Italian Wedding Soup
with Mini Meatballs, Couscous & Kale
- Wheat
- Milk
The name “wedding soup” supposedly comes from the perfect marriage of all its ingredients, but we like to think it’s because the soup is so good, you could make it your one and only. This version stars bite-size mini meatballs that float in an herby, aromatic broth with chewy couscous, tender kale, sweet onion and carrot, and rich Parmesan. It’s pretty easy to see why all of this is a match made in heaven.
Ingredients
1 unit
Yellow Onion
1 clove
Garlic
3 ounce
Carrot
10 ounce
Ground Beef
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
1 tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
2 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
4 ounce
Kale
2.5 ounce
Israeli Couscous
(Contains: Wheat)
¼ cup
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
2 teaspoon
Olive Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry all produce. • Halve, peel, and dice onion; mince some onion until you have 2 TBSP (4 TBSP for 4 servings). Peel and mince garlic. Trim, peel, and thinly slice carrot into ¼-inch-thick rounds.
• In a large bowl, combine beef*, panko, minced onion, half the garlic, half the Italian Seasoning (you’ll use the rest later), ¾ tsp salt (1¼ tsp for 4 servings), and pepper. • Form into 14-16 1-inch meatballs (28- 32 meatballs for 4).
• Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 3-6 minutes (they’ll finish cooking in step 5). TIP: Be sure not to crowd the pot. Cook in batches if necessary. • Turn off heat; transfer meatballs to a plate. Carefully wash out pot.
• Return same pot to medium-high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil, diced onion, and carrot; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and slightly softened, 3-4 minutes. • Add remaining garlic and Italian Seasoning; cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. • Stir in stock concentrates, 3½ cups water (6 cups for 4 servings), and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, remove and discard any large stems from kale; chop or cut any large pieces if necessary. • Add half the kale and half the couscous (all the kale and couscous for 4 servings) to pot. Cook until couscous and carrot are tender and kale has softened, 8-10 minutes. • In the last 2-3 minutes of cooking, return meatballs to pot and cook until cooked through. Taste and season generously with salt and pepper.
• Divide soup between bowls. Top with Parmesan and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the flavorful meatballs and hearty broth, though some found it bland and added extra seasoning.
- Ease of prep: Quick and simple to make, though a few noted the meatballs were tricky to brown in the pan.
- Suggestions: Consider using spinach instead of kale, adding more broth, and making smaller meatballs for easier eating.
- Portions: Generous servings; many got 3-4 meals from the 2-serving recipe.
- Leftovers: Tastes even better the next day as flavors marry overnight in the fridge.
Reviews from our home cooks
The soup was really delicious and filling. The only downside was that the 2-serving recipe only called for half of the couscous and half of the kale. We ended up putting it all in for a heartier dish. Also, the Italian seasoning was labeled a tablespoon, but only contained about 1/2 tablespoon in the packet.
I feel like HelloFresh is getting a little skimpy with their ingredients. I had to add more carrots and couscous to this recipe. But I have to say as an Italian wedding soup lover this one is on point!!
Love a good Italian wedding soup! It's a classic taste through and through. It did require a fair amount of added salt and pepper in the end to make it perfect though. And some sort of bread would have been nice to have with it as well. Otherwise amazing!
This soup was very good! I used all the couscous and all the kale, added some extra garlic. I made smaller meatballs and just let them cook in the broth without being browned. Added some extra water, and a little bouillon because of the extra water. Definitely going to have this one again!!
A bit different than any Wedding soup I've had before, but it was very good...I think I'd call it meatball soup. It was delicious with a warm, crusty French baguette and butter, and tasted just as good the next day.
Very good! I am loving your soups with all the couscous, veggies and kale. The meatballs could have had a bit more flavor, so I added some red pepper flakes for a kick.
I purchased some extra Israeli couscous from the market and added that to the soup. In my opinion that made it perfect and more hearty. The kale was super fresh, the amount of meat was spot on and the broth itself had so much flavor. Our family of four and a half loved it! I served it with some baked bread and crackers and we even had a small amount left over! Delicious!
If you are afraid of kale don't be! It was delicious in this soup! First time I have had homemade Italian wedding soup and it was so good!
Remember when you got sick and ate chicken noodle soup, it's like that, except classy chicken noodle soup with meatballs instead of chicken. Progresso also does sell Italian wedding style soup, but making it fresh hits different
I must admit that the recipe as written made it extremely bland. I doctored it up by adding more garlic and Italian seasoning. I also cooked it longer with the meatballs in the soup than your 2-3 minutes. That gave the flavors of the meat time to also flavor the broth. Once it was doctored up, it turned out really good and we were wishing there was more.
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