Italian Wedding Soup
with turkey meatballs / orzo pasta
This clean, vegetable-packed soup is a twist on a classic Cook Smarts recipe that was first featured back in December 2014. We think this refreshed version will be as much of a hit as the original.
Smarts: The orzo will expand as it sits, so if serving this soup as leftovers, you may want to add a splash more stock or water for balance.
Ingredients
- Turkey, ground and lean - 1 lb (sub any ground meat)
- Milk - 1/4 cup
- Italian seasoning - 2 tsp
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Panko breadcrumbs - 1/4 cup
- Cheese, parmesan (opt) - 2 Tbsp , grated
- Onions, medium - 1 , diced
- Carrots - 8 oz , chopped
- Celery - 2 stalks , chopped
- Swiss chard - 6 oz , leaves and stems chopped and separate
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Tomato paste - 1 Tbsp
- Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
- Stock, any type - 5 cups
- Parmesan rind (opt) - 1
- Pasta, orzo - 1/2 cup (sub Israeli couscous)
- Turkey meatballs (ingredients listed separately) - ~12
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp
- Cheese, parmesan (opt) - 2 Tbsp , grated
Prep
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Make meatballs - (Skip if meatballs were made ahead for Tuesday.) Heat oven to 375F / 191C degrees. Mix ground turkey, milk, Italian seasoning (portion for the meatballs), salt, panko and cheese (portion for the meatballs). Brush or spray a sheet pan with some oil. Roll meatball mixture into small 1” / 2.5 cm wide meatballs and place onto sheet pan. Bake until just cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes. (Can be done up to 4 days ahead)
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Onions / Carrots / Celery - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
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Swiss chard - Chop Swiss chard, keeping leaves and stems separate. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
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Make
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Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then onions, carrots, celery and chard stems to heated oil with a pinch of salt. Saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes.
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Stir in tomato paste and Italian seasoning (portion for the soup) until fragrant, ~1 minute more.
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Add stock and parmesan rind (if using) and bring to a simmer. Stir in orzo and simmer until orzo is nearly tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
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Add meatballs and chard leaves. Continue to simmer soup until orzo is tender and meatballs are warmed through.
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Move soup off heat and stir in lemon juice. Taste and season with some salt and pepper.
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Serve soup with parmesan (portion for the soup) sprinkled over top if you’d like. Enjoy!
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