This Meatball and Pecorino soup is hearty, filling, and healthy! Chicken broth is simmered with kale and tender pork meatballs, and served with extra shaved pecorino cheese. Leftovers keep beautifully!

Meatball Soup - In Yellow Bowl with Kale and Pecorino Shavings
December!!! =)  December is my favorite month of the year, and I couldn’t be happier that that it’s the season for snuggling up in warm fuzzy blankets, making trays and trays of cookies, listening to Christmas music, and eating comfort food.  It’s soup season!
I can’t even begin to describe how happy I was to come home to this after a long day out and about.  As cliché as it is to say, I’m sure many of you agree that there’s just something about a big bowl of meatball soup in the wintertime.  It’s warm, hearty, delicious, and comforting.  This is my favorite meatball soup, and it’s got some kale in it and both some grated pecorino in the meatballs, as well as pecorino shavings in the soup.

Curly Kale in Colander

Meatball Soup - In Yellow Bowl with Kale and Pecorino Shavings

Meatball and Pecorino Soup

Servings: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
This Meatball and Pecorino soup is hearty, filling, and healthy! Chicken broth is simmered with kale and tender pork meatballs, and served with extra shaved pecorino cheese. Leftovers keep beautifully!
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Ingredients

  • 1 slice white bread
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 3/4 lb ground pork
  • 1 garlic clove finely minced
  • 2 tbsp grated pecorino romano
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 8 oz chopped kale leaves
  • 4 cups chicken stock + 1 cup of water rinsed from the box
  • 5 sprigs fresh thyme
  • pecorino shavings for garnish

Instructions 

  • Pour the milk over the bread, then break up the bread with your fingers.  Add the ground pork, minced garlic, grated pecorino, red pepper flakes, egg, salt, pepper, and parsley.  Mix gently but thoroughly.
  • If you want perfectly seasoned meatballs to your taste, take a small piece of the meatball mixture and cook it.  Make any necessary seasoning adjustments with salt and pepper.  Once you are happy with the seasoning, form 1/2 inch balls.
  • Heat up a stockpot (preferably a wide one) over medium high heat.  Add 3 tbsp olive oil, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Fry the meatballs until brown all over, then remove from the pan.  Immediately add the sliced onion along with a pinch of salt.  Move it around the pan to pick up all the brown bits leftover from the meatballs.  Add more olive oil if necessary (I added about a tbsp), and caramelize the onions for 15 minutes over medium low heat.
  • Add the kale, chicken stock, thyme and meatballs to the onions in the saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with the pecorino shavings.  Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 336kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 76mg, Sodium: 667mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g

Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.

Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Author: Fifteen Spatulas