I am so excited to share our Nonna’s classic mouthwatering Italian mini meatball soup with orzo recipe with you, as it straightforward broth soup with pasta and protein that can be made with three different broth bases, and no matter the base, the classic Italian soup with mini meatballs turns our a flavorful bowl of yum each and every time!
For those of you who read my blog and use our recipes (and those of you who have just found me), my Nonna Santa lived in Sicily, then immigrated to the USA and brought along her own recipe book, which I use and update to create easy Italian classic recipes such as this delectable and flavorful mini meatball soup!
Nonna Santa used to refer to this recipe as Zuppa con polpettine e orzo, which translates to soup with mini meatballs and orzo and sometimes as polpettine in brodo, meaning mini meatballs in broth.
Polpette is the Italian word for meatballs which you are probably already familiar with, and when you make them small instead, they are referred to as polpettine (sounds so cute, doesn’t it? )
We will share what pasta to use in your wedding soup, how to make authentic-tasting meatball soup with orzo right in your own kitchen, and how to make it faster than ever!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love Zuppa Con Polpettine e Orzo
Our Italian soup with meatballs is a complete meal on its own, or you can choose to serve it as an appetizer, first course, or alongside a fabulous ciabatta sandwich or any sandwich you prefer!
I’ve reinvented the recipe to make it far more efficient to prepare for any night of the week, and I don’t use the stovetop! Nonna Santa’s recipe has two exciting ingredients that create depth in flavor; unlike most recipes, ours does not shortcut 99% of the steps, and you will think you are in Italy enjoying a bowl from the first bite to the last!
.
- You can and should make mini meatball soup with orzo pasta ahead of time
- The Italian mini meatball wedding soup is great for football parties, dinner parties, or any night of the week
- Ingredients for polpettine in brodo are easy to find
- Soup with meat is an excellent protein-friendly choice to add to your meals
- The Italian soup with tiny beef meatballs is easily transportable
- The soup can be made on the stovetop, in a dutch oven, crockpot, or pressure cooker!
- This is a one-pot easy Italian soup recipe with meatballs and orzo pasta (or pasta)
Kitchen Essentials For Your Zuppa Con Polpettine e Orzo
- a knife – for cutting veggies into small pieces
- a peeler – for deveining celery
- a cutting board
- A food processor* is optional but makes this faster and easier than chopping.
- Instant Pot or another electric pressure cooker
- colander – for draining the orzo or pastina pasta cuts
Ingredient For Your Mouthwatering Italian Mini Meatball Soup With Orzo
- onion
- garlic
- celery
- carrots
- broth base (chicken is what we used in this recipe)
- tomato paste
- orzo pasta
- ground beef
- olive oil
- water
- ground beef
- parmesan cheese
- egg
- breadcrumb
Now, I will also share alternative ingredient ideas later on in the recipe post for our polpettine in brodo, but I didn’t want to confuse matters and want to keep this straightforward.
How To Make The Mouthwatering Italian Mini Meatball Soup With Orzo Now
Step 1: Prep your Instant Pot
Add olive oil and a dash of water to the liner of your Instant Pot, but do not turn it on yet.
Step 2: Prep Your Vegetables
Chances are, you read the recipe already, and your prep is probably already done by now, but if you have not begun, then you will need to:
- peel your onion
- chop your onion or place it in the food processor as you want bite-sized pieces
- Peel your garlic and slice your garlic into a few pieces.
- Peel your carrots (depending on what kind of carrots you choose to use)
- Chop your carrots or use your food processor to make bite-size pieces
- Rinse your celery
- Devein your celery (see my TikTok Video For WHY)
- Chop your celery into bite-size pieces
Step 3: Prep Your Paste + Chicken Broth Base
Combine your bouillon or stock in a box with your tomato paste and make the paste more liquid-like, yet the taste this will impart into your soup is insanely yummy.
Add in water, and stir to combine and break down the paste from a thicker to a more liquid-like base.
Pro Tip On Paste In Your Sauce
To cut the acidity a bit, add no more than a teaspoon of sugar, but we skip this step as the celery, and the sweetness of the carrot seems to take away the acidity in the flavor!
The purpose of the paste is not to make the soup thicker but to add a bold, more intense flavor than a basic can of sauce does, and paste is something you will see in many of my recipes.
The key to adding paste to soup recipes and some sauce recipes is diluting it with three cans of water to 1 can of paste, that ratio works to balance a fabulous sauce, and in our case, it cleans the can and all of its contents when making soup!
Step 4: Prepare Your Mini Meatballs (Polpettine)
Add your meat, cheese, breadcrumbs, and egg in a large mixing bowl and smash it with your clean bare hands.
Roll each meatball by the teaspoonful into a small meatball (polpettine).
As you roll each miniature meatball, set it back into the mixing bowl, separated from the mass of meat you still need to roll.
Repeat the rolling procedure until all of the meatballs are done.
Remember to wash your hands thoroughly after working with raw meat before moving on to the next step.
Step 5: Make Your Soup Vegetable Base
In your prepped Instant Pot, place your onions, celery, carrots, and garlic and press saute.
Your vegetables need to soften or “sweat” for about 10 minutes. Do stir them infrequently but enough that they all become softer than they were when you put them in the Instant Pot.
Once the veggies are softened, add in your tomato broth mixture and stir while allowing the mixture to soften. You will want to add more water at this point.
Step 5: Add In The Mini Meatballs (Polpettine)
Once you have added more water to your stock sauce mixture and the vegetables, it is time to add your mini meatballs.
Now that they are in, give the mixture a good stir to ensure even cooking, and add in your Parmesan rind and more water to bring the soup up to the max mark in your instant pot liner.
Close the lid on the Instant Pot. Stop the saute function and touch Soup.
You’ll want to adjust the soup time on the Instant Pot to 25 minutes.
Step 5: The Orzo Pasta
While the polpettine in brodo is cooking, prepare the orzo – the cut of pasta used in this recipe.
Cook the orzo pasta according to the directions on the box, and then drain, rinse and set aside.
Step 6: Serve Your Mini Meatballs With Orzo In Broth
You can use Natural Release or Quick Release. It depends on your timing and need.
Once you are ready to serve your soup, add a few tablespoons of the cooked orzo to a serving-size bowl, then a few ladles (depending on bowl size) of the soup broth and veggies and meatballs into the bowl as well.
Top off with freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese or any parmesan cheese you prefer. bowl,
Enjoy~ Dana XO
What To Serve As A Side To Your Zuppa Con Popettine e Orzo
- Authentic Sicilian Style Pizza (Sfincione Siciliano)
- Homemade Pita Bread in 4 Minutes. Easy & Delicious.
- #1 Easy Tuscan Herb Bread in the Bread Machine | Effortless
- Air-Fried Hasselback Zucchini Caprese | 1 Easy Recipe Idea
When To Serve Mouthwatering Italian Mini Meatball Soup With Orzo
- use the mini meatballs with orzo in broth as an appetizer
- serve the meatball soup with orzo as a cup of soup for a first course
- Eliminate the orzo (the carb) and use it in Keto Diets as a protein and veggies
- Serve for any dinner where you want a one-dish meal
- the polpettine in brodo is fabulous for baby showers (in the fall) or bridal showers
- When you are craving a home-cooked satisfying, easy Italian food
- Anytime you have to serve a lot of people at once, the mini meatballs soup is fabulous to serve
Other EASY Soup Recipes You Will Love
- Italian 16 Bean Soup With Pork | Easy + Savory Healthy Meal
- Asparagus Parmesan Soup. Nutrient-Loaded Powerhouse Meal!
- Greens and Beans Turkey Soup
- Meatless Avocado-topped tortilla soup
- Best Sausage and Tortellini Soup
- Roasted Eggplant With Lentil Soup
- Pressure Cooker Vegetable Soup
- Pressure Cooker 3 Bean Minestrone Soup
Other Ingredients To Use In Your Zuppa Con Polpettine e Orzo
- You can use fresh spinach as a green
- If you want a more bitter green, use a steamed broccoli rabe
- another green option is kale
- Instead of onions, use shallots
- sauce instead of paste
- sausage instead of beef
- Instead of a chicken broth base, use a beef or vegetable stock base.
Make Sure To Come Back And Tell Me How Your Xuppa con Polpettine E Orzo Turned Out.
I love hearing from each of you, and those notes about what you add in and eliminate or change in the meatball soup with orzo make that even better.
We all have such individualized tastes that it gives me insight into what everyone enjoys!
Polpettine in brodo is a simple and satisfying soup and I want to know how it satisfied your belly!
Make sure to tag me on Instagram @dana.vento if you use the recipe, too; I can’t wait to see your soup with mini meatballs!
Recipe For The Mouthwatering Italian Mini Meatball Soup with Orzo
Mouthwatering Italian Mini Meatballs Soup With Orzo
I am so excited to share our Nonna's classic mouthwatering Italian mini meatball soup with orzo recipe with you, as it straightforward broth soup with pasta and protein that can be made with three different broth bases, and no matter the base, the classic Italian soup with mini meatballs turns our a flavorful bowl of yum each and every time!
Ingredients
- 1 Medium onion - peeled and chopped
- 2 Cloves of garlic - peeled and sliced in half
- 2 Cups of celery - deveined and chopped (About 8 stalks)
- 2 C carrots - peeled and chopped (or use shortcut carrots and just chop)
- 3-4 Tbsp broth base (chicken is what we used in this recipe)
- 1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste Organic or regular
- 16 oz of orzo pasta cooked
- 1 Pound of ground beef (we used 80/20)
- 1-2 tsp of olive oil (for base of Instant Pot Only
- 6 c water (between broth, paste, and water only)
- 1 Pound of ground beef (80/20)
- 1/2 C of parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 C breadcrumbs
- 1 - Parmesan Rind ( 2" x1")
Instructions
- Add olive oil and a dash of water (3-4 Tbsp) to the liner of your Instant Pot, but do not turn it on yet.
- peel your onion
- chop your onion or place it in the food processor as you want bite-sized pieces
- Peel your garlic and slice your garlic into a few pieces.
- Peel your carrots (depending on what kind of carrots you choose to use)
- Chop your carrots or use your food processor to make bite-size pieces
- Rinse your celery
- Devein your celery (see my TikTok Video For WHY)
- Chop your celery into bite-size pieces
- Combine your bouillon or stock in a box with your tomato paste and make the paste more liquid-like, yet the taste this will impart into your soup is insanely yummy.
- Add in water, and stir to combine and break down the paste from a thicker to a more liquid-like base.
- MEATBALL PREP
- Add your meat, cheese, breadcrumbs, and egg in a large mixing bowl and smash it with your clean bare hands.
- Roll each meatball by the teaspoonful into a small meatball (polpettine).
- As you roll each miniature meatball, set it back into the mixing bowl, separated from the mass of meat you still need to roll.
- Repeat the rolling procedure until all of the meatballs are done.
- Remember to wash your hands thoroughly after working with raw meat before moving on to the next step.
- Make Your Soup Vegetable Base In Instant Pot
- In your prepped Instant Pot, place your onions, celery, carrots, and garlic and press saute.
- Your vegetables need to soften or "sweat" for about 10 minutes.
- Do stir them infrequently but enough that they all become softer than they were when you put them in the Instant Pot. (you may need to add more water as they are sweating, just add a few tablespoons each time but do not add more oil)
- Once the veggies are softened, add in your tomato broth mixture and stir while allowing the mixture to soften. You will want to add more water at this point, up to 2 cups of water.
- Once you have added more water to your stock sauce mixture and the vegetables, it is time to add your mini meatballs.
- Now that they are in, give the mixture a good stir to ensure even cooking, and add in your Parmesan rind and more water to bring the soup up to the max mark in your instant pot liner.
- Close the lid on the Instant Pot. Stop the saute function and touch Soup.
- You'll want to adjust the soup time on the Instant Pot to 25 minutes. (the meat needs to cook)
The Orzo Pasta
- While the polpettine in brodo is cooking, prepare the orzo - the cut of pasta used in this recipe.
- Cook the orzo pasta according to the directions on the box, and then drain, rinse and set aside.
- Now The Soup Is done, you can use Natural Release or Quick Release. It depends on your timing and need.
- Once you are ready to serve your soup, add a few tablespoons of the cooked orzo to a serving-size bowl, then a few ladles (depending on bowl size) of the soup broth and veggies and meatballs into the bowl as well.
- Enjoy!
Leave a Reply