Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup
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Tastes just like everyone’s favorite chicken noodle soup but it’s made 1000x better with chicken meatballs!
I know I just experienced -1 degree F weather in Indianapolis during the holidays but I will still say this. It’s still cold at 56 degrees F in Los Angeles.
I thought I could brave the cold a bit better here in Southern California after Indy, but boy was I wrong. So, Butters and I are not leaving the house today.
He’s in a fancy cable knit sweater and I’m already on my second bowl of this chicken noodle soup with extra chicken meatballs in my bowl.
Because let’s be honest, the meatballs are legit the best part of this soup.
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground beef, ground pork or ground turkey can be used instead of ground chicken.
Absolutely! But because dried herbs are often more potent/concentrated than fresh herbs, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon fresh herbs to 1 teaspoon dried herbs.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the orzo (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked orzo when serving.
Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup orzo pasta
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the chicken meatballs
- 1 pound ground chicken
- ⅓ cup Panko
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, Panko, Parmesan, oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder and red pepper flakes, if using; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 3/4-to-1-inch meatballs, forming about 25-30 meatballs.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in chicken stock and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and meatballs; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and meatballs are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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Loved this. Changes I will make next time, more carrots and celery and a touch of salt in the meatballs. I doubled the amount of orzo
Very good soup. I also added a cooked chicken breast and some fine egg noodles.
This has been my go to soup this fall! I’ve made it 3 times already, can’t wait to make it all winter. So easy, so healthy, so good!
Yummy! I baked the meatballs most of the way in the oven first so I could prep the soup while they were cooking. Added a bit of crushed red pepper for some heat – damn delicious!
This soup was excellent ! Tasted a bit like thanksgiving; with the rosemary and herbs. Meatballs were tender and delicious. Loved the addition of orzo too. This is the first soup I have made now that its Fall. Make this recipe today… comes together in a snap !
I made this before and it turned out awesome! I making it again right now and I don’t remember if I covered it last time or not. Are we supposed to simmer it covered or uncovered?
Really delicious! I added extra stock and orzo! The meatballs were great! Lots of great flavor from seasoning/ fresh rosemary is a must!
Unbelievably delicious. Even my son, who is a chef and the most picky eater, loved this soup. Meatballs are surprisingly tender and broth hits on all cylinders with the addition of the lemon juice. Only changes I made to this deliciousness was adding 2 more carrots and used 3/4 cup pastina pasta as I was out of orzo. Thank you…this recipe was printed and added to my recipe notebook for regular rotation.
Hi Chunga!
I LOVE your recipes. Could I skip browning the meatballs and cook all of the soup ingredients in a slow cooker?
This soup is the BEST. I have a house mate that has an “alpha galactase” sensitivity from a tick bite years ago (google it, it’s a big thing on the east coast). He can’t eat mammal meat – no pork, beef or lamb – some sufferers have a sensitivity to dairy too, but luckily he does NOT! He LOVES this soup, it is going to be a staple at our house for many years. THANK YOU!!!
So yummy and flavorful! I used nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan to make it dairy free but still so good!
We wanted to try something different and am glad I did. This soup is quick, easy and the flavor is great. I added extra orzo (as some others noted too) because my kids like lots of noodles. We will make this again.
This was delicious! I will definitely make again – esp on a cold winter night. The meatballs were so tender and flavorful. I have celiacs, so I substituted gluten free oats (quickly ground in the blender) for the bread crumbs and brown rice for the orzo. Yum!
Hi Jess. Just wanted to share my experience as my wife also has celiac and I cook everything GF. Anytime a recipe calls for bread crumbs (or oats), I always take a slice of her GF bread and mince it to make my own bread crumbs. I think she uses Canyon Bakehouse or something like that. I’ve learned that it produces a way better result than any store bought GF bread crumbs. I do that for any type of meatball, meatloaf etc. I’m going to try this soup recipe tonight. Cant wait!
So good!!!
Followed (most of) the recipe and was surprised that the meatball ingredients stuck together without an egg. I used fresh basil and fresh parsley. I also only had vegetable broth on hand and it was freaken delicious. Best chicken soup ever!!! And I agree, add more veggies next time. So, so, good.
Excellent and easy. Will double recipe next time because everyone wanted seconds!!
Oh my! Made this tonight (added broccoli florets and peas as well). Kept everything else the same. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I will keep this in my meal rotation for sure. Thanks for a new spin on chicken soup 🙂
I needed a recipe that was fairly quick and this provided it. The browning of the chicken “meatballs” took quite a bit longer than the recipe said (Dutch oven on top of stove).
I basically had all the ingredients but I did NOT realize my Panko Crumbs were “seasoned” and my ground chicken also ‘seasoned”.
Because of those details, it turned out a bit salty -totally my fault. I loved the orzo and lemon but I would have added a bit more onion and I doubled the carrot and celery.
Such a great twist on the traditional chicken noodle soup! I followed the recipe exactly, and it was delicious.
Every recipe I have made from Damn Delicious has been, well, damn delicious. This one was no exception.