Soup season calls for warm broth and rich flavors. This chicken meatball soup recipe you need when you want something that feels light and bright but still warm. It combines tender chicken meatballs, creamy white beans and vegetables kissed with a bit of lemon and garlic. Boxed stuffing mix is a smart shortcut ingredient that guarantees light, tender and flavorsome meatballs. Make the whole batch for a Sunday evening supper when it’s still cold out, but spring is just around the corner. Save the leftovers in individual portions for easy, healthy lunches all week.
Ingredients for Chicken Meatball Soup
- Egg:Â A beaten egg binds the meatball mixture and gives it structure.
- Stuffing mix: Instead of typical breadcrumbs, we use crushed stuffing mix in these chicken meatballs to ensure they turn out tender. The seasoned stuffing mix adds savory flavor to the meatballs without any extra ingredients or effort.
- Ground chicken: Light and lean ground chicken is the base for these Italian-seasoned meatballs. You can use dark meat or white, whatever your preference.
- Celery, carrot and onion: The vegetable base of this soup is a classic mirepoix. Sautéed together, these aromatic vegetables provide the soup’s baseline flavor.
- Italian seasoning: A blend of basil, oregano, and other herbs, Italian seasoning gives a baseline of fresh flavor to the soup.
- Garlic: Minced garlic gives the soup broth a nice backbone of savory flavor.
- Cannellini beans: Mild, soft white beans are a great source of protein and fiber in this soup, but you can substitute any cooked and drained canned beans you like.
- Olive oil: The first step in making the soup broth is lightly browning vegetables in a small amount of olive oil.
- Chicken broth:Â Homemade chicken broth is best, but store-bought works, too. Parmesan broth would also be amazing.
- Lemon zest and juice: Lemon adds a welcome note of fresh flavor to an otherwise wintry bowl.
- Baby spinach: Tender leaves of baby spinach go silky and soft in the soup broth, and, conveniently, most supermarkets sell 5-ounce bags of spinach for salads, which is exactly how much you’ll need for this recipe.
Directions
Step 1: Make the chicken meatballs
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, combine the egg, stuffing mix and salt. Add the chicken and mix lightly but thoroughly. Shape into 1-1/4 inch balls. Place in a greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake until cooked through, for 14 to 17 minutes.
Step 2: Saute the vegetables
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a 6 quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots and onion and cook and stir until the carrots are softened, five to seven minutes. Stir in the Italian seasoning and garlic and cook one minute longer.
Step 3: Finish assembling the soup
Add the beans, broth and lemon zest and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the spinach and meatballs and cook just until the spinach is wilted. Stir in the lemon juice.
Recipe Variations for Chicken Meatball Soup
- Swap out the meat: Substitute ground turkey, pork beef or a combination thereof in place of the ground chicken. Turkey will have a similar consistency, but the pork and beef will yield meatballs with a bit more fat.
- Change up the greens: Spinach has a lovely, silky texture in the soup, but you can replace it with baby Swiss chard, kale, collard greens or beet greens instead. Use baby greens precisely as you would spinach, adding a few minutes more to the cooking time to ensure they’re tender.
- Add a finishing touch: A little dusting of grated parmesan or pecorino on top of the finished soup will add a lot of cheesy aroma. Finish the soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in each serving. The oil will float on the surface of the broth in little beads and punctuate each bite with its grassy, peppery flavor.
How to Store Chicken Meatball Soup
Once cool, store the soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Can you freeze chicken meatball soup?
Yes, freeze chicken soup with chicken meatballs for up to three months. Defrost it in the fridge and reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Chicken Meatball Soup Tips
Can you substitute breadcrumbs for the stuffing mix?
Yes, if you don’t have a box of stuffing mix on hand you can substitute 1/2 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs. If you’re using plain breadcrumbs, add 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt or all-around seasoning to the meatball mixture to replace the seasoning in the stuffing mix.
Can I make this soup vegetarian?
Yes, you can make this soup vegetarian. Make your meatballs using plant-based ground meat following the same instructions and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
Can you add pasta to chicken meatball soup?
Absolutely. Adding pasta will bulk up the soup and make it more filling. Choose a short pasta shape like macaroni, ditalini or anelli (aka SpaghettiOs). You could also use a pastina such as stelline (little stars) or acini de pepe, the peppercorn-shaped pasta most often used in Italian Wedding Soup. Cook it in boiling water and drain. Then add it to the soup at the same time as the beans.
