Italian Meatball Soup – A Slimming World Friendly Recipe

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This recipe for Italian Meatball Soup with cannellini beans, pasta, and homemade beef meatballs, is a comforting and very filling bowl of yumminess! It’s also a Slimming World friendly recipe with just half-a-Syn per serving (and that comes from a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, so leave that out and it’s completely FREE!

I’ve got lots of great Slimming World Recipes for you to enjoy – right-click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one.

Italian Meatball Soup

The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved.

As summer turns to autumn, I always seem to cook more soup. There is nothing like a comforting bowl of soup for lunch or dinner when the weather starts to turn a little bit more chilly.

However, with the crazy heatwave we’ve been having, it’s quite good that this Italian meatball soup is good to eat all the year round!

Plus it’s Slimming World friendly so it won’t knock you off plan.

This soup is full of flavor and is really filling too thanks to cannellini beans (which actually get puréed and become the soup along with stock), pasta, and of course the meatballs.

It’s the kind of soup the whole family will love – even if they aren’t on SW. That’s one of the great things that I love about this particular plan. I can cook meals and know that my family will enjoy them and I get to stay on track.

The soup takes just under an hour to prepare and cook, so allow yourself the time to do that if making on a week night. That said, I’ve got some meal prep ideas down in the tips section!

This recipe for Italian Meatball Soup serves 4 and is ½ Syn per serving when Food Optimising.

Ingredients Used in This Recipe

For your convenience, I’ve linked any specialized ingredients needed for this recipe to Amazon below.

• Cannellini Beans – these get puréed into the stock, so that’s why you can’t see them in the photos! In the US they might be known as White Kidney Beans or Great Northern Beans
• Vegetable or Chicken Stock/Broth – I tend to make mine from stock cubes – see tips
• Small Pasta Shapes – makes eating soup with pasta a lot easier!

Slimming World Food Diary Printable

If you follow Slimming World, you will know that one of the crucial things to your success is keeping a Slimming World Food Diary.

I’ve got a free printable Slimming World Food Diary & Meal Planner here which now includes a diary for Extra Easy SP.

Recipe Tips

• First and foremost this is a Slimming World recipe, so make sure you use beef mince (ground beef) that is 5% fat or lower to make your meatballs.
• The meatballs are cooked before adding to the soup towards the end of cooking to heat them through.
• This means you can make the meatballs in advance when you have more time!
• Make and cook the meatballs, allow to cool for 30 minutes before covering and transferring to the fridge. Remove them about 30 minutes before you make the soup so that they can come to room temperature.
• The cooked meatballs can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
• When freezing the meatballs, cool completely (no more than 2 hours) before laying on a baking sheet and placing it in the freezer. When the meatballs have frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe Ziploc bag.
• Defrost the meatballs in the fridge overnight before using them in a recipe.
• Why not make a big batch of meatballs when you have more time and store them in the freezer.
• Stock pots, liquid stock, bouillon powder, and stock cubes are all FREE on Slimming World (check your Food Optimising book or online for most up to date info) so use whichever kind of stock is suitable. I make mine with chicken OXO cubes.
• The cannellini beans are whizzed together (in a blender, food processor, or using an immersion blender) with some of the stock and acts as a thickening agent for the soup.
• If you find the soup is a bit too thick because the pasta has absorbed too much liquid, add extra stock to thin it out to desired consistency.

More Slimming World Friendly Recipes

Want a few Slimming World recipes to try next? Here are some of our favourites:

• Chicken Parmigiana & Spaghetti Bake
• Italian Style Lamb Shanks in the Slow Cooker
• Sausage Minestrone Soup

How Do I Make Slimming World Meatball Soup?

Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, any pics don’t print to save your ink!).

Continue to Content

Italian Meatball Soup

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

This lower-fat recipe for Italian Meatball Soup is hearty and filling and suitable for those following the Slimming World Food Optimising plan.

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Ingredients

For the Meatballs

• Low-calorie cooking spray, e.g., Frylight
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 400g lean (5% fat or less) beef mince (ground beef)
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the Soup

• 1 (400g) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1L vegetable or chicken stock (broth), divided
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed with a garlic press
• 1 small red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 Tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)
• 300g dried small pasta shapes

To Serve

• Freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh basil leaves
• 2 level Tbsp finely grated fresh Parmesan

Instructions

1. To make the meatballs, spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
2. Cook the chopped onion for 2-3 minutes until softened. Set aside to cool.
3. Place the beef mince, cooled onion, and parsley in a bowl and season well.
4. Mix well and shape into 24 meatballs, about 2"/4cm.
5. Spray the frying pan again with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
6. Cook the meatballs for 6-8 minutes or until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set aside.
7. To make the soup, place the cannellini beans and 250ml of stock into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
8. Spray a large, lidded saucepan with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
9. Add the onion, garlic, chili, and carrot, and cook for 4-5 minutes.
10. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
11. Add the tomato purée, cannellini bean purée, and the remaining stock.
12. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
13. Stir in the pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
14. Add the meatballs and cook for 2-3 minutes to heat them through.
15. Divide soup between 4 warmed bowls and top with freshly ground black pepper, torn basil leaves, and half a tablespoon of Parmesan per person.
    
    

Notes

• Slimming World Syns per serving: ½ Syn when Food Optimising.
• Remove the Parmesan and this recipe becomes FREE.
• If you find the soup is a bit too thick because the pasta has absorbed too much liquid, add extra stock to thin it out to desired consistency.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 640Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 1538mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 8gSugar: 6gProtein: 51g

This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.

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Disclosure: We are not affiliated with Slimming World. This recipe may have been adapted from a Slimming World magazine or book. Please check with your consultant, in your member pack, or online at Slimming World’s website for full and up-to-date details about the plan, as it may be updated from time to time in line with the latest nutritional information. We are not doctors or dieticians or providing medical advice and hold no responsibility for the complete accuracy of calorie counts and nutritional information, and where applicable, Syns in Slimming World-friendly recipes. We advise you to check your own resources if you are using recipes to lose weight. All weight-loss programs should be followed on advice from a doctor.

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