Turkey Meatball Soup with Orzo Recipe

This mild and savory turkey meatball soup recipe is made with tender mini meatballs, orzo, and recent kale. It’s easy, nourishing, and simply scrumptious.

I’m at all times within the temper for soup. They’re comforting, normally one-pot recipes, and since we’re massive on hearty soups, they’re at all times satisfying. This turkey meatball soup hits all the appropriate notes, and I’m so pleased we’ve added it to our ever-growing listing of straightforward soup recipes.

Because of the protein-packed meatballs and orzo, this soup stands completely by itself, no sides wanted. It’s additionally nice for making forward of time. Simply needless to say the orzo will proceed to soak up the broth because it sits. In the event you’re reheating it the following day, merely add a splash of additional broth to carry it again to that brothy soup consistency (or don’t, it’s nonetheless scrumptious!).

Key Elements

• Floor Turkey: For one of the best outcomes, use floor darkish meat or floor turkey that’s at the very least 7% fats. Any leaner and the meatballs might be dry and crumbly quite than juicy. Floor rooster or floor pork are nice substitutes. The truth is, I exploit a mixture of rooster and pork in our well-liked Italian marriage ceremony soup recipe.
• Spices: You’ll combine a little bit salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and pepper flakes (I like gochugaru, however crushed pink pepper flakes are positive) into the turkey to make the meatballs. Then, the soup has floor fennel and bay leaves. Each make our broth severely tasty.
• Onions, Carrots, and Garlic: We wished this to be a weeknight-friendly soup, which implies prep must be minimal. So, we maintain the bottom easy with onion (yellow or candy onion are nice), carrots, and garlic.
• Inventory: Use a flavorful rooster or turkey inventory. Retailer-bought is okay, simply use one thing you take pleasure in. Bone broth can also be nice and can bump up the protein. For home made, right here’s our rooster inventory recipe and right here’s our bone broth recipe.
• Orzo: Any small pasta form will work, however our household loves orzo in soup. The starch within the pasta helps thicken the soup’s broth a bit, giving it a creamier texture with none added dairy.
• Kale: We stir a complete bunch of kale into the broth proper on the finish. If kale is just too hearty for you, spinach or cabbage are glorious options.

Discover the total recipe with measurements beneath.

The best way to Make Turkey Meatball Soup

Tip 1: Make the meatballs. This recipe makes use of mini meatballs made with seasoned floor turkey, which we pinch off and roll into little balls. These aren’t like our traditional meatballs or Italian meatballs, which have breadcrumbs and egg, however are easier and prove with an nearly bouncy texture within the soup.

To make them, combine the bottom turkey with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and a little bit of pepper flakes. Then pinch off little bits of the meat (round 1/2 tablespoon’s value), and roll into little balls.

Tip 2: Brown the meatballs. To construct taste into the bottom of our soup and add a little bit coloration to our meatballs, you’ll brown them in olive oil earlier than making the broth. You aren’t seeking to prepare dinner them throughout (that may occur later because the meatballs simmer within the soup). When you have a large soup pot, you could match them multi function go; in any other case, contemplate browning in batches (they take 5 to 7 minutes to brown).

Tip 3: Construct the soup base. After browning, you’ll transfer the meatballs to a plate and set them apart. The pot might be left with some oil and browned, caught bits on the backside. That is the place a number of taste lives, so toss in your onions, carrots, garlic, fennel, and bay leaves, then prepare dinner them till they start to melt. The moisture from the onions will launch, serving to you scrape up the caught bits from the underside of the pan.

Tip 4: Simmer, however not for lengthy. When the onions and carrots are starting to show tender, pour within the inventory and add the meatballs again. The broth will style a bit lackluster at this level, however after simmering the meatballs and including the orzo later, it can remodel into a stunning, savory broth. You’ll simmer for about 10 minutes.

Tip 5: Add the pasta and prepare dinner simply till tender. In goes the orzo. You’ll proceed to simmer for five to 7 minutes (or till the orzo is tender). Because it cooks within the soup, it releases taste and a few starch, which thickens the broth properly, giving it a extra luxurious mouthfeel.

Tip 6: End with a lot of kale. As soon as your orzo is tender, stir in a lot of greens (that’s kale in our images). Then, let the soup simmer just a few extra minutes so it wilts down and turns into tender. Don’t simmer too lengthy, although, you need that vivid inexperienced coloration!

Serving Ideas

This soup is fabulous proper out of the pot, however if you wish to make it much more scrumptious, contemplate grating some Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese excessive. It’s additionally beautiful with a pop of lemon (I simply squeeze a lemon wedge over my bowl).

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