Roasted Garlic Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup

Full disclosure? When I told my husband that I was planning to make Italian Wedding Soup for dinner, you could practically hear his heart sink. Ker-plunk! Down it went. You know, whatever you want to make is just great, babe, but isn’t Italian Wedding Soup kind of … umm … boring? Why yes. I, too, have always thought of Italian Wedding Soup as something that is almost really exciting – on the cusp of utter deliciousness … teetering on the edge greatness! Ahem. But it has, for whatever reason, typically fallen a bit short for me in the satisfaction department, and I was actually happy when Lucas shared his own reservations on the classic dish – we were in the same boat. So! I marched into the kitchen determined to level-up Italian Wedding Soup just a little … into something worthy of eager anticipation and happy praise from my less than enthused husband (and myself). A virtuous mission if there ever was one. Fast forward about 6 hours (give or take) and we were diving heads first into steaming hot bowls of this Roasted Garlic Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup.

A Better Italian Wedding Soup

It’s probably poor form to openly diss a classic recipe like Italian Wedding Soup, but it’s just not ever been something all that exciting to me (and apparently Lucas), and in today’s recipe, I wanted to try to draw as much deliciousness out of this soup as I could, elevating it into something just a little more, well, drool-worthy. Here’s how I did it:

1. French Onion-Style. Everyone LOVES French Onion Soup, and I know plenty of people who are just in it for the cheesy, toasty bread on top. So, why not do that to other soups, you know? That said, I do think the cheesy bread treatment is most appropriate on broth-based soups, acting as a nice textural balance, so Italian Wedding Soup is really perfect. After ladling up bowls of the soup, we’ll shingle on some slices of crusty baguette, cover it with cheese (use whatever you like, I go with shredded mozzarella or provolone. Sometimes parmesan, sometimes Gruyere – whatever you like), then broil until bubbly.
2. Beef Broth. Sticking with the French Onion theme again, and since the meatballs in the soup have beef in them – not chicken – I swapped out the traditional chicken broth of an Italian Wedding Soup in favor of a hearty, more richly flavored beef broth. It works beautifully.
3. Rotini. Italian Wedding Soup usually has pastina, or a tiny pasta called “acini de Pepe” which is wonderful but can be a little tough to find, depending on where you live. So, to add even more heartiness to the dish, and accessibility, I used rotini. It’s wonderful and really helps the whole thing eat like a real-deal meal.
4. Roasted Garlic. Another thing I love about this recipe is how it uses a favorite kitchen little trick of mine – doctoring up store-bought broth. We are using store-bought beef broth in this recipe, but by roasting fresh garlic (it cooks right alongside the meatballs in the oven, at the same temp) and then blending it into the broth, we’re going to add an extra layer of deep, delicious flavor to the soup that makes it truly special.
5. Parmesan rind. This step/ingredient is totally optional – the soup will still be wonderful without it. But I highly recommend you start saving your parmesan cheese rinds, for times just like this. I tuck rinds of parmesan cheese down into all sorts of sauces and soups to add that salty, nutty flavor and everything is always so much better for it. I just keep a reusable bag full of them in my freezer so I can grab one when I need it. Again, though, it’s optional … just a great tip for your future cheeses rinds.
6. Slow Cooker. I used the slow cooker here partially for the convenience of it, but also because the long, slow cook time helps conjure maximize flavor and depth from the broth. It benefits greatly from that long, slow cook time. But if you wanted to, you could prepare this very easily right on the stovetop, in a big Dutch oven.

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