see that some recipes online recommend that you saute the meatballs in the same pot you use to prepare the broth in order to develop a stronger base of meaty flavor. But I’d rather not have you worry about browning 60 or so little guys in multiple batches.

I’m kicking it Cervone-old-school-style with the easy and efficient way my mom taught me to brown meatballs – cooked all on one baking sheet!

Note: as tradition would have it, my mom would let the dogs lick the sheet pan after she transferred the meatballs to a platter, but feel free to skip that part.

The soup will still have enough character with the veggie aromatics browning in the pot before adding the stock, and then letting the meatballs and chicken bathe and infuse their flavors in the gently simmering liquid before adding the final touches of pasta and fresh spinach.

And, no, it’s not quite ready to eat once it’s ladled into a bowl. Something is still missing…

As any Pittsburgher will tell you, a bowl of Italian wedding soup is not complete without a big handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and freshly cracked black pepper on top!

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Cooking by the Numbers…

Step 1 – Prep

Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a half-size baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Set out the ground beef and ground pork.

Grate and measure your Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for the meatballs, while keeping in mind that you will also need some more grated cheese for topping each bowl before serving.

Measure out the dried breadcrumbs, whole milk, garlic powder, dried Italian seasoning, olive oil, chicken stock, small dry pasta, and baby spinach.

Measure out the salt and black pepper for the meatballs, and keep these out for your final adjustments with the seasoning and serving.

Crack the egg into a small bowl.

Cut a small yellow onion, peel and cut the carrot, cut the two celery ribs, and mince the garlic cloves. You can do all of these cuts using the same chef’s knife and a sturdy cutting board.

Shred the cooked chicken breasts, if using. It’s easy to make shredded chicken in the pressure cooker, but you can also use any leftover cooked chicken from a previous meal. Leftover store-bought rotisserie chicken would also be perfect.

You can use any part of the chicken, white or dark meat, depending on your preference.

The chicken stock can be homemade (our slow cooker recipe is so easy!) or store-bought.

Step 2 – Form the Meatballs

Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl. Using your hands, fold the ingredients together until completely incorporated.

You don’t want to overmix this, or the meatballs may become tough and rubbery. Use a gentle touch!

Once the ingredients are combined, use a teaspoon as your measuring guide to roll small, individual balls by hand. Place each one on the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 1/2 inch of space between them.

The mixture yields between 60 and 65 meatballs. To ensure you have enough space on your baking sheet, it’s best to organize them in 10 rows, with about 7 meatballs in each row.

Step 3 – Bake the Meatballs

Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven, and bake the meatballs until they start to brown on the tops and bottoms but are still slightly underdone in the center. You can cut one meatball open with a knife to check.

This will only take about 10 to 12 minutes. You don’t want to completely cook them in the oven, as they will continue cooking in the stock.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it aside as you cook the rest of the ingredients, leaving the meatballs on the baking sheet.

Step 4 – Saute the Vegetables

Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large stockpot. Place the diced onion, carrot, and celery in the stockpot and saute until lightly browned, for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.

You don’t want to add the minced garlic until after you’ve lightly browned the other vegetables – otherwise, it may burn!

After those first 5 minutes of cooking, you can then add the garlic. Saute for just one more minute, until the garlic is aromatic but not browned or burnt.

Step 5 – Boil the Stock

Immediately pour the stock into the pot and bring the liquid to a boil. This will take about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the strength of your stovetop.

Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot with a heatproof spoon or spatula. There may be some bits of browned veggies stuck on – and you don’t want to miss those little flavor bombs that could potentially burn at the bottom!

Step 6 – Cook the Meatballs and Chicken

Once the stock is boiling, add the shredded chicken and meatballs to the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Continue simmering the soup for 15 to 20 minutes – this time is essential to continue cooking and softening the vegetables, and to extract flavor from the vegetables, meatballs, and chicken into the stock.

Step 7 – Cook the Pasta

Pour the dry pasta into the soup. Cook according to the package instructions until the pasta is al dente. Depending on what style and brand you use, this could take anywhere from 6 to 10 minutes.

Stir occasionally to promote even cooking for the pasta in the stock.

Step 8 – Wilt the Spinach

Once the pasta is al dente, immediately remove the pot from the heat.

Add the spinach to the pot and stir until it’s wilted. Because the spinach is so delicate, and the soup is hot, the leaves will wilt quickly in just under a minute.

If you want to use tougher green leaves, like kale or escarole, you will definitely need more time to cook them. Add them to the stock before adding the pasta to give the leaves enough time to soften.

Step 9 – Garnish and Serve

Ladle the soup into individual bowls, making sure each bowl gets some shredded chicken, a few meatballs, and pasta.

Directly before serving, top each bowl with your desired amount of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and a pinch or two of freshly cracked peppercorns.

Serve and enjoy!