This comforting and classic Italian soup is made with pork and beef meatballs, greens, and tiny pasta. It's ready in about an hour from start to finish, great for a weeknight meal!

Photography Credit: Sheryl Julian

Italian wedding soup is a quick and hearty dinner that only looks like you worked long and hard to make it.

Versions of the soup have been made all over the Mediterranean for centuries. It’s a nourishing meal that’s easy enough for any weeknight.

Video! How to Make Italian Wedding Soup

Why is it Called Italian Wedding Soup

Calling this “Italian wedding soup” is somewhat of a misnomer since the dish is unrelated to weddings. The name is said to come from the words “minestra maritata,” which mean “married soup.” Here, rather than the couple joining together, it’s all the flavors in the pot that balance each other so well.

Peasant cooks, who originally made it with vegetables they grew and scraps of meat trimmed from larger cuts, apparently liked the way the soup came together— a good “marriage” of ingredients!

Romantic Italian-Americans turned it into “wedding soup,” and lots of stories emerged from there.

How to Make Italian Wedding Soup

Just shape ground pork and beef meatballs and simmer them in chicken stock, then add leafy greens and cooked pasta, and simmer.

You can brown the meatballs separately in a skillet (or bake them in a hot oven) and add those caramelized balls to the simmering stock, but Nonnas in Italy would have dropped the shaped meatballs right into the soup because these women didn’t have many burners and some didn’t have indoor ovens.

If they had kitchen gardens beside the house, they would have added whatever they grew or foraged along the countryside, like wild chicory or fennel. They used what they had. Follow their lead and use what you can find in your supermarket, including baby spinach or arugula.

What Kind of Pasta to Use

I particularly love adding Israeli couscous (also called pearl couscous) to this soup. The tiny beads of pasta take the same short time to cook as regular pasta and look so pretty in the pot.

For this soup, you could also use tiny stubby pasta rings called ditalini, rice-shaped orzo, or the miniscule pasta grains called acini de pepe. (I don’t recommend North African couscous for this recipe, which is made from ground durum wheat and partially cooked.)

What to Serve with Italian Wedding Soup

As a side dish, you might serve a vegetable with a little vinegar, like these Balsamic-Glazed Red Onions or Cider Vinaigrette Roasted Root Vegetables.

Can You Freeze Italian Wedding Soup

This soup keeps well frozen for up to 3 months. Just add a little fresh parmesan before serving, if desired.

ITALIAN SOUPS ARE DELICIOUS! HERE ARE MORE!