Italian Wedding Soup
It’s getting to be soup weather! When the temperature outside starts cooling down, nothing warms you up from the inside out like a hot and steamy bowl of soup. I’ve always loved Italian Wedding Soup (it has meatballs in it, what’s not to like??) and this tasty and healthy version using lean turkey meatballs, kale, and whole wheat orzo is no exception. Not only is this super (souper? ha) filling, but a generous serving rings in at just 169 calories or 3 Green, 3 Blue or 2 Purple Weight Watchers SmartPoints! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Looking for more soup ideas? Try my Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup, Butternut Squash Soup, Cheeseburger Soup, Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder, Spaghetti & Meatball Soup, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Roasted Tomato Basil Soup or Pumpkin Apple Bacon Soup.
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
- 6 oz 99% fat free ground turkey breast
- 2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs
- 5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tablespoon skim milk
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- ½ cup diced onion
- 2 medium carrots, grated or diced (I use my Pampered Chef Food Chopper and it only takes 30 seconds to dice them all!)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 64 oz 99% fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup uncooked whole wheat orzo
- 2 cups thinly sliced raw kale
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, garlic powder, one tablespoon of the grated Parmesan, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, egg white and milk. Using your hands (or a spoon), mush all the ingredients together until well combined. Roll meat mixture into 30 separate (3/4” – 1”) mini meatballs.
- In a large stock pot (or a large skillet, but if you cook these in the pot you can totally use one pot for the entire meal and have one less to wash!), bring 2 teaspoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the meatballs to the oil and cook them, stirring occasionally until all sides are browned. Remove meatballs to a dish and set aside.
- Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the pot and continue to heat to medium. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables are softened.
- Add the chicken broth to the vegetables in the stock pot and cover. Bring to a boil and then uncover to add the meatballs, remaining 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of Parmesan, orzo and kale. Stir to combine and make sure the soup is at a boil. Re-cover the pot and return heat to medium to simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes until the orzo and meatballs are cooked through.
Notes
4 per (1 ½ cup) serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)