Meatball Tortellini Soup

Meatball tortellini soup is a meal in itself. Meat, cheese, vegetables and pasta come together into one recipe. Tortellini is an excellent choice for soup because of its compact shape and fully encased filling that doesn’t dissolve because the pasta wrapper acts as a barrier. Tortellini is said to represent the navel of the goddess Venus, but it’s more likely a practical invention from chefs who wanted to have filled pasta that didn’t leak. The pasta and meatballs are delicious in this simple soup.

Meatball Tortellini Soup Ingredients

• Reduced-sodium beef broth: Beef broth is the base and you’ll want to use a reduced-sodium version.
• Italian meatballs: Frozen pre-cooked meatballs are convenient and will save you a lot of time.
• Baby spinach: Baby spinach will soften up in the soup and add a nice earthy flavor.
• Stewed tomatoes: Stewed tomatoes will turn the broth from rather bland to acidic and bold.
• Mexicorn: The corn adds bulk to the soup, and the peppers help flavor each bite.
• Cheese tortellini: One of the main ingredients that will make this soup more toothsome and satisfying to chew.

Directions

Step 1: Cook the meatballs

Add the broth to a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the meatballs, cover and then let them simmer for about five minutes.

Step 2: Add the rest of the ingredients

Add the spinach, stewed tomatoes and corn to the pan and then simmer for another five minutes, covered. After it simmers, add the tortellini plus salt and pepper to the pan and simmer, covered, for another three minutes. The tortellini should be tender.

Meatball Tortellini Soup Variations

• Leave out the Mexicorn: Mexicorn is a commercial mix of canned corn and green and red bell peppers. If you can’t find it, you can leave it out of this recipe.
• Try another type of meatball: If the store is out of Italian-style meatballs, try homestyle, turkey or whatever other style of frozen meatball is available. This will change the flavor of the soup a little because you won’t have the Italian seasonings in the meatballs. But the difference in flavor, especially when you bite into the tortellini and tomatoes along with the meatballs, shouldn’t be that big.

How to Store Meatball Tortellini Soup

If you have leftovers, refrigerate them for up to three days in an airtight container. Don’t freeze leftover meatball tortellini soup, however, because the tortellini won’t handle freezing and thawing very well after being in the broth. Even if the tortellini was frozen before cooking, refreezing and thawing again may degrade its quality.

Can you make meatball tortellini soup ahead of time?

As with any soup that contains pasta, you don’t want to prepare the entire recipe before storing the soup. The pasta in the tortellini will absorb much of the soup and end up mushy. Prepare the soup, except for the tortellini, and package it for storage in the refrigerator or freezer (three days max for the refrigerator and three months max for the freezer). Make the tortellini when you’re ready to serve.

Meatball Tortellini Soup Tips

How do you know when the meatballs are cooked?

Pre-cooked store-bought meatballs tend to cook quickly, but you always want to be sure the meat is cooked through, especially in a recipe that cooks as quickly as this one. Stick an instant-read meat thermometer through the meatballs (be sure to take them out of the hot soup when you do this) and cook them to 165°F internally.

What sides go well with Meatball Tortellini Soup?

A crunchy, cool Italian-style salad (or at least one with Italian dressing) would be good. You can also bake some garlic bread if you’d like a more substantial side.

What can you do if the vegetables seem to have little flavor?

Bland vegetables are an unfortunate fact of life and while you might try your best to find the best-tasting vegetables for the soup, sometimes you can end up with ingredients that don’t have enough oomph. You can remedy this by sauteing the vegetables before adding them to the broth. So, instead of putting the corn and spinach right into the broth, saute them in a pan with some oil first. This stir-frying step and the oil both add flavor to the vegetables.