An incredibly flavourful bowl of chicken meatball soup with white kidney beans and pearled pasta/pearled couscous. A recipe that is perfect for meal prepping because it keeps well and when reheated, makes for a great weeknight dinner. I just wanted to use my carrots and celery in the fridge and honestly, soup or stews are always such a good way to do that! The chicken meatballs elevate this as well as the, they are simple herby and juicy! I love the addition of both the pearled pasta and white beans, but of course you can choose one or the other. If you want your soup more brothy with less stuff.
Chicken Meatball Soup with White Bean and Pearl Pasta
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 3 large chicken breasts – minced
- 1/2 small onion very very finely diced (about 1/3 cup)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup parsley for finely diced
- 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- Leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon salt adjust to taste using microwave method
- Olive oil for forming balls
Soup
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 4 carrots diced
- 4 celery stalks diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves sliced
- 4 cups chicken broth/ stock with no salt added and more as needed
- 1-2 rosemary sprigs
- 2 bay leaves
- 1-2 thyme sprigs
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup dried fregola pasta or pearled pasta
- 1 – 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans
- Red Chili flakes to taste
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
Chicken Meatballs
- Mix all the ingredients for your meatballs together in a bowl and make sure everything is mixed properly. Taste for salt by place a tiny amount of the raw mixture on a plate and placing it in the microwave for 15 seconds until it is cooked and give it a taste.
- Form your meatballs into balls using a scoop and them oil hands.
- The number of meatballs you make will vary depending on size but I like to make meatballs slightly smaller than golf balls and get about 24 meatballs.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and bake for meatballs for about 20 minutes and 5 minutes on broil just to get some colour on top. Remove from the oven when they are done and set aside while you make your soup. You can break open a single meatball to check for doneness.
Make Soup
- In a large pot on medium heat add your oil, then your onion and sautee for 5 minutes.
- Add your carrot, celery and suet for another 5 minutes until slightly softened .
- Add your garlic, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf and season with a bit of salt to taste.
- Add your stock and follow with your meatballs and let simmer.
- Season with more salt if necessary and add red chili flakes if you want a tiny bit for heat. Add you squeeze of lemon and simmer.
- Finally, add your beans and your pasta and cook on medium for about 15 minutes of until the pasta is fully cooked. Top with more stock or water and adjust seasoning as you add more ingredients to the pot. Adding both pasta and beans is optional. You can omit both or add one or the other or leave it just broth with meat balls and serve with some taste crusty bread.
- Don’t forget to remove your herb stalks from this once the soup has simmered. Serve hot an enjoy!
