Vegan Italian Wedding Soup that replicates the classic Italian staple. Tiny pasta, tiny meatballs and escarole make this hearty soup a recipe your family will love for dinner or any meal!
Tips for the best Vegan Italian Wedding Soup
This vegan Italian wedding soup recipe has been on our list to add to our website since inception basically, so we are very excited to finally have it here! Here’s some tips to make sure it tastes even better than you remember it:
- Frying the meatballs is a must for us here. We realize cooking them raw in the broth is a common method, but the browning adds such great flavor and texture here.
- Make the meatballs small. We tried this recipe with different size meatballs, and we found that smaller bite size meatballs make it much easier and more enjoyable to eat.
- Use tiny pasta! That’s one of the signatures of this recipe that sets it apart from other soups.
- Top with parmesan! You can use your favorite shredded brand or we like to use Go Veggie grated parmesan. This garnish really completes this recipe.
What type of tiny pasta should you use for this recipe?
We typically would use Acini di pepe since it’s most traditional. Acini di pepe are the tiny round pasta you can find in most grocery stores in the pasta section.
We, ironically enough, could not find it on the day we took photos for this recipe. We subbed orzo, which is perfectly fine and just as delicious.
Just a heads up, no matter which pasta you use, the soup will most likely be thicker the next day. This is from the pasta absorbing more of the broth overnight. You can combat this by leaving the pasta out of the soup and pouring hot soup over it in a bowl upon serving.
Can I substitute other greens in this Vegan Italian Wedding Soup?
Absolutely! The most traditional greens to use in this would be escarole, but there are many options to sub in if you prefer.
We’d honestly never used escarole in any recipe before this one, so we understand if you have reservations or aren’t sure what to expect.
Escarole is pretty mild but fits in perfectly for this vegan Italian wedding soup. If you cannot find it or have other greens you need to use up, kale, spinach or endive work just as well.
More soup recipes you might like
If you try this recipe, please comment/rate below and tag us on Instagram or Facebook @pastabased!
The BEST Vegan Italian Wedding Soup! Filled with tiny browned meatballs, tiny pasta, fresh veggies and of course plenty of garlic. Comfort food for any day of the year!
- 40 teaspoon-sized vegan meatballs such as Beyond Meatballs
- 4 tablespoons olive oil separated
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 2 large celery diced
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 head escarole chopped
- 1 cup small pasta such as acini di pepe, orzo, or ditalini
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Roll raw vegan meatballs into teaspoon size balls. If using Beyond Meatballs, divide each meatball into quarters and roll into tiny balls. Set aside.
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Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan on medium heat. Once hot, carefully add the meatballs to the pan.
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Cook the meatballs, continuously turning, for 7-8 minutes or until browned.
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Remove meatballs using a slotted spoon and place on a plate with paper towels to drain any extra oil.
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In a large soup pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-heat. Add the minced garlic, chopped onion, diced celery, and diced carrots to the pot. Cook until soft, stirring frequently (about 10 minutes).
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Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Add the pan-fried vegan meatballs, escarole, and small pasta* and stir to combine. Cook until pasta is al dente. Serve warm and enjoy!
*Sometimes we won’t combine the small pasta with the main soup to prevent it from getting soggy or absorbing too much broth. We’ll cook the pasta first and set it aside, adding a scoop as necessary.
