Summer Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs
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A hearty, freezer-friendly soup chockfull of fresh garden vegetables. A classic summertime dinner!
Featured Comment
I know. Soup in the summertime? Have I gone mad? Well, maybe but I find that there’s something even more cozy about soup this time of year.
You know, as you drip sweat in the 98 degree summer heat and humidity. But don’t worry. We’re using up all of our favorite garden vegetables/staples here with homemade turkey meatballs. It’s pure summer comfort in a bowl with the tender simmering veggies and the refreshing lemon kick in every single bite.
And this soup is very freezer-friendly for your summer needs all year long. But I recommend cooking your veggies slightly firm so they can hold up during freezing and reheating.
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Summer Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground pork or ground beef can be used instead of ground turkey.
Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the pasta (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked pasta when serving.
Summer Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 rib celery, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- ¾ cup ditalini pasta
- 2 medium zucchini, halved and sliced
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the turkey meatballs
- 1 pound ground turkey breast
- ⅓ cup Panko
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, Panko, Parmesan, garlic, basil, 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 30-32 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 pasta and meatballs; reduce heat and simmer until pasta is tender and meatballs are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in zucchini and spinach until the spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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This recipe was sooo yummy. I did add garbanzos, mushrooms and a can of diced, roasted tomatoes on my own but smelled so good cooking and tasted great!
OMGOODNESS!! This was awesome, however I used kale instead of spinach because hubby isn’t a big fan of spinach. I will definitely be making this quite often. Thanks for the recipe.
This was absolutely delicious, filling and very healthy. I will definitely be making again. Did cheat tonight b/c time was short…..I used two 12 oz bags of defrosted Organic Turkey Meatballs from Whole Foods. Extra carrot, spinach and squash. You need a good size dutch oven, next time I’m pulling out the Staub “big boy”. HIghly recommend.
I used ground chicken and baked the meatballs instead. I didn’t have ditalini pasta so I used penne. This was absolutely delicious! It has just enough veggies & is very filling. I will batch this out to have for lunch and pair with a salad for the week’s lunch.
Wow, love this summer soup! Very easy
This soup was amazing! My husband loved it, he wasn’t feeling well and this really helped! Even better after when reheated! Thanks so much for sharing!❤️
Made it tonight with frozen meatballs and squash instead of zucchini. So yummy and my 4yo loved it!
Loved this soup! I used frozen meatballs and frozen squash. I browned the meatballs as directed in the recipe then browned the vegetables in the fond from the meatballs. I added some Better Than Bouillon to the broth. I’m happy to have found this recipe!
Would totally make this again – I did also have some issues with the meatballs sticking when browning, but I just put any meatball pieces back in the soup and it came out fine and tasty. We also skipped the spinach. I feel like summer soup is a little hard to come by! Enjoyed this one!
I agree Jennifer, I also had problem with the meatballs sticking in the first batch. I turned the heat lower for the second batch and worked much better.
This soup is quick and easy to make and so delicious!
We enjoyed this soup, but I felt it lacked flavor, and had too much lemon, after cooking it. I added garlic powder, a pinch of red pepper, white pepper and smoked paprika at the end of it cooking, and let the flavors meld for awhile. It also took me much longer to prep and cook, but we have a glass top stove, which, in my experience, takes longer to cook, than a gas stove. Great recipe, and I will definitely make it again, when most ingredients come into season.
I do love your recipes, I only wish they included nutritional info.
I was excited to find a minestrone recipe without tomatoes, as they bother my stomach. My zucchini aren’t ready yet, but my yellow summer squash are, so I used that instead. I think it would’ve been better if I put them in with the pasta and meatballs since the skin is a little tough. It’s still delicious though!
Delicious soup! I added 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning and I used frozen turkey meatballs. Frozen meatballs had a weird consistency, so next time I’ll make homemade or buy premade (but not frozen) ones. I loved the lemony flavor!
This is perhaps the best soup I have ever made, though I adapted slightly for dietary reasons and for what I had on hand.
I doubled the recipe and used two leeks and one onion.
Subbed spinach for chopped kale.
Used orzo pasta.
And I had a chimichurri sauce on hand so I mixed in with the breadcrumbs for the meatballs.
This soup was so flavorful!!
My favorite soup recipe this past summer! I omitted the lemon and pepper flakes and loved it! This last time I used frozen chopped spinach and it was still great. The meatballs are flavorful and soften overnight. I did add extra chicken broth as well.
Just made this for dinner, absolutely delicious!!! Followed the recipe but cheated with frozen meatballs, just to save on time but will definitely make the Turkey one’s next time. Thnx for the recipe ❣️❣️
Very good. Worth the effort. Toddler son loved it as well. I used one zucchini because that’s all I had but it was plenty for us.
OMG, this was AMAZING !!!!!! The fresh lemon juice sent it over the top !
When making the meatballs how do you season raw turkey “to taste”? You can’t taste it until it’s cooked.
I would combine all the meatball ingredients except the ground turkey and taste that keeping in mind you’ll want a bit salty so there’s enough salt and pepper to season a pound I of meat.
You could also brown a very small amount of the meatball mixture, taste that and adjust for the remainder of the mixture. Seasoning, especially salt and pepper, is a very personal taste sort of thing.
I would love to make this recipe but because I keep kosher, I can’t put the Parmesan cheese in the turkey meatballs. Do you suggest some substitution that isn’t dairy? Or just leave it out?
I left the parm out too but added nutritional yeast. I eyeballed it but used about two tablespoons. It turned out great!