Vegan Italian Wedding Soup
This vegan Italian Wedding Soup is cozy, comforting, and loaded with flavor. Juicy plant-based meatballs, tiny pasta, and tender greens and veggies simmered together in a savory broth for the ultimate cozy meal.
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Servings: 6
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Equipment
- large pot
- large skillet to fry meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup dry acini de pepe, orzo, or stelline (about 4 oz)
- 2 big handfuls baby kale or spinach
- salt to taste
For the Meatballs (see notes for shortcut)
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil for pan-frying
- 1 pound plant-based sausage or 1/2 pound vegan sausage + 1/2 pound vegan ground beef
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup grated vegan parm we like Violife or Follow Your Heart
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- a splash plant milk only if needed
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the Meatballs
- Combine ingredients: In a mixing bowl, combine plant-based sausage, plant-based beef, garlic powder, vegan parm, breadcrumbs, and black pepper. Mix together (it's easiest with your hands) until all ingredients are well-combined. If it seems a bit dry (i.e. it won't hold together), you can add a quick splash of plant milk to get the right texture.
- Roll into balls: Roll the mixture into meatballs. Exact size is up to your preference, but I prefer smaller ones (about 2 teaspoons of mixture each) so they can easily fit in a soup spoon.
- Brown meatballs: Heat a nonstick skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Add in the meatballs and sear on all sides until evenly browned. This usually takes me about 5-7 minutes in total.Plant-based meats sometimes go a bit soggy in soups. Getting a really good sear on these helps keep them from turning mushy later on.
- Set aside: Once the meatballs are browned, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Make the Soup
- Sauté aromatics: In a big pot, heat olive oil over medium heat until the oil shimmers. Add onions, celery, carrot and garlic and sauté 4-6 minutes, until onion is translucent.
- Build the soup: Add in vegetable broth, along with dried parsley, basil, oregano, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low or medium-low, as needed to establish a rapid simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes to soften the vegetables.
- Cook the pasta and greens: Stir in the dry pasta and cook at a gentle boil until tender. Timing will depend on pasta shape. I recommend starting to check around the 8 minute mark, but it can take up to 15 minutes. Add extra time as needed. (It will take longer than the cook time listed on the pasta packaging because we are simmering rather than boiling.) For very tender greens, add the baby kale in at the same time as the pasta. For fresher greens, add in the baby kale when the pasta is almost fully cooked so it has just about 1-2 minutes to wilt.
- Finishing touches: Add back in the cooked meatballs and simmer another minute or so to heat everything through. Taste the broth and adjust salt and pepper to preference. Enjoy!
Notes
Meatball shortcut: To make this dish in a hurry, buy a package of the Beyond Meat hot Italian sausage links. Simply cut the sausages into slices. You can then roll the slices into balls, or just leave them as medallions. Either way, brown the sausage, set it aside, and proceed with the recipe as written. You can also use store-bought vegan meatballs, but they usually are larger than I prefer for this soup.
Pasta: You'll want about 4 oz of dry pasta in the soup. That's about 1/2 cup of a small pasta shape such as acini de pepe, orzo, stelline, or alphabet pasta. If using a slightly larger shape such as ditalini or elbows, you'll need closer to 3/4 cup dry.
Vegetable broth: I have tried this with regular vegetable broth from a carton, as well as with a chicken-style veggie bouillon. I actually preferred it with the classic veggie broth personally, since the meatballs are very savory. But if you want an extra boost of umami, try the chicken or beef-style bouillon from a brand like Better Than Bouillon or Edward & Sons.
Fresh herbs: If you prefer to cook with fresh herbs, you can sub in about a tablespoon each of fresh chopped basil and parsley for the dried.
Greens: You can use pretty much any kind of greens in this soup. If choosing a heartier green, just add it in a few minutes earlier than you would add spinach so it has a chance to get nice and tender.
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