Name: Escarole and Bean Soup with Meatballs
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1.5 (26 ounces) pounds frozen Italian style meatballs, thawed; 2 tablespoon olive oil; 2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning; 1 shallot, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 head escarole, chopped; 48 oz chicken broth; 1 can (15.5 oz) Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.; 1/2 cup Ditalini pasta, uncooked; 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped; 2 tablespoon lemon juice; Salt and Pepper, to taste

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Escarole and Bean Soup with Meatballs Recipe. A full-flavored simple soup to warm your belly. Also known as White Bean and Escarole Soup.

Nothing like a hot bowl of soup on a cold day. When a cold front moves in there is one thing to do and that is to make soup.

We are expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow and everyone has raided the grocery store for milk, bread, and toilet paper.

I am over here like, I need bourbon and soup ingredients.

Have all your vegetables chopped and ready to go before you start the soup. Once you start the recipe the ingredients get thrown in the pot pretty quickly.

Ingredient Highlight: Frozen Meatballs

I used frozen meatballs for this recipe. If you are in the frozen section looking at the bags of meatballs they all have different weights by about 1 to 2 ounces. You don’t have to find the exact size. One to two ounces of meatballs won’t make a difference.

You may also feel like that is too many meatballs. It is a lot! We really love our soups to be like a meal. The heartier the better. If you want to use the meatballs in something else, you can use frozen meatballs for my frozen meatballs with bourbon or crockpot cranberry meatballs. If you are a sweet and spicy gal, try my sweet chilli crockpot meatballs.

If you want to hold back on how many meatballs you add to the soup that is OK! You can always add more later if you decide.

Escarole and Bean Soup Ingredient Substitutions

Can’t find escarole at the store? No problem here is a list of easy recipe substitutions:

Escarole – Spinach or Kale
Shallot – Onion
Lemon juice – just omit
Ditalini pasta – Orzo
Italian meatballs – Turkey Meatballs

Be sure to add fresh bread to your shopping list. I head over to the bakery section to find a nice French loaf or Italian loaf.

Cut it into slices, butter, then toast in the oven. Toasty bread and soup! YUM!

Warm breadsticks are also fabulous with this soup.

How to Handle Leftovers?

Honestly, this White Bean and Escarole Soup is not good leftover.

The reason why is that the pasta continues to absorb the broth and swells.

Here are some ideas to make it Leftover Worthy:

If you are making this for just two people and will have leftovers. Double up on the beans and omit the pasta.
Or cook the pasta separately as directed on the box and add it to your bowl, not the pot!

More Soup Recipes on Daily Appetite

If you love this soup you will also LOVE my Sausage Kale Bean Soup and Chicken Taco Soup. It has beef smoked sausage, kale, and white beans. Another comforting soup I make is my Creamy Tortellini Tomato Soup.

See more Soup Recipes →

Escarole and Bean Soup with Meatballs

Yield: 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Escarole and Bean Soup with Meatballs. Serve with toasted French Bread.

Ingredients

1.5 (26 ounces) pounds frozen Italian style meatballs, thawed
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 shallot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 head escarole, chopped
48 oz chicken broth
1 can (15.5 oz) Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed.
½ cup Ditalini pasta, uncooked
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

Heat olive oil over medium heat in your soup pot.
Add Italian seasoning and onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes.
Add garlic, stir for 1 minute.
Add escarole, stir for 2 minutes or until wilted.
Add chicken broth, beans, and meatballs.
Increase heat to Medium High and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add pasta and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Add parsley, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with toasted French Bread.

Notes

Have all ingredients prepped before starting the recipe. Once you start the ingredients get added pretty quickly.
If you can't find escarole you can substitute it with chopped kale.
For the meatballs, I used Johnsonville Italian Meatballs.
Read the recipe article above for more tips and variations.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 8 oz.
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 133Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 940mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 3gSugar: 4gProtein: 6g