This Pasta Meatball Soup is the same as hot dog soup except that we remove the skins from Italian sausages to make meatballs and include them in the soup instead of hot dogs. We can also use the homemade Italian Sausage meat mix to shape the meatballs. It’s an incredibly tasty soup, boasting a rich, beefy tomato soup flavor with Italian sausage meatballs. Made even better when served with a piece of buttered bread, dinner roll, garlic bread, or grilled cheese.
Pasta Meatball Soup Ingredients
Italian Sausages, Vegetables (Onion, Carrots, Celery, and Garlic), Tomato Paste, Beef Bouillon Cubes, Pimento Paste, Fat, Smoked Paprika, Lemon Juice, Chickpea Flour, Bay leaves, Short Pasta.
Meatballs
Store-bought Italian sausage or even a homemade Italian sausage can be used here. With a store-bought one, remove the skin and shape into 1/2 Tbl meatballs. For the homemade Italian sausage, you can go straight to making meatballs. Once you have them all made and placed on a baking sheet, transfer the baking sheet to the freezer to freeze the meatballs.
You can make the meatballs larger at 1 Tbl portions or slightly larger, if desired.
Fat
Use a light-tasting EVOO or neutral oil as an all-around fat to use for this soup. Other options are beef suet instead of the oil for an even more beefy taste, which is really the best for this soup. Optionally use minced bacon fried in the pan until crisp. Scoop that out to add back to the soup later or to top the soup when serving. Use the rendered bacon fat to fry up the meatballs & vegetables.
Vegetables
The vegetables used are carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. These are briefly cooked in fat to soften before pouring in the soup base. Additional vegetables, such as a frozen vegetable mix, can also be included during the simmering time or towards the end, depending on how much softening they need.
Optionally, you can go with onions, garlic, and peppers as the vegetables to use, and this combination works well too with Italian sausage meatballs. If you want to increase the heat, add black pepper, chili flakes, cayenne pepper, or chilies.
Pasta
Measure out 1 cup of short pasta like macaroni, cavatappi, rotini, or penne. Add it to the soup after the 20-minute simmer. Bring it back to a hard boil over max heat before covering and removing from the heat to rest 20-25 minutes. The pasta will further soften as the soup rests.
Resistant Starch Pasta
For a cleaner and lighter cooked pasta that creates resistant starch, boil the pasta separately until almost done. Then stop the cooking process by straining and filling the pot up with cold water to cool down the pasta. Repeat as needed until the pasta is cooled. Toss the strained pasta in a bit of oil and refrigerate in an airtight Tupperware container overnight. Then add it to the soup at the very end just to heat through while it is resting.
The other benefit is creating resistant starch in any pasta that is cooked, cooled, and reheated. This creates resistant starch, which lowers blood sugar spikes. Very beneficial for those who have diabetes as a way of minimizing the impact of pasta on blood sugar levels.
Pasta Meatball Soup Base
The Pasta Meatball Soup base is what brings it all together. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and add it after the vegetables have cooked and softened a bit. If a little heat is desired, add some black pepper, chili flakes, cayenne, or chilies to cook with the vegetables.
Beefy Tomato Soup Base Ingredients
- 8 C Water
- 1 C Tomato Paste
- 4 Beef Bouillon Cubes
- 1/2 C Sweet Pimento Paste
- 3 Tbl Smoked Paprika
- 2 Tbl Lemon Juice, & Chickpea Flour, each
- 1/4 tsp Ground Bay Leaves, or use 3-5 Bay Leaves
Broth-forward soup: If a more brothy soup is desired, reduce the tomato paste by half. This will make the soup a bit thinner and bring the beef flavor more forward.
Broth
Beef bouillon is used for this soup. Use Maggi or Knorr bouillon cubes; Maggi is the best. Not only for exceptional flavor, but you also get a lot for very cheap, about $5.00 CAD for 48 bouillon cubes. I do a Food for Thought post just on Maggi Bouillon Cubes and why they really are the best and the various places they are used. Although the beef ones can be hard to find.
Knorr is good too, but you only get 6 bouillon cubes for about $3.00 CAD. You can also use the equivalent amount of beef broth powder. Another one that is good is Aurora Bouillon Cubes, and they’re cheaper too. Hands down though, are the Maggi bouillon cubes; you just get so much for cheaper, and the flavor is so good.
Salt & Pepper Blend
If additional seasoning is needed to lift the flavors, use the salt & pepper blend to season as needed. Just combine all the ingredients into a small bowl and mix. I find this soup doesn’t really need it, but it’s there just in case. Optionally, just season with Pepper to add some heat if desired.
Salt & Pepper Blend
- 1 Tbl Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
Sides
Buttered bread or dinner rolls are the perfect sides for soup. Garlic Bread or a grilled cheese is good too.
Ingredients
- 2-4 Links Italian Sausage - or Homemade Italian Sausage Mix
- 1/4 C Fat
- 1 C Short Pasta
- 3-5 Cloves Garlic - coarsely chopped
- 2 Carrots & Celery - each, diced or sliced
- 1 Med Onion - diced
Soup Base
- 8 C Water
- 4 Cubes Beef Bouillon
- 1 C Tomato Paste
- 1/2 C Sweet Pimento Paste
- 3 Tbl Smoked Paprika
- 2 Tbl Lemon Juice & Chickpea Flour - each
- 3-5 Bay Leaves - or 1/4 tsp ground
Instructions
- Meatballs: Remove the skin from the sausages and shape into 1/2 Tbl meatballs. Or use the homemade Italian sausage mix to make the meatballs. Once all the meatballs are shaped and placed on a baking sheet, transfer to the freezer to freeze them. Remove the frozen meatballs and dislodge them from the baking sheet. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the fat and the meatballs to brown them.
- Soup base: Combine all the ingredients for the soup base into a bowl, mix, and set aside.
- Mirepoix: Add the chopped vegetables and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
- Simmer: Turn the heat up to max, add the soup base, and mix while bringing it to a boil. Reduce the heat back to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. Mix every so often, scraping the bottom.
- Rest: Add the pasta to mix through and bring to a hard boil over max heat before covering and removing from the heat to set aside and rest for 20-25 minutes.