Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup – Authentic traditional Italian wedding soup. Family favorite recipe is easy to make in the crockpot, delicious homemade meal. A comforting easy weeknight meal.
Today I’m sharing a crock pot version of a family favorite soup. This Italian Wedding Soup has been in the family for generations but I decided to try to make it slow cooker friendly. Hope you’ll find it irresitible and ready to give it a try.
I grew up in a fairly traditional sense. I didn’t pay much attention to my authenticity or background. I mean, to be honest, it was sort of boring. Every time I did ask all I heard was German. Is is just me or does German seem like a likely, been there, who cares ethnic origin. I’m so sorry! It just seems boring to me and I am German. Very German. My maiden name is even a town in Germany.
(P.S. I do have some incredible German Soft Pretzel Sticks on the blog. Um….they just so happen to be the most popular recipe I have so…I’m taking back everything I just said!)
I was never super proud or jealous about my background. Then I got married to a man. An Italian man. And Lord have mercy. That man loves the Italian in him. It doesn’t matter that he’s only .000078276 Italian. He’s Italian and he’s sticking to it.
OK. I’ve got to cut him some slack. His grandfather is full Italian so that makes him 1/4 full breed Italian. But he adores that and so do I.
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So insert hubby into my life. Insert homemade pasta sauce and wedding soup and all sorts of other wonderful Italianness into my life. Good deal, if I do say so myself. I’ve been enjoying wedding soup ever since I’ve been wedded into the family and man it sure does sing a tune to my heart. This stuff is amazing! Definitely one of my favorite soups of all time. And I certainly have a lot of favorites.
This one does get a special place. It’s the VERY first slow cooker soup I’ve added here on the blog. Do not ask what’s taken me so long. I even ask myself why I don’t crock pot my dinners more often. Am I fool? I must be. But now I am no longer. Here it is in all of its radiant beauty!
Enjoy the Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup. And if you make it I’d love to hear about in the comments. Have a great day.
So please don’t forget to check out all the other fabulous soups here on the blog. Like this tasty Loaded Pizza Soup and this Cheesy Cauliflower Soup and this fabulous Sausage Corn Chowder.
Til we meet and eat again,
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Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 3 large carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 clove garlic minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Meatballs:
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 slice bread torn into very small pieces
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive or other cooking oil (if sauteing)
Soup Add ins
- 8 ounces endive or escarole trimmed and torn into 1/2 inch strips
- 1 cup acini di pepe pastina or other small pasta, uncooked
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a slow cooker combine the following: chicken broth, carrots, onion, parsley, oregano and garlic. Turn on low heat for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
For the meatballs:
- In a medium bowl combine, egg, ground beef, onion, parsley, garlic, bread, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Shape into 1 inch balls.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake meatballs for 15 minutes or until no longer pink and cooked through.
- Or you can cook in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook meatballs, flipping as needed until cooked through. Place on paper towels to drain.
- Blot with a paper towel. Place the meatballs in slow cooker with chicken broth, vegetables, and seasonings.
- Add the pasta and torn endive or escarole to slow cooker 20 minutes prior to mealtime. Cover again and cook until pasta and greens are tender, about 20 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
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Looking for more easy slow cooker dinners? Try these favorites:
Such a great soup for any occasion! And I wish I were Italian, the family get togethers seem like a such great time!
You are absolutely correct Laura….being Italian I can honestly say nothing beats Italian everything and anything!! 🙂
Haha, I WISH I was Italian. I can fake it, right? Maybe if I make this soup I’ll feel a little bit better — I love Italian food! Pinned 🙂
This is such a great looking soup! I love my slow cooker and I make tons of stuff in it but I have never tried making Italian Wedding Soup in it, such a good idea!
This soup looks great and made in a crock pot even better!!
I’ve never made this soup and I’ve always wanted to! I love that this can be made in a slow cooker, too. Pinned! 🙂
So funny, because I married a German guy. Our last name is Gruendl. And we’re both blonde hair blue eyes. Could we be any more German? Haha! This soup sounds delicious! Love a good slow cooker recipe : )
Melanie – this is a gorgeous soup! I’ve never made it before as I wasn’t sure where to start – it was always one of those hard-to-make soups – so I must thank you for this recipe!
I love Italian Wedding Soup, but I’ve never tried making in the slow cooker – what a great idea. Plus, it’s so beautiful! I’m mostly German, and really wish I had family who spoke to me in German when I was growing up. It was never passed on from my grandparents to my parents. I took a few years in HS, but don’t remember much. I hope to get to Germany one day (I think it’s full of rich culture and want to explore!). 🙂
I’m Italian but have never made this – but now I have this recipe! It looks so good!
Such a perfect weeknight dinner idea – especially on a crazy windy, cold, rainy, snowy day like today!
That is so cute that your husband hangs onto his sliver of Italian heritage. I am so boring and just Southern. I do think I have some Scottish and German on my dad’s side, so I should say I’m German too! I don’t think it’s boring at all. You know what else isn’t boring? This soup! It looks delicious, Melanie!
Southern is not boring at all. You should be proud! They’ve got some real good cookin’ down yonder. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Andi!
I have desperately been wanting a good recipe for Italian Wedding Soup and this is even better since it’s made in the slow cooker! Can’t wait to try it!
I know I’m 0% Italian but I always wish I was! The recipes are amazing and this one looks delicious. I love that it is made in the slow cooker too. Italian Wedding Soup with meatballs is so comforting and packed with veggies perfect for any night of the week.
I made this tonight and we all loved it!
Yay Lisa! Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
When should the meatballs go in? When the the pasta goes? Or before? Thanks!
Throw the meatballs in when the pasta and escarole goes in. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Can you put meatball in earlier? I threw mine in the crockpot with about 5 more hours to go …
Hi Krystal! I’ve never tried it that way. They shouldn’t taste any different. My only worry would be if they would fall apart. Hope it works out well! Enjoy!
Come back and let us know how it goes.
Happy New Year!
do you think you can substitute kale for escarole?
Absolutely. It should still taste great. Enjoy!
Thanks, need to finish some up that is sitting in my fridge. Excited to make this tonight and try some of your other recipes 🙂
Are the parsley and oregano fresh, or dried?
For these particular amounts, I used dried. Feel free to substitute with fresh but you’ll want to double or triple that amount.
Enjoy! Have a great day.
I just wanted to let you know that I made this but I am a vegetarian so I substituted vegetable broth and Gardein fake meatballs. The soy meatballs are already made so they’re on the bigger side, I cooked them first in a skillet, cut into fours and plopped into the crockpot. The whole thing was delicious!
Thanks for sharing Nicole! So glad you enjoyed the soup. 🙂
Appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback!
could i use pearl couscous instead of the pasta? And if so – would I still add it about 20 minutes before we eat?
Thanks!
You could try it. However, I’ve never tried that substitute with this recipe so I wouldn’t be able to give you accurate details for trying it. Good luck. Whatever you decide I hope it turns out great!
So glad you stopped by.
It’s in the slow cooker right now – I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out… I just added the pearl couscous!
Thanks for your quick reply!
Several of my kids just decided that they like couscous. Let me know how it turned out and I’ll decide if I should give it a try. 🙂
if you are using frozen spinach in the recipe should you add at the beginning or towards the end?
Hi Brittany. Sorry that I missed your question earlier. I’m not sure how well frozen spinach will do in this recipe as I haven’t tried it before. If I ever did try it would be closer to the end as spinach never needs longer to cook. However if possible I’d always go with fresh spinach. But let us know how it goes!
What size slow cooker? I have a 3qt. and a 6qt slow cooker. Can I double the recipe for the 6qt? Making soup for a work potluck. Thanks!
Hi Phyllis. I’ve only ever tried making this in my 6qt slow cooker and I’m not sure if doubling it will allow room or enough. Sorry, I can’t be more specific but I’ve never doubled the recipe yet.
If you make it, let us know how it goes.
Enjoy. Come back soon!
Made this for my boyfriend for Valentines day because its his favorite kind of soup and he loved it! I also thought it was pretty good! I used orzo for the pasta and it turned out delicious 🙂
This is a great recipe…so easy and delicious! I was in pinch for time and used frozen bite sized meatballs. I baked them and blotted off the extra grease. I’m sure homemade is best but this worked. Thank you!
I made this today and it turned out delicious! Even my son, who’s a picky eater enjoyed it (although he shrunk back from it at first; he usually does that when introucee to new food).
Wedding soup is one of my favorite soups (next to gumbo and vegetable) and I wanted to do it justice. This receipe did.
Thank you!