Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans

This Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans is a gluten free, grain free and dairy free soup that is a meal in a bowl! 

Who is down for some soup? I am in love with this one and so excited to share it with you!

I used mild Italian Sausage – in this case pork but you could easily sub chicken or turkey – to make the quickest mini meatballs ever and combined them with Italian seasonings, diced tomatoes, creamy white beans, thinly sliced cabbage and just a touch of frozen peas.

This soup winds up being naturally grain, gluten and dairy free but if you eat dairy, it would be amazing with a healthy spoonful of grated Parm on top.

Oh, and it was nice enough out to get good pictures of it so there is that. After my tirades last week about the weather, we got blessed with not one, but TWO, gloriously sunny and warm-ish (maybe just not cold?) days.

I’m holding out hope that there is a lot more of that to come. In the meantime, I’ll be cozying up with my meal-in-a-bowl soup!

NOTES:

• If you can’t get uncooked bulk sausage (out of the casing), buy the Italian sausage in the casing and cut the casings open.
• I used Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Broth Low Sodium. If you use a different broth, you may need to adjust the amount of salt if the broth is totally sodium free or already seasoned with salt so go slow. You can always add more but it’s hard to fix once it’s too salty!
• My new favorite garlic press is the Garject. I have found that it leaves less waste and is easier to clean than the others I have had.
• The mortar and pestle I am using is 100% granite and amazing. I recently upgraded from a marble one and the granite one from Immortar is so much more effective at quickly crushing the spices into a powder.

Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!

Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 55 mins

 

This Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans is a gluten free, grain free and dairy free soup that is a meal in a bowl! 

Course: Mains, Soups

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 354 kcal

Author: Alyssa Brantley

5 from 3 votes

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Ingredients

• 1/2 pound bulk Italian pork sausage rolled into .5 ounce mini meatballs
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 5 to 6 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt see NOTES
• 1.5 pounds green cabbage core removed and thinly sliced
• 8 cups low sodium broth
• 3 cups diced tomatoes
• 3 cups cannellini beans rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup organic frozen peas
• fresh parsley for serving

Instructions

1. Roll Italian sausage into mini meatballs, each approximately .5 ounces. You can weigh one and get a sense of about how large they should be. You should yield 22 to 24 mini meatballs.
   
2. Peel onion and dice. Set aside.
3. Use a garlic press to crush peeled garlic cloves and set aside in a small dish.
4. Use a mortar and pestle to crush the fennel seeds into a fine powder.
   
5. Add dried basil, crushed red pepper flakes and kosher sale to crushed fennel and set aside until ready to use.
6. Remove core from cabbage, cut into 2" segments and thinly slice.
   
7. If using canned beans, rinse and drain beans.

8. Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil and then mini meatballs.

   

9. Cook meatballs for a total of 10 minutes, flipping once or twice until at least two sides are nice and brown.

   
10. Leave the olive oil and cooking fat from meat in the pot and use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the meatballs to a plate.
    
11. Add diced onion to pot. Saute for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and beginning to brown.
    
12. Next, add crushed garlic and spices. Cook 30 to 45 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
    
13. Add cabbage and stir to coat with onion-spice mixture. Continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes.
    
14. Add broth and diced tomatoes and bring to a boil.
    
15. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until cabbage is tender.
    
16. Remove lid, add cannellini beans and frozen peas. Return meatballs to soup and continue cooking over a low light 3 to 5 minutes until beans, peas and meatballs are warmed through.
    

17. Taste, adjust salt if necessary and serve topped with fresh parsley. Enjoy!

    

Nutrition Facts

Italian Sausage Meatball Soup with Cabbage and White Beans

Amount Per Serving

Calories 354 Calories from Fat 162

% Daily Value*

Fat 18g28%

Saturated Fat 5g31%

Cholesterol 28mg9%

Sodium 1762mg77%

Potassium 840mg24%

Carbohydrates 32g11%

Fiber 9g38%

Sugar 8g9%

Protein 20g40%

Vitamin A 395IU8%

Vitamin C 59.6mg72%

Calcium 171mg17%

Iron 5.2mg29%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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