Meatball Tomato Soup

Meatball Tomato Soup is a quick and easy soup done on the stove top. Packed with beans, zucchini and juicy beef meatballs this soup is loaded with taste and texture. Tomato meatball soup is a recipe the whole family can enjoy together!

Recipes like the Meatballs Alfredo, Pork Meatballs and the Baked Meatballs In Sauce are all about the meatballs.

The Mexican Beef Soup, Chicken Corn Noodle Soup and the Pumpkin Soup are all about slurp worthy soup recipes.

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:

• Budget friendly: this soup won't break the bank. The beef mince is often on special at the supermarket so you can stock up on it when you see it and freeze it until you are ready to make the soup.
• Grocery store ingredients: everything that you need to make the soup can be sought from your local grocery store. You might also have some of the staples in your cupboard or pantry already!
• Family friendly: everyone can get together around the table and enjoy a bowl of this soup. There is no 'hot' or 'spicy' flavors so it is suitable for young and old.
• Taste and texture: whilst we all love a creamy smooth soup at times, this one ain't it. It is absolutely loaded with taste and texture, so much so that you will cast your eye over spoonful before it goes into your mouth just to see the variety that you can taste with every single mouthful.
• Comfort food: some comfort foods are so because of the cream, cheese and pasta. Some are so because every mouthful of the recipe is delicious and able to be enjoyed. This soup ticks the latter of the boxes. There is no cream, cheese or pasta involved but you will feel nourished and comforted by the delicious flavours and textures involved in the soup.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.

As you can see the recipe calls for:

• Olive oil: we use this to help brown the meatballs.
• Salt and pepper: we use salt and a little black pepper to season the meatballs.
• Dried parsley: is used in the meat mixture to give the meatballs an Italian flavor.
• Garlic powder: this gets added to the meatball mix for seasoning also.
• Onion powder: as above. These 2 are fantastic pantry staples to have at home.
• Egg: we use this like glue to stick the wet meatball mixture together.
• Panko breadcrumbs: these go into the meatball mixture to help absorb moisture keeping the meatballs nice and juicy.
• Beef mince (ground beef): this is an excellent cut of meat. It is versatile, inexpensive and works for a wide variety of recipes.
• Zucchini: this vegetable is great to use in soups as it holds its own and softens beautifully in the soup liquids. Easy to prepare, we cut the base and top off and then slice it into thin pieces.
• Red kidney beans: add a lovely soft texture to the soup. These are from a tin and we only need to drain and rinse them.
• Diced tomatoes: add a lovely chunky tomato texture and flavor to the soup.
• Vegetable stock: this forms the main liquid component for our soup.
• Onion: we peel and dice half of a white onion (or a brown onion). Doing so creates the flavor base for our soup of juicy beef and sauteed onions. It is a winning combination from the get go.

Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by making the meatballs.

• Add meatball ingredients to a bowl (Photo 1)
• Use clean hands to combine (Photo 2)
• Portion (Photo 3)
• Roll into meatballs (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Meatball Tomato Soup

We start the recipe by making the meatballs. To do so add the beef mince, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, salt, pepper and egg to a mixing bowl.

Then use clean hands to combine.

Next take a mini cookie scoop and portion the meat mixture out across the chopping board.

Then use the palms of your hands to roll each portion into a meatball. Repeat until all of the mixture is rolled.

• Add oil, meatballs and onion (Photo 5)
• Brown, then use paper towel to absorb the excess oil (Photo 6)
• Pour in the vegetable stock (Photo 7)
• Then add the diced tomatoes (Photo 8)

🥣 Tomato Meatball Soup

Work in 2 batches to brown the meatballs. Do this by placing the Dutch oven onto the stove top, turning the heat to high and adding the olive oil. The transfer in half of the rolled meatballs and the onion.

Brown these meatballs for 5-6 minutes before using a slotted spoon to lift them up and out of the pan once browned. Place these into a paper towel lined bowl and then brown the remaining half of the meatballs.

Once all of the meatballs are browned, fold a piece of paper towel and use the tongs to dab it into the base of the pan to absorb the excess oil.

Add the 1st batch of browned meatballs back to the pan and then pour in the vegetable stock. Next add the diced tomatoes.

• Add the red kidney beans (Photo 9)

Next add the beans to the soup as shown in the photo above.

Once that is done you can add the sliced zucchini as shown in the photo below.

• Add the zucchini (Photo 10)

Once you have added the beans and the zucchini you can then let the soup cook for 15 - 20 minutes on the stove.

Doing so allows the meatballs to cook through, the zucchini to soften and for everything to heat through.

• Cook the soup for 15-20 minutes (Photo 11)

Once that is done you can get ready to get your garnish on with some cracked pepper and parsley.

These 2 add a lovely finishing touch to the soup as well as colour and seasoning.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

If you want a bread to go on the side of your soup try the Turkish Garlic Bread, Garlic Pizza Bread or Ciabatta Garlic Bread. Fresh, crusty bread will work too if you want to get your dunk on.

If you are a soup and potatoes person try the Duck Fat Potatoes or the Roast Potatoes.

Otherwise, you will likely only need a seasoning with some black pepper and a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley.

These offer great finishing touches and a little extra colour to the soup.

You can choose to place the Dutch oven into the centre of the table like it is your masterpiece or you can portion into the bowls before you get to the table.

You my friend can do whichever works best for you. In each case, I find it best to move the bowls as close as I can to the serving bowls as to reduce the drips from one to the other.

Remember what I was saying earlier about the textures? That photo above my friend is what I am saying. You might like to think of it as soup for your meatballs as opposed to meatball soup 😂👍.

Either way it's going to be a 'Winner Winner Meatball Soup Dinner' at your place when you make it.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

The next day leftovers taste even better than the day that the soup was cooked!

Allow the soup to cool down then portion into an airtight container and place into the fridge. They can be kept for 2-3 days and need to be reheated before being consumed.

How to Reheat

Add left over soup to a bowl and cover with cling wrap.

Place in the microwave and heat on high for about 2 minutes. Then taste, stir and heat for a further minute if needed.

How to Freeze

Allow the soup to fully cool before portioning into sealed, airtight containers.

Stack the containers in the freezer. Frozen portions of the soup can be in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Thaw completely before reheating in the microwave or a stock pot on the stove till warmed through.

If you have frozen the beef mince it is not recommended to refreeze leftovers of the soup.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• You can use crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes.
• For both versions try and get the plain variety. Other versions have extra herbs which we don't need or want in our soup (we bring the flavor and we know what flavor it is we bring 😉👍).
• You can dice a red onion in place of the white onion.
• Regular breadcrumbs can be substitute for the panko breadcrumbs.
• Black beans can be substituted for the red kidney beans.
• Italian seasoning (combination) can be used in place of the dried parsley if you want to make that switch.
• Pork mince (ground pork), chicken or turkey can be used in place of the beef mince.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

• A mini cookie scoop is very helpful to portion the meat mixture (as one step) and then roll the meatballs (2nd step). This way all of your meatballs will be the same size.
• If you don't have a mini cookie scoop you can use a soup spoon to portion the meat.
• We are browning the meatballs in the oven as a starting point, but they will finish cooking in the liquids in the soup.
• As we are not fully cooking the meatballs when frying them. We want to be a little gentle with them as they will not be fully cooked until they have sat in the soup liquids for a bit. If we are too heavy handed we risk breaking them apart oh no!! 😭.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

How do you keep meatballs from falling apart in soup?

An egg is the ingredient needed to bind the meatballs together. An extra step before putting raw meatballs into soup is to brown them in oil. Doing so sealed the outsides of the meatballs ensuring that they will not fall apart when you add them to the soup to cook.

Can you simmer meatballs too long?

Yes. It is possible to simmer meatballs too long over cooking them. To avoid this ensure that once the browned meatballs have been placed in the soup they are cooked for no longer than 15 to 20 minutes. This allows them to finish cooking but not over cook them.

How to jazz up plain tomato soup?

Here are some ideas to jazz up plain tomato soup:

• Grate some parmesan cheese over the top.
• Sprinkle some fresh herbs over the top.
• Season the soup with pepper.
• Add some beans to the soup.
• Fry some bacon and add it to the soup.

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

Getting dinner on the table is easy...when you have some reliable recipes up your sleeve. These ones offer a variety of tastes, textures and proteins. Also, you will notice some with longer cook times. These are perfect for weekends when you are less busy than weeknights:

• Chicken Ribs (Baked then Grilled)
• Blue Cheese Mac and Cheese
• Chipolatas with Baked Beans
• Meatballs With Polenta In Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Mac and Cheese
• Beef Ribs (Baked Then Grilled)

It is time to get our soup on my friend, byo spoon 😂👍. You can also find al of my dinner recipes in the one spot!

Adrianne

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