Ingredients
Scale
Beef + Chicken Meatballs
- 1 lb. lean grass fed ground beef
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- 1/3 cup gluten free bread crumbs
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium shallot, minced
- 1 egg
- 1 heaping tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 heaping tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (or milk of your choice)
Soup Base
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- 3 carrots, small diced
- 4 celery pieces, small diced
- 2 quarts high quality chicken bone broth
- 1 heaping cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon (or so) fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 1 container of fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 cup of star or small pasta (cook according to package instructions – followed by a quick rinse with cold water, set aside)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425F.
- Mix all the meatball ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl. I like to use a fork to throughly combine everything. Use a cookie scoop to measure out your meatballs. Place them on a baking sheet tray. After all the meatballs have been scooped, come back with slightly oiled hands to gently roll them in between your hands to form them and press them together.
- Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until they are browned and cooked through. Remove them from the oven and let cool.
- **While the meatballs cook, you can begin the base or broth of the soup. You can also cook the pasta, according to the package instructions. When the pasta is finished cooking, I like to quickly rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside in a bowl until you are ready to serve the soup.
- In a saucepot, heat the olive oil, shallots, garlic, salt, black pepper, carrots and celery up over medium heat. Saute for 4 minutes or until softened.
- Add the chicken bone broth and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook on a low simmer for 2 minutes. Turn the heat off.
- Add in the red pepper flakes, spinach and parsley. Stir to combine.
- When you are ready to serve, spoon in the prepared pasta to a serving bowl followed by how ever many meatballs you wish. Ladle in the brothy soup base and enjoy.
Notes
The meatball recipe makes a lot of mini meatballs – with over 2 lbs, you will have extras. Freeze the ones you aren’t eating right away. These work great with a marinara sauce and pasta too.
You will notice that I don’t cook the pasta in the soup base or broth. I don’t do this for a couple of reason. When you use gluten free pasta, it will break down after it is over cooked. It can also expand and become gummy – no thank you. I don’t like to freeze pasta in soup either. If you have frozen soup, simply cook the pasta freshly when you are reheating the soup. Add the pasta to a serving bowl and pour the soup on top.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: soup
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: soup