Chicken Meatball Soup
This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
This chicken meatball soup is the most comforting soup recipe you can make and it’s filled with flavorful veggies and baby meatballs!
There is something special about a soup filled with flavorful broth, an abundance of chopped vegetables, and baby meatballs that makes for an amazing meal and doesn’t feel like a plain old soup.
This chicken meatball soup is the perfect recipe, filled with nutritious vegetables and plenty of protein that makes for a hearty meal!
Liz & Tyler’s Tips for the Best Chicken Meatball Soup
- Make the meatballs small and evenly bite sized so you have the perfect bite in every scoop!
- Don’t overcook the pasta; it’s important to cook the pasta al dente so it doesn’t get overcooked and mushy. The pasta will absorb the liquid as it sits.
Ingredients:
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil
Ground Chicken: Most store bought organic ground chicken will work great for this meatball recipe. You can also swap for ground beef, turkey, or lamb, but the fat content might be a bit higher.
Egg: The egg helps bind the meatballs together, and we don’t recommend any substitutions.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in soup recipes. Beef Broth, Chicken Stock, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Onion: We will use minced onion for the meatballs and for the soup. The flavor from the fresh onions is ideal, but using 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder can work if needed.
Breadcrumbs: Whole wheat unseasoned bread crumbs are what we typically use but gluten free flours or white wheat flour can work 1:1.
Parmesan Cheese: We will use the parmesan cheese in the meatballs and love to save a little extra for topping the soup at the end! The parmesan cheese rind adds amazing flavor to the broth as it cooks.
Spices: Dried basil, thyme, parsley, black pepper, and salt help season the meatballs. We use the same spices in the soup and also add rosemary and bay leaves to flavor the stock!
Vegetables: Chopped carrots, celery, onion, and garlic are the best veggies to flavor this soup. Chopped spinach is added at the end of this recipe.
Pasta: We used Acini de pepe, which is a tiny shaped pasta for this, but other pasta shapes like orzo, stars, and alphabet shapes would work well. If you prefer zucchini noodles, check out our Whole 30 Italian Wedding Soup.
How to Make Chicken Meatball Soup
- Mix the meatball ingredients until combined. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, drop ½ tablespoon round meatballs.
- Bake the meatballs at 450° for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté the carrots, celery, onions, and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add the meatballs, broth, Parmesan rind, and spices to the pot and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes; bring to a boil, then add the pasta and cook for half the package time.
- Remove the soup from heat, discard the bay leaves and Parmesan rind, stir in the spinach, and cover for 3 minutes to wilt. Serve warm with Parmesan.
storage
Fridge Storage: These leftovers will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing. We recommend keeping the pasta on the side if freezing, so it doesn’t get too mushy when reheating.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, toaster oven, oven, or on the stove.
Chicken Meatball Soup
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 egg
- ½ cup minced onion
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
For the Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 1 cup minced celery
- ½ cup minced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 parmesan cheese rind
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup acini de pepe
- 3 cups chopped spinach
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet.
- In a bowl mix together all of the ingredients for the meatballs until combined.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop ½ tablespoon round meatballs. They can be fairly close together as they do not spread. You can make the meatballs slightly bigger, but I prefer them smaller!
- Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the meatballs are cooking, start the soup. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes or until the onions start to soften.
- Add the cooked meatballs, chicken broth, Parmesan rind and dried spices to the pot. Do NOT add the chopped spinach or pasta to the pot! Cook the soup over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Once the soup has cooked for 10 minutes, bring the soup to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta and cook for half the recommended cooking time on the pasta package.
- Once the pasta has cooked, remove the soup from the heat. Discard the bay leaves and parmesan cheese rind.
- Stir in chopped spinach. Cover for 3 minutes so the spinach wilts.
- Serve warm with parmesan cheese.
This soup is really delicious! We used whole wheat orzo for the pasta which worked just fine. We love it and will definitely make it again!