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 and staples here with homemade turkey meatballs. It’s pure summer comfort in a bowl with the tender simmering veggies and juicy meatballs with the refreshing lemon kick in every single bite.
why i love this recipe
- Great way to use fresh summer produce
- Sneaked in leafy greens for grown ups and picky eaters
- Easy recipe to make ahead of time, particularly the meatballs
- Flexible recipe, using different meat and vegetables you have on hand
- So cozy when feeling under the weather (basically a hug in a bowl)
- Freezer-friendly for all your summer needs
tips and tricks for success
- Use your favorite meat. Ground pork, beef, chicken or turkey will all work very well here for the meatballs.
- Prep the meatballs ahead of time. The meatballs can be assembled up to 1 day in advance and placed in the fridge until ready to use. The uncooked meatballs can also be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month (once flash freezing), thawing overnight in the fridge. For a quicker shortcut, substitute frozen mini meatballs (I personally love Trader Joe’s party size mini meatballs – a huge guilty pleasure of mine!).
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your soup. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lemon juice will elevate your summer minestrone soup, adding a fresh, bright flavor and balancing out all the saltiness and richness of the soup.
- Freeze as needed. This soup freezes beautifully but if you plan to freeze, cook the veggies slightly firm so they can hold up during freezing and reheating.
what to serve with Summer Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Summer Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground pork, ground beef or ground chicken 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.
Place the uncooked meatballs on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, freezing for 1 hour until solid. Transfer the meatballs to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date and freeze up to 1 month.
You can use either chicken broth or chicken stock but always season, to taste, as store-bought broth is often saltier than store-bought stock. Broth is made from meat and vegetables while stock is often lower sodium and thicker than broth, and is made from bones and vegetables.
The ditalini pasta is cooked directly in the soup, absorbing all the flavorful broth. But if you are planning for leftovers or freezing, the pasta should be cooked and stored separately.
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 ditalini 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.
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Would add an egg to meatballs next time. Very flavorful but dense.
This is my new favorite soup! Made a second full batch and cooked my pasta separately for just my one bowl. Then froze the rest of the soup without the pasta. Then put it in baggies for future easy healthy meals. Another “Winner” from you! Thank you again ..
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.