One Pot Italian Wedding Orzo
One Pot Italian Wedding Orzo is everything you love about wedding soup, without the broth! Full of flavor, high protein and easy to make.
Servings: 4 1 ½ cup servings
Calories: 497kcal
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Orzo
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- 1 cup dry orzo
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, milk, basil, parsley, pepper and salt. Mix together until all of the ingredients are combined.
- Roll the meatballs into 1 teaspoon round balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or plate.
- In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.
- Add the meatballs to the pan and let them cook for 8 minutes until the meatballs are brown on the exterior. Make sure to gently stir occasionally to brown all sides. You may need to cook the meatballs in 2 batches depending on the size of your pan.
- Once browned, remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside on a plate while the orzo cooks.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic to the pan. Cook for 4 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the frozen spinach, orzo, rosemary, black pepper, red pepper and salt to the pan. Sauté for 1 minute so the orzo can gently toast in the pan.
- Add the chicken stock and cooked meatballs back to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium low. Stir together to evenly incorporate all of the ingredients. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure the orzo does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the orzo has cooked and most of the liquid has evaporated, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parmesan.
- Top with extra parmesan cheese when serving if you'd like.
Notes
Prep your meatballs in advance and store them in the freezer so you can save time on assembling the tiny meatballs. This is the most time consuming part but it is absolutely worth it!
You can also buy pre-made mini meatballs from earth's best frozen mini meatballs but we prefer to make them fresh at home and freeze them!
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5cups | Calories: 497kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 815mg | Potassium: 752mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 6457IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 335mg | Iron: 5mg
