Frozen Meatball Vegetable Soup – An Easy Meatball Soup Recipe
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Easy Meatball Soup uses two shortcut ingredients, frozen meatballs and frozen vegetables, to make a hearty and delicious dinner. Your traditional vegetable soup has been reimagined.
Easy Meatball Soup
Here’s the scenario. I was looking in my deep freezer for some dinner inspiration when I spotted a bag of frozen meatballs right beside a bag of frozen vegetables. Suddenly, I had a thought which led to the creation of this easy frozen meatball soup.
Typically, I use frozen meatballs for an easy appetizer around the holidays, but my freezer was overly stocked with them because Aldi carried some this season. Now that I have this vegetable soup recipe in my archive of amazing winter soups, I’ll be stocking frozen meatballs all winter long.
Frozen Meatball Vegetable Soup Recipe
What makes this meatball vegetable soup so yummy? As the frozen meatballs cook in the broth and vegetables, the fat from the meat slowly renders out making the soup rich and decadent. It gives the dish a whole new depth of flavor, and creates the perfect bowl of soup.
The other great thing about this soup is that the vegetable part is very versatile. While I choose to use a bag of frozen vegetables plus fresh celery, onions and garlic, you may have other ideas. Check out our list below with numerous ideas to add to your vegetable soup.
Meatball and Vegetable Soup Ingredients
All of the ingredients in vegetable meatball soup are common and are probably already residing in your refrigerator drawer and pantry.
- Olive Oil
- Celery
- Onions
- Garlic
- Dried Herbs (rosemary, thyme and oregano)
- Frozen Beef Meatballs
- Canned, diced tomatoes
- Frozen mixed vegetables
- Broth (beef, vegetable or chicken)
How to make meatball soup with frozen vegetables
Step by Step Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large soup pot on the stove top; add diced onions and celery and sauté until softened.
- Add minced garlic and dried herbs; stir and sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
- To the sautéed veggies, add frozen vegetables, frozen meatballs. broth, and undrained diced tomatoes.
- Cover and simmer over medium-high heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables and meatballs and cooked through.
- Taste and season with salt and black pepper. If desired, serve with bread bowls.
Storage Instructions
Let leftovers cool. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
For the full instructions and ingredient amounts for easy frozen meatball soup, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Recipe FAQs
- This meatball soup uses frozen, cooked meatballs. There are many flavors available. Use beef meatballs or the homestyle variety.
- Do not drain the diced tomatoes. If you like a more tomato-based vegetable soup, add a second can of diced tomatoes.
- Use your favorite type of frozen, mixed vegetables. I typically use a blend of corn, green beans and peas.
- The dried herbs can be modified to your liking or based on what’s already in the cabinet. For instance, I used rosemary, thyme and oregano but parsley and basil would be good alternatives.
- I love using vegetable broth in this soup but beef broth or chicken broth would be delicious too. I prefer low-sodium beef broth or low sodium chicken broth.
- Check out our Amazon Store to find our pantry essentials and favorite kitchen gadgets.
What to serve with meatball soup?
Serve easy meatball soup with a side salad and garlic bread. It’s the perfect meal. Try our cornbread muffins or broccoli cornbread bake.
Recipe Variations
- For more flavor, add onion powder or garlic powder.
- Use any type of broth.
- Sub in Italian sausage or lean ground beef for meatballs.
- Add your favorite types of frozen veggies. I love carrots in mine.
- Garnish with fresh parsley or fresh basil and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
What can I add to vegetable soup?
The answer is pretty much anything but the kitchen sink. Our addition of frozen meatballs takes the prize, but here are some more easy ingredients to take your vegetable soup up a notch.
- Beef stew meat or ground beef
- Beef bones for added flavor and depth (remove bones before serving)
- Canned beans (any variety)
- Any type of frozen vegetable
- Fresh greens such as spinach and kale
- Diced potatoes or sweet potatoes
- Worcestershire sauce (for added flavor)
- Tomato juice, Bloody Mary Mix orV8 (try the spicy version for some kick)
- Siracha or hot sauce
- Fresh herbs
- Garlic (powder, salt or fresh)
- Beef Base
- Broth (beef, chicken or vegetable)
- Diced zucchini or yellow squash
- Fresh lemon juice
- Diced onions or leeks
Check out some of our other favorite versions of vegetable soup:
- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup with Lemon and Ginger
- Vegetable Soup with Ground Beef and V-8 Juice
- Slow Cooker Bloody Mary Beef Vegetable Soup
Recipes Using Mixed Vegetables
Cheesy Smoked Sausage and Vegetable Casserole
Crock Pot Minestrone (using beef stew meat)
Frozen Meatball Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 15 ounces canned, diced tomatoes (do not drain)
- 1 1/2 pounds frozen beef meatballs
- 32 ounces broth (beef, vegetable or chicken)
- 12 ounces frozen, mixed vegetables
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onions and celery, and sauté until soft, approximately 5 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and dried herbs, and continue to sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add remaining ingredients (undrained, diced tomatoes, frozen vegetable blend, frozen meatballs, and broth).
- Cook over medium heat until vegetables and meatballs are cooked, approximately 30 minutes.
Notes
- This meatball soup uses frozen, cooked meatballs. There’s many varieties available. Use beef meatballs or the homestyle variety.
- Do not drain the diced tomatoes. If you like a more tomato-based vegetable soup, add a second can of diced tomatoes.
- Use your favorite type of frozen, mixed vegetables. I typically use a blend of corn, green beans and peas in this vegetable soup with meatballs.
- The dried herbs can be modified to your liking or based on what’s already in the cabinet. I used rosemary, thyme and oregano but parsley and basil would be good alternatives.
- I love using vegetable broth in this meatball soup but beef or chicken broth would be delicious too.
- Love using frozen vegetables in soup. Try our famous Ground Beef Vegetable Soup with V8.
- The nutritional information below is auto-calculated and can vary depending on the products used. It should not be used for specific dietary needs.
This recipe is also terrific with frozen meatless “meatballs.” I use Gardein brand, but there are many.