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Cozy and nutritious, this easy vegan Italian wedding soup is perfect to warm your body and your soul.
Vegan Italian Wedding Soup
Even though it is currently 75 degrees in FEBRUARY here in the southeast of the USA, it's still winter and I'm eating soup, dangit!
Today we are slurpin' on this vegan Italian wedding soup made with whatever vegan meatballs you love. Traditional Italian wedding soup calls for beef or pork meatballs. But there are tons of vegan-friendly options out there.
Vegan Meatball Options
- Homemade chickpea meatballs
- Homemade lentil meatballs
- Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs
- Gardein Meatballs
My personal preference for this soup is either the chickpea meatballs or Gardein meatballs.
How to Make Vegan Italian Wedding Soup
Firstly, I make sure I have my meatballs made. Homemade meatballs should be made ahead of time, or at least popped in the oven, before you make this soup so they will be ready to go when the soup is finished.
The next step is to cook the orzo pasta. It is important to slightly under-cook the pasta by a couple minutes so it doesn't get mushy when you simmer it in the soup. I don't cook it completely with the soup because then the orzo would suck up all the stock.
The base of this soup is simply a veggie broth or stock. You can easily make homemade vegetable stock. Or, if you're in a time crunch, grab some vegetable bouillon paste from the store and mix up some veggie broth super quick (which is currently my favorite method!)
Add the broth, fresh baby spinach, cooked orzo, and a bunch of delicious Italian seasonings to a big pot and bring it to a simmer.
I highly recommended using fresh baby spinach - it doesn't have the weird aftertaste that frozen or canned spinach has.
After simmering for about five minutes, the spinach will be wilted, and the orzo cooked through. Time to eat.
Ladle that delicious vegan Italian wedding soup into a bowl and top with your vegan meatballs!
If making the chickpea meatballs, I add them to the bowl instead of simmering with the soup because they have a tendency to break apart. Store-bought meatballs hold up better because they are typically made with vital wheat gluten (seitan), so you can simmer them with the soup.
Vegan Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
- vegan meatballs
- ½ cup dry orzo pasta
- 7-8 cups vegetable broth
- 1.5 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon basil
- ½ teaspoon marjoram
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cup packed baby spinach
Instructions
- Get the meatballs ready - whether they are homemade or store-bought.
- Cook the orzo pasta according to the package instructions. Undercook by a couple minutes.
- In a large soup pot, add in the vegetable broth, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, marjoram, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the orzo and the baby spinach into the pot. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve the soup in bowls and add in the vegan meatballs.
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