This kale meatball soup is my favorite cozy soup recipe. It's loaded with meatballs, kale, sun dried tomatoes, pesto, assorted vegetables, and parmesan cheese. The broth tastes like it's been cooking for hours, and it's so so wholesome and delicious.
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Why We Love This Soup
This meatball and vegetable soup is perfect for a cold winter day. It's super comforting without being heavy. It is kind of like Italian wedding soup, but without pasta and with a more complex broth. It's also a great meal-prep soup because it tastes great for several days.
If you like this soup, try our cauliflower and baked potato soup or turkey lasagna soup.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Cooked Frozen Meatballs: We use pre-made meatballs to speed things up. We love Italian-style meatballs and get them at Trader Joe's or Sam's Club. Most grocery stores carry pre-made frozen meatballs. Feel free to make your own if you prefer.
Pesto: You can use store-bought or make your own. We have a great pesto recipe if you want to make your own—it's super easy and happens to be dairy free.
Sun dried tomatoes: We buy sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. They come in a jar and are usually near the pickles and olives in the grocery store.
Chicken broth: We use bone broth, but regular chicken broth works fine too.
Kale: We cut our kale off of the stem and chop it into very small pieces. If you don't like kale, spinach works well too. You can follow the same instructions.
Milk: We use whole milk, but 2% also works. You can also omit the milk altogether, but we like the subtle creaminess it adds.
Fresh parmesan: You don't have to grate your own parmesan, but buy the good stuff in the refrigerated section, not the fake stuff in the cylindrical canisters.
See recipe card for full ingredient list and amounts.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add oil to a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add celery, onions, and carrots, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften.
Step 2: Add meatballs, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add chicken broth, water, lemon juice, and pesto. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.
Step 3: Once the soup is boiling, turn the heat to medium and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Step 4: Add kale to the pot and cook for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat and stir in the milk and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately and top with extra parmesan.
Frequently asked questions
Yes! Use our dairy-free pesto recipe and omit the milk and parmesan cheese. It'll still taste great!
Sure! Adding pasta to this soup would make it more similar to Italian wedding soup. Any small tubular pasta should work. Just boil the pasta separately and add it to the soup at the end. Keep in mind that the pasta will absorb some of the broth, so you may want to add more liquid.
Sure! Spinach also works super well in this soup.
Serving Ideas
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📖 Recipe
Kale Meatball Soup
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This kale meatball soup is my favorite cozy soup recipe. It's loaded with meatballs, kale, sun dried tomatoes, pesto, assorted vegetables, and parmesan cheese. The broth tastes like it's been cooking for hours, and it's so so wholesome and delicious.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 pound cooked Italian-style meatballs (we use frozen pre-cooked meatballs)
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
6 cups chicken bone broth
1 cup water
Juice of 1 lemon
½ cup pesto
4 cups kale, removed from the stem and chopped small
1.5 cups whole milk (2% works also)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add oil to a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add celery, onions, and carrots, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften.
- Add meatballs, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add chicken broth, water, lemon juice, and pesto. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Once the soup is boiling, turn the heat to medium and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add kale to the pot and cook for 3 minutes. Then turn off the heat and stir in the milk and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately and top with extra parmesan.
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅙th of the soup
- Calories: 436
- Sugar: 13 g
- Sodium: 2015.7 mg
- Fat: 30.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.9 g
- Protein: 20 g
- Cholesterol: 60.9 mg
Sharie S. says
Very hearty and full of flavor!
Michael says
Absolutely love this soup recipe!
Sharie says
Love this recipe and easy to make! Full of flavor and very hearty! I love the added greens to it. Make your own meatballs or use store bought, either way it’s wonderful!
Ronda M. says
Soup was delicious and made great left overs.
Brian says
Really good soup!
Sharie says
Made this for the family the other day and they all loved it! Also makes great leftovers.
Sam H says
Delish!!!! Real winner, saving this one!!!
Curtis Brothers says
Holy meatballs. Delicious. When my wife bought the healthy meatballs (turkey), I gave her the side eye, but it was still so flavorful. Always nice to eat a bunch of veggies and still enjoy the taste. This one is going in the rotation of the Brothers' household.
Tyler says
Soup tasted amazing, directions were simple enough to follow that anyone can create this masterpiece.