Tomato Soup with Chicken Pesto Meatballs and Pasta
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But this soup, I knew I would like. The tomatoes didn’t seem quite as prevalent, and clearly with both meatballs and pasta, this soup is pretty hearty. Bridget said the meatballs and pasta almost put this in the Spaghettios category and I would probably agree, but I’ve literally had Spaghettios only once in my life, in college, so I’m not really experienced enough to make that comparison (let’s be real, though, we all know this is way better).
Everyone really loved this soup. Ian finished his before I even had like 3 bites of my salad down, and then continued to grope me with tomato-sauced fingers asking for more until I got him some. (One day, dinners will be a little more…relaxing, right?).
I did increase the amount of broth, not only because of my preference for broth to more tomatoes, but because I made this a day before we were going to eat it, and I knew the ditalini would continue to soak up the liquid overnight. I wanted it to stay a soup, and not…well, a pasta dish.
Now, tell me, what are your favorite soups? Because soups are my FAVORITE thing to make, and once the first one is out of the way (okay, okay, we’ve already had two…), there’s no stopping me.
Tomato Soup with Pasta and Meatballs
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Light & Healthy 2011 via The Way the Cookie Crumbles
Meatballs
1/2 lb. ground chicken (dark meat or a mix of dark and white)
3 Tbsp. pesto
3 Tbsp. breadcrumbs
salt
Soup
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large celery rib, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 qt. chicken broth
1 (28 oz.) diced or whole peeled, chopped tomatoes
6 oz. uncooked small pasta (I used ditalini)
To make the meatballs, lightly mix all the ingredients together and form into about 30 meatballs. (I used around 1/4 heaping tsp. of salt; I didn’t add any salt to my pesto.)
To make the soup: Heat a small stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the oil. Stir in the onion, carrot, celery, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook an additional 5 minutes or so, until the mixture is dry. Add the garlic, stirring until fragrant (30-60 seconds). Stir in the chicken broth and tomatoes and increase the heat, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup (or carefully move the mixture to a food processor and process until smooth, then return to the pot). Season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary.
Bring the mixture to a boil and then add the meatballs and pasta. Cook, stirring often, until the meatballs are cooked and the pasta is tender, about 8 minutes.
I agree with you about soup with substance but disagree with you about tomato soup. 🙂 I actually always add some macaroni noodles to my tomato soup, but more importantly, I mostly use the soup as a dip for my grilled cheese. Still, this soup sounds like the perfect compromise for you since it’s lighter in tomato flavor than other tomato soups. I’m glad you guys all liked it!
My favorite soups are the ones with no nutritionally redeeming qualities. I love tomato soup, the more cream the better, lobster bisque, she crab chowder, butter nut squash soup…
This soup looks delicious! Pinned and will be making very soon. I love soups for dinner when it gets cold out – but agree that they need substance if they’re going to be a meal! Here’s some of my faves:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/lemon-chicken-orzo-soup/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/minestrone-soup-recipe.html
http://www.teeniecakes.com/pasta-soup-sopa-with-chicken-and-vegetables/
I just posted a soup today too! Twins. Love it.
I actually LOVE tomato soup, especially with fun mix-ins like these. I also wouldn’t say no to a grilled cheese on the side…
Can’t wait to try this. I never met a soup I didn’t like. I’m currently in love with loaded baked potatoe soup (come on: cheese and sour cream with bacon???) And I love a simple chicken stock with wilted spinach and drizzled in scrambled egg. Sometimes I add white beans to make it a little heartier.
This is going on my list of soups to make for fall – my son loves meatballs and anything resembling spaghetti-o’s. I use ditalini in my pasta e fagioli (favorite soup), and corn chowder and ham and bean soup are on my menu as well.
I love the idea of pesto meatballs! And the tomato soup looks amazing too. I’ll need to make this now that it’s getting cold!
Any excuse to have meatballs is one of my life’s mantras. Luckily I am a year round soup fan. This is a tasty partnership as far as I am concerned.
I LOVE soup! Some of my favorites are minestrone soup from Cooking Light, cream of crab soup, Italian wedding soup (love the little meatballs), tortellini soup with kale, white beans, kielbasa (Gourmet), ham and bean soup, crab and shrimp soup…okay, maybe I don’t have favorites. I love them all! I also like soups with substance as we often eat them for dinner with a salad.
Just made this tonight and we all loved it!! HUGE fans of soup around here. There’s a ton on my wegotfed blog, but our absolute faves are potato leek and chicken wild rice. And we also have chili probably 2-3x a month except in the absolute hottest months (weeks?) of summer!
Awesome, glad it was a hit!
Looks like a perfect weekend here for soup (cold, windy, snow…)! Can’t wait to try this one.
What are your thoughts on using ground beef instead of ground chicken? There’s a quarter of a cow in my freezer, so I hate to go buy chicken when I have beef.
Hi Beth. I think it would be totally fine with the ground beef. My only hesitation would be if it weren’t a lean beef (since the meatballs cook in the soup and it could cause it to become greasy).