As promised, this new Rigatoni Meatball Soup recipe uses the remaining meatballs from the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry that I shared previously.
A warm, hearty soup is perfect this time of year. Large rigatoni pasta is cooked in a tomato soup mixture, along with some meatballs and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. This is a satisfying soup that is only 4 WW FreeStyle Smart Points per serving!
About the Meatballs.
For this recipe, you will be doing one of the following three things:
- Either you came to this recipe after already having made the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry recipe, so you already have the meatballs you need. In this case, you can skip down to the part of the recipe after the meatballs here.
- Or you will be making the meatballs as described in this recipe and save half of the meatballs for the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry.
- Or if you do not want to make the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry, you can simply halve the ingredients for the meatballs.
About the other ingredients.
The Pasta.
Rigatoni is a large tube shaped pasta. The pasta is what makes this soup so hearty, but there are lots of pastas that can be used for this recipe. If you have another pasta sitting in your pantry, feel free to swap it for the rigatoni. Here are a few other pastas that could work nicely in this soup:
- Rotini
- Penne
- Ziti
- Elbow Macaroni
- Shells Macaroni
Parmesan Cheese.
I chose to use fresh Parmesan that I shredded, but if you only have grated Parmesan cheese, that can work too. If you are counting points, you could use up to 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and not see a difference in points.
Here is what you need:
Ingredients for meatballs (You will only be using 1/2 of the meatballs for this recipe. Use the rest of the meatballs for the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry, or divide the meatball ingredients in half. You can read more about this here):
1 pound 95% lean ground beef
1 pound 99% lean ground turkey
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Ingredients for the soup:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
4 cups fat-free beef broth
4 ounces (approximately 1-1/2 cups) uncooked rigatoni
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
Here is what you do:
Instructions for the meatballs…(If you have already made the meatballs from the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry, you can skip this part by clicking here.)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine the ingredients for the meatballs.
Scoop and shape 64-66 meatballs that are about 1 tablespoonful each. Place meatballs on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle. (You will only use 1/2 of the meatballs for this recipe. Once they are cooled, refrigerate 1/2 of the meatballs to be used in the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry recipe.)
Start here if you have already made the meatballs…
Set a large stockpot over medium heat and heat oil. Add onion and celery; cook 2-3 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30-60 seconds.
Mix Italian seasoning, basil, and salt in with the vegetables; cook 30 more seconds.
Add remaining ingredients, except for the spinach and Parmesan cheese; cook 30 minutes. Add in the meatballs whenever they are done cooking.
Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Makes 8 servings.
One serving is 1 cup.
One serving is 4 green, 4 blue, and 4 purple points.
Rigatoni Meatball Soup
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Meatballs (You will only be using 1/2 of the meatballs for this recipe. Use the rest of the meatballs for the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry, or divide the meatball ingredients in half) :
- 1 pound 95% lean ground beef
- 1 pound 99% lean ground turkey
- 1/4 cup fat-free milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Ingredients for the soup:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups fat-free beef broth
- 4 ounces (approximately 1-1/2 cups) uncooked rigatoni
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/4 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Instructions for the meatballs...(If you have already made the meatballs from the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry, you can skip this part.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine the ingredients for the meatballs.
- Scoop and shape 64-66 meatballs that are about 1 tablespoonful each. Place meatballs on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle. (You will only use 1/2 of the meatballs for this recipe. Once they are cooled, refrigerate 1/2 of the meatballs to be used in the Sweet and Sour Meatball Stir Fry recipe.)
Start here if you have already made the meatballs...
- Set a large stockpot over medium heat and heat oil. Add onion and celery; cook 2-3 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30-60 seconds. Mix Italian seasoning, basil, and salt in with the vegetables; cook 30 more seconds.
- Add remaining ingredients, except for the spinach and Parmesan cheese; cook 30 minutes. Add in the meatballs whenever they are done cooking.
- Add spinach and cook for 2 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
- Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Pam says
Do the meatballs freeze well? Could I just save half for soup another week if sweet&sour isn’t my thing?
Alisha Hughes says
I’m sorry it took me so long to respond to this message. YES! Meatballs freeze very well. 🙂