🇮🇹 Italian
Italian Wedding Soup (Minestra Maritata)
⏱ 50 min
🍞
🍽 6-8 (big family pot) servings
⭐ 5/5
⚠️ Estimates only — not medical advice. Carb counts vary by brand and portion. Always verify with your endo or CDCES.
🌍 Cultural note
Despite the name, this soup has nothing to do with weddings — it comes from *minestra maritata*, meaning the meat and greens are "married" together in the broth. Italian-American grandmas have been ladling this into kids' bowls forever, and it's one of those soups that tastes like being taken care of. Nobody makes a single bowl — you make a big pot, you eat it all week, you freeze the rest. The mini meatballs are the magic — kids count them, fight over them, ask for more. Below, the kid carb math is broken out.
🍽️ Kid's plate — the carb math
From this pot, build your child's bowl:
| Kid portion | Carbs |
|---|---|
| 4-5 mini meatballs + 1 cup broth/greens (no pasta) | ~7g |
| 4-5 mini meatballs + 1 cup broth/greens + 2 tbsp acini di pepe | ~14g |
| 4-5 mini meatballs + 1 cup broth/greens + ¼ cup acini di pepe | ~18g |
| 4-5 mini meatballs + 1 cup broth/greens + ¼ cup Banza orzo | ~10g |
Adults take the full bowl (7-8 meatballs + ⅓-½ cup pasta). The pot feeds everyone.
Why this recipe is T1D-friendly
- No-pasta version is naturally ~7g per bowl — almost a free meal
- Protein-rich (meatballs + broth) keeps glucose steady for hours
- Escarole adds fiber that further softens the curve
- Make a big pot, freeze portions — sick-day friendly when appetite is low
Ingredients
Mini meatballs
- ¾ lb ground beef
- ¾ lb ground pork or chicken
- ½ cup almond flour OR ⅓ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup grated parmigiano
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- ¾ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, ¼ tsp nutmeg
Soup
- 10 cups good chicken broth (low-sodium)
- 1 medium head escarole, washed + chopped — or sub baby spinach
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup acini di pepe or orzo, optional — kept separate, see Dash's tip
- Grated parm + lemon wedge for serving
Directions
- In a bowl, gently mix all meatball ingredients. Roll into TINY meatballs — marble-sized (¾ inch). Makes 55-65.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a big pot over medium. Sauté onion, carrot, celery 5 min until soft.
- Add garlic, cook 30 sec.
- Pour in chicken broth, bring to a gentle simmer.
- Drop mini meatballs into simmering broth one by one. Don't stir for the first 3 min — let them set up.
- Simmer 12 min until meatballs are cooked through.
- Add chopped escarole, simmer 3-5 min until wilted and tender.
- Pasta tip: cook the acini di pepe SEPARATELY in salted water, drain. Add to individual bowls at the table — that way leftover soup doesn't get gummy with bloated pasta, AND each bowl can be portioned for the eater.
- Taste, adjust salt + pepper.
- Ladle into bowls at the table — kid's bowl first. Top with parm + a tiny squeeze of lemon.
Dash's kid tips 🐆
- Freeze the soup in mason jars (without pasta). This is a freezer hero — pull a jar out, microwave, add a measured pasta scoop fresh. The meatballs hold up perfectly. Mason jars are the right portion size for school-thermos days.
- Make the meatballs WITH your kid — small hands love rolling tiny meatballs
- Serve in a mug with a spoon for cold-day cuddles on the couch
- A "I get to count my meatballs" bowl is a Dash favorite