Frozen Meatball Vegetable Soup

Frozen Meatball Vegetable Soup uses two shortcut ingredients, frozen meatballs and frozen vegetables, to make a hearty and delicious weeknight dinner.  Your traditional vegetable soup has been reimagined.

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 an epiphany which led to the creation of this easy frozen meatball soup.

Typically, I use frozen meatballs for an easy appetizer around the holidays.   My freezer was overly stocked with them because Aldi carried some this season which were absolutely phenomenal. Now that I have this vegetable soup with frozen meatball 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 soup a whole new depth of flavor.

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.

All the ingredients in vegetable meatball soup are common and are probably already residing in your refrigerator drawer and pantry.

Meatball and Vegetable Soup Ingredients

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:

For the full instructions and ingredient amounts for easy frozen meatball soup, scroll to the bottom of this post.

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan; add diced onions and celery and sauté until softened.
2. Add minced garlic and dried herbs; sauté for an additional 30 seconds.
3. To the sautéed vegetables, add frozen vegetables, frozen meatballs. broth, and undrained diced tomatoes.
4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables and meatballs and cooked through.
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Notes About Easy Frozen Meatball Soup Recipe:

• This meatball soup uses frozen, cooked meatballs.  There are 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.
• Check out our Amazon Store to find our pantry essentials and favorite kitchen gadgets.

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

Beef Vegetable Soup with V8

Crust-less Chicken Pot Pie

Crock Pot Minestrone (using beef stew meat)

Chicken Stir-Fry

Pork Ramen Dinner