Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

My Italian Wedding Soup recipe is an easy soup that tastes incredible and is ready in no time.

It's light, but hearty, made with my Instant Pot meatballs or air fryer meatballs, or any of your favorite meatball recipes. You could say that it's the perfect marriage of flavors!

This is the easiest and best recipe for Italian Wedding Soup. I love making a large batch and freezing half to use later. Absolutely the best!

Colleen via email

Wedding Soup FAQs

Italian Wedding Soup Recipe Ingredients

• mini meatballs 
• olive oil
• small onion or half a large onion, diced
• Parmesan cheese
• eggs
• garlic minced, or garlic paste
• chopped spinach frozen and thawed
• chicken broth containers
• orzo pasta
• salt and pepper to taste

How to Make Italian Wedding Soup in the Instant Pot

1. Set your Instant Pot to saute mode and add ¼ cup olive oil. Once the oil heats, add 1 small diced onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. When translucent, add 1 tsp. minced garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
2. Pour in three 32 oz. containers of chicken broth. Cover with the lid, and let the soup come to a boil, 5-10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, squeeze the water out from 1 thawed 12 oz. package frozen chopped spinach. We do this by pressing it through a colander over a bowl.
4. Add the drained spinach to a bowl with 4 eggs and mix together thoroughly. Then, add 1 cup Parmesan cheese and stir.
5. Once boiling, drop forkfuls of the spinach egg mixture into the broth, one at a time, until all of the mixture is mixed in. Give it a gentle stir, then add in 1 cup orzo pasta. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
6. Carefully release pressure, then stir and add in 30 cooked meatballs.
7. Season with salt and pepper, serve, and enjoy!

How to Make Italian Wedding Soup on the Stove

1. To a deep soup pot (or Dutch Oven) over medium-high heat, add oil. Once hot, add onion and cook 2-3 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
2. Next, add garlic and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Finally, pour in chicken broth. Cover, and let it reach a boil.
3. In the meantime, squeeze out the water from frozen chopped spinach. You can easily do this by placing the spinach in a colander over an empty bowl; press down on the spinach until the water squeezes out.
4. Add the spinach to a bowl with eggs. Beat together until fully combined. Then, add Parmesan cheese and thoroughly stir until mixed through.
5. After the broth comes to a boil, drop in small fork-fulls of the spinach egg mixture into the pot one at a time until all of it has been added. Give the pot a gentle stir once all the mixture is added, then add in orzo pasta and cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
6. Once the pasta and egg mixture cooks, add in cooked meatballs. Stir to mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste, serve, and enjoy!

Recipe Tips

• Small meatballs work best for Italian Wedding Soup recipes. Make your meatballs small or, if you have larger leftover meatballs, you may want to break them up!
• Brown your meatballs first. Some recipes cook the meatballs right in the soup, but they will have so much more flavor if you cook and sear them ahead of time.
• You can use frozen meatballs. We like to make ours from scratch, but you can use any meatballs for this recipe, including frozen. Just try to buy small meatballs if you do!
• Use a small pasta, like orzo. We use orzo pasta in our Instant Pot soup and recommend it. Another favorite choice is Acini di Pepe, also called Peppercorn pasta.

Wedding Soup Recipe Substitutions

Want to mix things up? You can use other greens to make this delicious dish. We love spinach, but other great choices are kale or escarole.

How to Make Gluten-Free Italian Wedding Soup

You can easily make this Instant Pot soup recipe gluten-free! Use gluten-free orzo, and when preparing your meatballs, make sure to either use gluten-free bread crumbs or remove them completely.

Keto Italian Wedding Soup

To make this a low-carb soup recipe, omit the pasta and use more spinach instead.

What goes with Italian Wedding Soup?

Serve up this soup with a side of homemade Instant Pot French Bread. Crusty bread is perfect for dipping in the soup and sopping up that delicious broth. We also love serving this dish with a salad or simple roasted vegetables!

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Did you try this recipe? Leave a comment and a rating below to let us know what you think! We love to hear from you!