Recipe - Italian Wedding Soup

During my February vacation we were scheduled to have a snowy afternoon. Naturally, my mind went straight to the crock pot! This soup was a winner in our house. The kids weren’t crazy about the kale (Zach called it seaweed). They ate some of the kale and then picked around it. My children are slightly picky (Dom is getting much better), so if they enjoyed it I consider it to be a huge endorsement!

It was super delicious and we’ll definitely make it again. The drawbacks (to me) are that the prep takes a little bit of time (it took me about 30 minutes to make the meatballs and get everything else prepped for the crockpot), and the cook time is only 4-6 hours. This is perfect for a day you’re home, or to make on a weekend and have later in the week. But if you’re looking for something you can get together and leave while you’re at work all day, this won’t work. It worked perfectly because I was home for the day.

This recipe came from America’s Test Kitchen - Slow Cooker Revolution (affiliate link). I highly recommend this cookbook - we use it a lot. I actually highly recommend all the America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks. I love that they’ve tried the recipe a ton of ways and tell you why the final version works so well.

Here are the basics - but if you want the real instructions you’ll have to buy the book!

Make meatballs out of bread/milk paste, meatloaf mix, parmesan cheese, parsley, oregano, egg yolk, and garlic. Microwave the meatballs for 5 minutes and transfer to crock pot.

Dice an onion and mix with some EVOO, garlic, and red pepper flakes (which I skipped because my kids would have surely rejected this soup if they caught a hint of spice). Microwave for 5 minutes and put in the crockpot.

Add chicken broth and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Add chopped kale and a cup of orzo (I used some other small pasta we had in the pantry) and cook on high for 30 more minutes.

Delicious! Do you have a favorite crock pot soup? Please share!