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Spaghetti and Meatballs is a classic family meal that everyone can enjoy. But it can get boring after a while! Try this Spaghetti and Meatball Soup – it’s sure to spice up boring old spaghetti night!
If there’s one thing I know I can always get my kids to eat, it’s soup. In soup, they’l (almost) always eat the vegetables. This Spaghetti and Meatball Soup is no exception.
It’s fun, it’s savory and it’s perfect comfort food. The broth is basically spaghetti sauce and beef broth, with some added seasonings to amp up the flavor. I made a huge batch of homemade meatballs the other day and they were delicious in this soup. Of course you can also use store bought meatballs if you prefer, to make it even easier.
You can use traditional spaghetti noodles (I did cut them up before serving to make it easier), or any kind of small pasta, like rotini, or even those little wagon wheels that kids love. The key with any kind of soup that calls for pasta it to cook the pasta separately, NOT in the soup, and add it to the soup just before serving. If it cooks in the soup, it tends to get a little mushy, and no one wants mushy pasta!
Spaghetti and Meatball Soup
Ingredients
- 24 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
- 28 ounce package beef broth about 3-4 cups
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 15 cooked meatballs
- 8 ounces dry spaghetti
- Parmesan cheese optional
- Fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- In a 5 quart pot, stir together spaghetti sauce, beef broth, basil, oregano, garlic, bay leaf and crushed red pepper. Add fully cooked meatballs. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Turn heat down to low, cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. *If using frozen meatballs, increase the time as needed.
- In the meantime, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. If using spaghetti, cut into bite-sized pieces (optional).
- To serve, add about a some pasta to each bowl and ladle soup over. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Fore more comforting soup recipes, try these:
Add 2 cups water to the soup and cook your pasta directly in the soup to save time. Also, one clove of garlic is simply NOT enough—use 2-3 for any real garlic flavor, more if you’re really into garlic. I used hot Italian sausage pulled from their casings that I then browned, broke up, and drained the fat from before adding the pasta sauce and beef broth (tip your kettle to one side and spoon out the fat.) Skip the red pepper flakes if using hot sausage, unless you like a lot of spice, and sauté a small diced onion with the sausage and garlic. I also used 8 oz. fideo-cut spaghetti which made it easier to get on the spoon than broken spaghetti but it requires cooking for an additional 3-4 minutes to be completely cooked through. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve with grated parmesan or Romano cheese.
Hi! Love that you changed up the recipe to suit your tastes. In regards to the past, the only reason I prefer to cook it separately is that sometimes the pasta can get mushy if it’s left to sit in the soup, especially with leftovers.
My family loved this recipe and said it was very filling. Instead of frozen meatballs I made my own in the oven. This part of course took a bit more time, but it was well worth it.
Love the feedback Lacey! Thanks for stopping by.
I made this spaghetti and meatball soup tonight and it was absolutely delicious. It was fast and quick to make Which is very good for busy households. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you very much Kristin for sharing your recipe. I used frozen meatballs and next time I will try your recipe for homemade meatballs that you Included with this recipe.
You are so welcome Monica! Thanks for taking the time to share.
This was absolutely delicious. I used frozen meat balls, jarred spaghetti sauce, and chicken stock instead of beef stock because that is what I had in the pantry. Put no salt in the broth because the meatballs were salty. Put very little salt while cooking pasta, that way the salt came out of the meat balls and made the sauce perfect. Thank you so much. Will make again for sure the good Lord willing.
Chef Smell, Shame on you. Why be so rude? Everyone has their own method of preparing food/recipes, if someone wants to use shortcut who are you to criticize. Kristin was nice enough to post a recipe take it or leave it.
My family loved this. I added a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes and 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese to the soup. He said it was the best sauce I’d ever made. Thanks sooooo much! I’m
You are so welcome Maria! Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your feedback.
When taking this soup to a pot luck, can the noodles be added after the soup is cooked & not taken separately?
If you cook the noodles separately, then add them to the soup it should be ok to let it sit like that. I’d say maybe rinse the noodles to remove some of the starch, otherwise it will thicken the soup and the noodles will become mushy. Rinsing should help.
Thank you so much, that makes perfect sense.
I know i said in my above post i was going to try this for my 35th birthday last November but i forgot. I did try it a couple of days ago. I made my own meatballs using 500 minced/ground beef, i pkt of Salt Reduced French Onion Soup Mix and 2 tablespoons of Dried Parsley. The soup was a bit on the salty side, though i didn’t add any, i think it may have been the jar of pasta sauce. Its not the one i usually use. I think the next time i try this i’ll use my usual pasta sauce and review again.
Dry soup mix is VERY salty, was probably that.
This is my new favorite soup to make. It tastes like you’ve been slaving over it all day, and it’s so quick and easy. When I do t have meatballs on hand I just cook up some ground beef. I top it with Romano cheese and it’s a great weeknight meal. I always crave this when I’m sick. Five stars!!
This soup is amazing! I did change it slightly because my niece is vegetarian. I used veggie broth and sliced portabella mushrooms in place of meatballs and it was wonderful! Seriously, wonderful! Even in the summer time my little family was asking for seconds! I used a box of already broken spaghetti noodles and increased the amount of spices and garlic I used slightly and it was fantastic! Good enough that my nieces friends were asking if they could come over for dinner the next time I made this! This recipe is in our regular rotation through Fall & Winter in Seattle. Cannot wait to make this agin! Thank you for a wonderful and versatile recipe!
Wow talk about lazy!!!!! Jarred sauce? Did you buy pre-made frozen meatballs too? Your bio says you love to cook so why not make this more from scratch than buying processed foods? Talk about unhealthy!!!!
I do love to cook, I’m not lazy, and who are you to say that I am? I am a hardworking single mom, and don’t have a ton of time to spend in the kitchen, like many of my readers. We sometimes have to take shortcuts. Of course you could use homemade spaghetti sauce. Oh, and if you read the post, you’ll see that I DID make meatballs from scratch…or were you too lazy to read it all the way through? Really, no need to be nasty and ugly – to each his own.
Amen! Why would someone be so hateful!? I haven’t made this yes but maybe this week. I am going to use jarred sauce and fresh meatballs that I bought at the grocery not frozen. But, you know in a pinch frozen may be the order of the day. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Laurie! I hope you enjoy it.
Some chef must need a recipe for meatballs, and canned sauce, to assume that everyone uses frozen meatballs and jarred sauce is idiotic in the first place. This is an excellent recipe, and there are plenty of great sauces out there these days. I make home made sauces etc and I have tried several store bought that have excellent sauces on the shelf! Thank for sharing. Love quick recipes.
You are rude and quite unhelpful.
@ Chef Smell, quit being a jerk. @ Kristin, i have a Spaghetti Meatball soup recipe that i make from scratch, it takes forever but is really good. (also, at least triple the quantity. i tend to make things in bulk) I think your recipe would be great for the days when i feel like the S@B Soup but don’t have the time or energy to make it from scratch. Will try it sometime next month. Maybe for my Birthday (12th November) I’ll post again with another review after i have made it.
Why be so judgmental. Start your own blog & hope people don’t criticize you. No one forced you to read the recipe.
Looks very interesting! How about using broken up lasagna noodles????
I’m sure that would work too 🙂
Oh my goodness this soup was so good. I made it today, my husband who is a very fussy eater could hardly wait to dig in. He loved it had 2 big servings. Now I am going to make a double batch and freeze some
I am so happy I found your site