Spring Minestrone With Chicken Meatballs (2024)

6 ounces ground chicken (about 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan, divided, plus more for garnish

4 garlic cloves, 2 minced, 2 thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 large egg, whisked to blend

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, sliced into 1/4" rounds

5 cups low-salt chicken broth

3/4 cup ditalini or other small pasta

1 cup 1/2" rounds peeled carrots

1 cup (packed) baby spinach

Chopped fresh basil

Per serving: 370 calories

16 g fat

3 g fiber

#### Nutritional analysis provided by Bon Appétit

Leave a Review

• It always beats me how the people who time preparation of these recipes come up with a number so far from my experience. This took me about 1 hr 45 min to prepare, but I did make a double+ recipe of meatballs since I wanted to use up the whole lb. of ground chicken. I went with quinoa vs the breadcrumbs, and omitted the water for a heartier broth. Mine was tasty but a bit too garlicky. I will make this again and next time use baby kale vs spinach. I would love to know what others served with this dish other than crusty bread.

  • MissMollie

  • California

  • 2/18/2024

• This soup is delicious! My son loves it !

  • Mary Burgesser

  • Mckinney TX

  • 4/30/2023

• I have not made it yet, but I will. Sounds absolutely delicious.

  • Eileen Rex

    See Also

    Carrot Pancakes with Salted Yogurt

  • Las Vegas, Nevada

  • 3/31/2023

• This was fab with a couple tweaks. Added jalapeno to meatballs and 1 Tbsp chile paste to broth for a kick. Delicious.

  • KG

  • Arlington, VA

  • 1/5/2022

• The aliens from area 53.22 are here.They escaped and are craving soup.So I am preparing a feast for them.I hope I am not the feast, so I bought some chickens.They are examing the chickens using their alien forensics.They say that the DNA of chickens resembles the DNA of humanity.I am insulted, but I decline to enter into discourse with them.I need help to subdue these evil aliens.They have crossed time and space barriers to come here.They say that they own Earth and Mars.They say that we are here by their permission.Where is the ghost of Stephen Hawkings when you need him?????

  • Shredded Wit

  • An Omicron free world, honey

  • 12/5/2021

• Okay Recipe Reviewing Purists, I must first admit out of the gates that I gaffed big time on this recipe, so I did not make it as written, though I don't think I did anything that fundamentally altered the core intent of the authoring chef. ;) My first mistake was that in my haste I did not read carefully and just dumped the entire 6tbsp of parmesan into the chicken mixture (which I had scaled up to 8oz since I've got hungry monsters at the table). It was obviously a drier mix, and fearing that it wouldn't bind, or would be too dry when eating, I added a glug of olive oil, too. I didn't have a leek on hand, but happened to have two spring shallots, so I used the greens from both instead. For the veg, I opted for the classic mirepoix effect and used both carrots and celery and I unapologetically added a full 8oz of chopped baby spinach. Lastly, I used orzo for the pasta and am not ashamed to admit that despite having added the second 3tbsp of parm to the meatballs earlier, that I still added the required amount to the broth (for a total of 9 tbsp of cheese in my batch). 30 min after starting, I was done. Served with fresh bread and it all disappeared. Will definitely be adding this to the rotation.

  • andreayung23

  • Northern California

  • 7/23/2021

• Made this last night and it was a big hit. It would be fine as is but following recommendations from others, I baked the meatballs at 425 degrees for 15 minutes so they were not fully cooked but were browned - around 20 minutes. I had tripled the meatball recipe since I had 1 lb ground chicken so I froze 1/3 and used some with pasta on another night for one who doesn't like beef meatballs). Made the meatballs bigger than 1/2 inch to cut down on prep time. They are REALLY good although I didn't read the recipe all the way through and added more parmesan cheese than called for but hey - more cheese never hurts.) The only other changes I made were to use 8 cups of chicken broth instead of 5 broth+2 water and to substitute farro for the pasta to punch up the protein and for flavor. (It would also freeze better if we had any left over.) The fresh basil was a really nice finish for flavor. I thought the soup might be bland but somehow it all came together and was a perfect dinner served with warm bread.

  • sbreiden

  • Hershey, PA

  • 4/8/2021

• Just made this and totally amazing. Very easy to make, really tasty and has very traditional homely flavours. My partner says this is the best soup we've ever made! May try baking the meatballs, although this may lose some of the flavours they leave behind in the pot for the leeks to absorb. Will definately make again.

  • Sharkfin63

  • Glasgow, UK

  • 4/8/2021

• Great soup. I also used basil instead of chives, having read the reviews. No pasta - I added cabbage. Since I had ground turkey in the freezer, I used it instead of chicken. Next time, I will take other reviewers' advice and bake the meatballs in the oven instead of browning them. It is a lot of work to make the meatballs, at least to me, so it is advisable to make more and freeze for future use.

  • Anonymous

  • Baton Rouge, LA

  • 10/26/2020

• This recipe is on regular rotation at my house, all year long. I make a double-batch of meatballs, chicken when I can find it, ground turkey when I cannot find chicken, and freeze them in freezer bags, so that I can toss them into the broth, which is a huge time-saver. I typically dice green zucchini, and yellow crook-neck squash, and throw in diced red bell pepper when I add the spinach. If I can't find ditalini pasta at the store, I use orzo. Always delicious, winter or summer.

  • ski2va

  • Dallas, TX

  • 5/17/2020

• I continue to make this time and again, AS IS everyone loves it, I usually make a double batch, sometimes I cook the meatballs in the oven when making a large batch but do take care not to dry them out.

  • ju1244

  • Beverly Hills

  • 2/12/2020

• We loved this! Truth: skipped the chives and added basil into the meatballs instead, they were really good. I will try another reviewer's suggestion to bake the meatballs instead of browning them in olive oil, seems like a healthier option. It was a nice, simple, satisfying meal on a cold night.

  • Anonymous

  • Orange County, CA

  • 3/8/2018

• I've made this several times. Only change I now make is cooking the meatballs on a foil- lined baking sheet instead of browning them and picking up all of that extra oil. Always good. When I make for my gluten-obnoxious friends I add cannellini beans in place of pasta.

  • ju1244

  • Beverly Hills, CA

  • 5/12/2017

• The soup itself is simple, and satisfying, but my family was NOT a fan of the chicken meatballs. I would just put chicken chunks in the soup if I make it again.

  • laallen

  • San Francisco, CA

  • 3/26/2017

• Solid and easy soup.

  • Anonymous

  • NC

  • 1/10/2017

TagsSoupSoup/StewMeatballDitaliniPastaItalianEuropeanGround ChickenChickenPoultryCarrotRoot VegetableVegetableSpinachLeafy GreensMainDinnerNut FreeEasyWeeknight MealsSimmerEasterSpringBon Appétit