Nothing beats a large bowl of traditional Italian wedding soup on cold days of the fall and winter season, but if you're on a keto diet or even low-carb diet, this sensational Italian soup is too high carb to fit into your daily macros. Our Homemade Italian wedding soup is a delicious keto meatball soup with just 5 g net carbs per serving! Enjoy our low carb soup whenever you like without guilt!
What is Italian Wedding Soup?
Have you ever wondered what Italian Wedding Soup actually means? Is it a soup served at weddings in Italy?
Despite its name, the soup isn’t actually served at Italian weddings.
In fact, the name refers to the dish’s nuanced flavors. It’s the marriage of ingredients, not humans, and the result is a delicious, well balanced flavored soup!
This is a low-carb version, minus beans, pasta or rice and using mini meatballs made from a combination of beef and pork.
My mom makes this with Pastina, the smallest tiny pasta produced, but since I eat a ketogenic diet, I opted to leave it out. Low carb options are below if you'd like to include something in its place.
For extra flavor, add parmesan and butter. And finish with a good squeeze of lemon or apple cider vinegar to bring all the flavors’ together, and top with fresh parsley.
How to Make Keto Meatballs
To view exact measurements and print full recipe as well as see nutritional information, please scroll down to the bottom where you will find the recipe card.
Meatball Ingredients
Ground beef you can also swap with ground turkey if you prefer or even ground chicken
Ground pork
Grated parmesan (for dairy-free if making 6 servings use 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast)
Large egg
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180 fan /200C or 400F.
Add the ground beef and pork, grated parmesan, whisked egg, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes to a mixing bowl. Use clean hands to massage everything together until well combined.
Roll the meatball mixture into small meatballs and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (Note: For a serving size of 6, make 20 small meatballs).
Bake the tiny meatballs for 10 minutes or until fully cooked through, turning once.
Option to add 1 tablespoons of avocado oil or ghee to a large dutch oven or non stick frying pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked though. Set aside.
How to Make our Low Carb Keto, but Traditional Soup
Soup Ingredients
Olive oil
Butter (or for dairy-free use olive oil)
Small yellow onion, diced
Carrot, peeled and diced
Celery, diced
Garlic, minced
Salt (or to taste)
Pepper (or to taste)
Dried bay leaves
Chicken broth or chicken stock
Parmesan rind (optional)
Curly kale (or spinach or swiss chard) or any leafy greens you prefer
Lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
Directions
Add olive oil and butter to a large dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Sauté the veggies for 4-5 minutes until softened.
Add the bay leaves, chicken broth and parmesan rind if using. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Cook the soup on a medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes, adding the tender meatballs for last 5 minutes to warm though.
Remove the parmesan rind (if using) and bay leaves. Add in the kale and stir until wilted.
Remove from the heat and stir through the lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Adjust seasoning to taste.
How to Store Leftover Soup
Cool soup completely then add to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 day or freezer for up to two months.
To preheat, allow soup to thaw in fridge overnight and come to room temperature, then reheat a bowl in the microwave for 1 minute or on the stove over low heat for about 20 -30 minutes.
Can I Add Rice to this Soup?
It is totally up to you if you prefer to add some rice to this soup. Just please note, this will increase the carb count that we have listed below in the nutritional information.
Optional low carb rice alternatives:
Shirataki rice- this would be a good replica of using Pastina as my mom would use.
More Keto Recipes you might like:
Slow Cooker Unstuffed Cabbage Roll soup
Instant Pot Italian Sausage Soup
Low-Carb Keto Italian Wedding Soup
Low-Carb Keto Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 8 ounces ground beef
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan (optional) (for dairy-free if making 6 servings use 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast)
- 1 large egg whisked
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- ⅓ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter (or for dairy-free use olive oil)
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- ¾ cup carrot peeled and diced
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 45 ounces chicken broth
- 1 parmesan rind (optional)
- 3.5 ounces kale (or spinach or chard)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
To Serve
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 180 fan /200C or 400F.
- Add the ground beef and pork, grated parmesan (or nutritional yeast), whisked egg, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes to a mixing bowl. Use clean hands to massage everything together until well combined.
- Roll into small meatballs and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (Note: For a serving size of 6, make 20 small meatballs).
- Bake the meatballs for 10 minutes or until fully cooked through, turning once. Option to add 1 tablespoon of avocado oil or ghee to a large dutch oven or non stick frying pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked though.
Soup
- Add olive oil and butter to a large dutch oven or soup pan. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Sauté the veggies for 4-5 minutes until softened.
- Add the bay leaves, chicken broth and parmesan rind if using. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the soup on a med/ low heat for 15 - 20 minutes, adding the meatballs for last 5 minutes to warm though.
- Remove the parmesan rind (if using) and bay leaves. Add in the kale and stir until wilted.
- Remove from the heat and stir through the lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Adjust seasoning to taste.
To Serve
- Serve soup in bowls topped with fresh parmesan and parsley.
Storage
- Cool, then cover in the fridge for 3 days or freezer for 2months.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Susan Benjamin
I made this soup tonight. These are the most flavorful meatballs I have ever eaten! The soup was delicious. Even my picky eaters were happy… you could even use these meatballs with a sugar free spaghetti sauce or a sugar free barbecue sauce for an appetizer! Thank you for all your work in developing these recipes!
Brenda
Thank you so much Susan!
Tay
This recipe was great. It was so warm and savory and just what we needed. I added more salt till it had the flavor I wanted and I used cauliflower rice. It was amazing. Can’t wait to make it again, we loved it.