PALEO ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP
Studded with meatballs and filled with veggies, this Italian Wedding Soup is a lightened up take on the classic. This hearty soup is family friendly and would make great leftovers. Opt to make it lower carb by skipping any added pasta, or go ahead and make it the classic way with your favorite pasta shape.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time25 minutes mins
Total Time35 minutes mins
Servings: 4 -6
Author: Lexi
For Meatballs:
- 1 lb. ground chicken or ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese optional
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
For Soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 carrots peeled and diced fine
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 celery stalks diced fine
- 1 yellow onion diced fine
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 large handfuls kale or spinach chopped
- 6 cups chicken stock homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup fresh basil roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley roughly chopped
- Parmesan cheese for topping
Preheat oven to 350ºF and lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
Add ground meat, egg, almond flour, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, herbs, salt and red pepper flakes to a large bowl and mix together until fully incorporated. Roll meat mixture into 1-½” balls (about 3 tablespoons each) and place on the rimmed baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the meatballs are fully cooked through to a temperature of 165ºF degrees.
Meanwhile, make the soup: Heat oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven. Once hot, add carrots, garlic, celery, onion and salt and pepper and cook until beginning to soften about 10 minutes.
Add in greens and cook until they are wilted.
Pour in chicken stock, bring up to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer for 10 minutes. If adding pasta, this is when you would add it here depending on the shape of pasta. Add in cooked meatballs and simmer for 5 more minutes.
Add in herbs, parmesan cheese and season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
- If turkey or chicken meatball mixture is difficult to work with, you can chill the mixture in the freezer for about 5 minutes or so, or you can use a cookie scoop to scoop the mixture. Also, using wet hands or even food safe gloves makes working with the ground turkey / chicken mixture easier.
- Omit cheese for Whole30 and Paleo friendly.
- This soup is a great meal prep option and even freezes well.
Serving: 1/5 recipe | Calories: 398kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Sodium: 718mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g