I’m here to tell you about a soup I made the other night that was a huge hit in this house. I needed a way to use up some of the meatballs I made, so I put this soup together. It was fabulous, if I do say so myself, and I encourage you to try it. :)
But first, I have to tell you about the meatballs. Lately I haven’t really enjoyed my meatball recipe. It’s not really mine anyway, it was my mother in laws. And really, it wasn’t hers either, but rather her mother in law’s. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, otherwise we wouldn’t have eaten them for years, but I never really liked how tough they seemed. For them to be tender at all they had to simmer in the sauce for hours on end, and sometimes you just want to EAT, not simmer! :-p
So I was on a quest to find a better meatball. I had bookmarked a couple different ones but decided to try the one over at Noble Pig. It looked rather appetizing, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. The eye opener for me was this:
“…and mix thoroughly with a fork. Using a fork prevents overmixing and compacting which can toughen meatballs.”
That was my “ah ha” moment. So that’s why my meatballs were always tough! At that point, I could have just made my recipe again, using a fork instead of rolling and squishing the meat, but instead I decided to try Cathy’s. Cathy also said:
“The best way to shape meatballs is with a portioning scoop that has a retractable blade that releases the meat.”
Again, I had been using my hands to mix up all the ingredients and then tightly rolling the meat into meatballs. Who knew??
Now fair warning here, Cathy’s recipe makes a LOT of meatballs. I could tell by the ingredient list that I would like them so I went ahead and made the full recipe. I like having meatballs in the freezer, so making this many was not uncommon for me.
The verdict. I thought these meatballs were fantastic. However, my family had trouble with them. They thought they were too heavy on the herbs. I will admit there was a pretty strong oregano flavor, but come on people! They were wonderful! Ugh. So, now that I had almost 100 meatballs in my freezer, I needed to try something else other than spaghetti sauce to see if I could get them to eat them.
As a side note here, I gave a bag of the meatballs to my neighbor who has 6 kids. They loved them, only 2 of her kids turned their noses up. My family just has bland taste buds. BAH! If you would like to try them, I’ll give you the recipe below. The only real change I made was using some ground pork in addition to the ground beef, and I substituted the oregano and basil with some Italian Herbs I got from Spice Hunter.
Meatballs
adapted from Noble Pig
2 cups unseasoned bread crumbs
1-1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
3 cups beef broth, divided
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
6 eggs, beaten
4 Tablespoons dried oregano leaves (subbed with Italian Herbs)
4 teaspoons dried basil (subbed with Italian Herbs)
2 Tablespoons garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
2 Tablespoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 lb. ground chuck (I used 3 lbs of ground beef and 1 lb of ground pork)
In a large mixing bowl stir together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, milk, 1 cup of beef broth, parsley, eggs, oregano, garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, basil, red pepper flakes and nutmeg. Add ground chuck and mix thoroughly with a fork. Using a fork prevents overmixing and compacting which can toughen meatballs. (Amen to that sista!)
The best way to shape meatballs is with a portioning scoop that has a retractable blade that releases the meat (I used my cookie scoop). Make each meatball about 2″ in diameter or 1.5 ounces each (I made mine about 1 oz each). Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange the meatballs on a pan so they are not touching.Â
Cathy says she gets 35 meatballs on a tray and this recipe makes two trays so 70 meatballs. However, I ended up with 3 trays of about 33-34 each, ending up with 100 1-inch meatballs.
Cover the bottom of the pan with 1 cup of beef broth and bake for 25 minutes at 450 degrees.
See all the fat that comes out of the meat and settles on the pan bottom? That’s because 1) I use ground beef, not ground chuck, which is fattier, and 2) I use ground pork. ALSO, my beef and my pork are both from the farmer, not the grocer. Therefore, the fat content is higher as it’s not lean cut like you get from the grocer.
Remove meatballs from pan and bake second tray of meatballs. Cool meatballs completely, cover and keep refrigerated until use.
If you are like me and want to freeze the extras, place all the meatballs you can fit without touching each other onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 2 hours. Once frozen, remove from sheet and place in a sealable freezer bag.
NOW, finally, on to the soup!
Amanda’s Meatball Soup
20 1-inch meatballs
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1 tsp garlic, minced
15 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tsp chicken soup base (bouillon will work as well)
1 1/2 cups zucchini juice (you can substitute water, broth, tomato juice, anything you want, I just happened to have this in the freezer from my zucchini post!)
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Herb Sensation (I got this from Spice Hunter, but you can use any seasoning you like)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup Fideo (See my Sopa de Fideo soup for a picture of these yummy noodles)
In a 5 quart Dutch Oven or large soup pot, saute the red onion and garlic in olive oil over medium low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until tender, but not browned. Add meatballs and turn to coat with oil and brown for a minute or two. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT the peas and Fideo. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1.5 hours.
After the soup has been simmering for about an hour, Â submerge the frozen peas in a bowl of hot water. When soup hits the 1.5 hour mark, drain the peas and add them to the soup. Add Fideo and stir. Let simmer for another 20-30 minutes, or until noodles are nice and tender. Serve!
Amanda's Meatball Soup
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 20 1- inch meatballs
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- ½ red onion diced
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 cups water
- 1 ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tsp chicken soup base
- 1 ½ cups zucchini juice
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp Garlic Herb Sensation
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup Fideo
Instructions
- In a 5 quart Dutch Oven or large soup pot, saute the red onion and garlic in olive oil over medium low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until tender, but not browned. Add meatballs and turn to coat with oil and brown for a minute or two. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT the peas and Fideo. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1.5 hours.
- After the soup has been simmering for about an hour, submerge the frozen peas in a bowl of hot water. When soup hits the 1.5 hour mark, drain the peas and add them to the soup. Add Fideo and stir. Let simmer for another 20-30 minutes, or until noodles are nice and tender. Serve!
Amanda Davis
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Amanda says
Thanks everyone. Cathy's meatballs are great, despite what my f=picky family says LOL I hope you try it, it's delish!
Oh and Cory, I have yet to try Italian Wedding Soup. You would think with a last name like Formaro I would have LOL!
Culinary Cory says
I've been on a meatball kick lately. My next challenge is going to be to make Italian Wedding Soup. Great Tips!
Michelle says
I call recipes like this "tummy warmers"! It's so cold here this week and this would taste so good!
MaryBeth says
Great tips Amanda…this soup looks very hearty and delish for the very cold Beaverton nights we are having. It was 9 degree's when i got up today, for that is so not normal.
Mags says
Thanks for the great tips! I appreciate the knowledge that the meatball recipe is heavy-handed on the herbs as my family doesn't care for that strong of herb flavor. And the soup looks great… freezing cold here in Indiana today and that makes for great soup weather.
Nutmeg Nanny says
Yummm delicious meatballs! I love the idea of throwing them in soup…fabulous!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake says
That looks delicious, a proper meal in itself. Wish I was having it for dinner! I posted some soup myself today, come and have a look.
jose manuel says
Gracias por la receta. Buenisima
Ingrid says
Thanks for the tips. Wish I was close. I'd love to take some of those meatball off your hands.
~ingrid
Janice says
This looks so tasty. Love your tips on the meatball making.
noble pig says
Oh my goodness it all sounds wonderful. Glad you were able to tweak them to your liking!!
Debbie says
Looks delicious Amanda. I'd love to try that soup!
HoneyB says
This looks SO yummy! I guess I am going to have to try Cathy's meatball recipe!