Rigatoni And Meatball soup

Most Italian food is delicious but not always easy to make. Here is a scrumptious and so easy way to make comforting Rigatoni Meatball Soup! I'm sharing the secrets and shortcuts for making this best Italian soup yet! Make a double batch of this soup recipe so you have more to freeze for later! 

Rigatoni Meatball Soup is an absolutely delicious soup! It is full of scrumptious Italian flavors we all love in our favorite pasta dishes! And this soup is so so easy to make! It will fill your whole home with aromas that let everyone know something special is cooking!

I’ve made several recipes for Rigatoni Meatball Soup but found most of them very work intensive. This soup is so easy to make and so delicious too!

I made a double batch of Rigatoni Meatball Soup. Leftovers taste even better and this soup freezes so well! So one batch is never quite enough!

MY RIGATONI SOUP STORY

I make lots of meals with Italian flavors because my husband really loves Italian food! Pasta is on the menu in our home at least once a week!

Years ago I used to grow my own tomatoes and can my own spaghetti sauce. It was fun but a lot of work!

As commercial Marinara sauces and spaghetti sauces became more diverse in flavors, better in taste and lots of organic options became readily available I started using these jarred versions.

There is no shame in using a jarred spaghetti sauce! Many are quite excellent!

So after I made a couple different recipes for Rigatoni Meatball Soup I decided that most of them were just too much work. And thought that using a good jarred spaghetti sauce might work perfectly in this recipe!

TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST SOUP RECIPE

This soup falls into the category “not rocket science” category of recipes. Which means that it is so easy to make and very forgiving. You can add extra ingredients you might like or you can even leave out others.

Here are some things that will help you make the best soup!

If you can make the soup a day or two ahead and let the flavors marry! YUM!

MEATBALLS

Let’s start with the meatballs. The meatball ingredients are very straightforward and produce a very tender meatball.

I made homemade meatballs but if you are really in a pinch you can use frozen. Just put them in the soup frozen and they will thaw out as the soup cooks.

This recipe is super easy and very basic. Mix 1 pound ground beef, seasoned breadcrumbs, eggs, Worchestershire sauce, and salt and black pepper together in a large bowl. Use seasoned bread crumbs because it adds nice Italian flavors to your meatballs.

I used a 1 TBS scoop to make these little meatballs. To shape them roll them I rolled them between my palms to achieve a uniform shape. And I put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brown the meatballs in batches in a large pot and use the same pot to make the soup.

You can also make the meatballs ahead and freeze them so they will always be ready for soup.

THE SAUCY BROTH

The best tip for making the saucy broth is to find a very flavorful spaghetti sauce you love and use it as the base of the broth.

The aromatics, chopped onions, and pressed garlic cloves, for the sauce are sauteed in a little drizzle of olive oil in the same large soup pot or dutch oven the meatballs were browned in.

Make sure to add some red pepper flakes and a couple bay leaves to the broth to give it a little depth of flavor. And I like to use Italian herb seasoning instead of dried oregano and basil! It’s just easier!

I used 1/3 cup of dry red wine that was leftover from dinner last weekend as part of the broth. I simmered it until the alcohol was cooked off but you can omit the wine if you desire.

For this broth, a good beef stock works the best. You want the saucy broth to have lots of deep flavors. If you cannot find a good box of stock substitute beef bouillon cubes. And if you don’t have beef stock on hand you can use chicken broth. Remember this recipe is “not rocket science”!

Bring the saucy soup to a boil and reduce it to a simmer.

The soup needs to gently simmer with the lid cracked for about 20 minutes to finish cooking the meatballs. Stir the soup occasionally.

The broth can be thinned out with more beef or chicken stock or broth if needed.

One of my favorite things to add to any soup or stew with an Italian profile is a piece of Parmesan cheese rind. I save my rinds in 1 to 2-inch pieces in storage bags in the freezer. They are easy to pop in a soup or stew while it simmers. And the rinds give such a nice flavor to the soup!

You can also add leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard, or even kale to the soup. Add them for the last 10 minutes or so of simmering time.

Be creative! Use what you love. Think about adding cannellini beans, Italian sausage, or any other favorite soup ingredient!

THE RIGATONI

I would have preferred a thicker and stouter rigatoni pasta for this soup today. But with all the shortages at the grocery store, the #83’s were the only rigatoni they had. Lots of empty shelves.

When I was a little girl I loved to watch my grandmother cook. One thing she always did when she made a soup with noodles was to cook the noodles separately. She would add the noodles to the bottom of a bowl and add the soup on top.

This kept the noodles from looking limp and tasting soggy!

Many of the Rigatoni Meatball Soup recipes I tried and perused said to cook the rigatoni in the same pot. This would be a time saver for sure but the rigatoni would not taste nearly as good! Make sure to add the cooked rigatoni right to the bowl and add the saucy broth on top of them.

Cook the rigatoni just a little bit shy of the cooking time on the package instructions. The rigatoni will soften the longer it is in the bowl of soup.

OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW

Adding flat-leaf parsley or basil to the Rigatoni Meatball Soup just before serving adds a bit of freshness to the soup!

Ladle layers of rigatoni, soup, and grated Mozzarella cheese together in a large bowl.

Other cheesy options for this soup are fresh Mozzarella cheese and Ricotta cheese. Both delicious! And Parmesan cheese is so tasty grated over this soup too!

Don’t forget to drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the soup right before you serve it! And finish with a pinch of salt.

LET’S DELICIOUS AND HEARTY MAKE RIGATONI MEATBALL SOUP