Summer Vegetable Soup with Mini Chicken Meatballs - Low Carb, Gluten Free
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • For the Meatballs: makes about 48 1" meatballs
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground chicken breasts (may also use turkey)
  • 3/4 cup almond flour (also called almond meal)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving at the table
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped (note: soup needs 2 additional chopped garlic cloves so chop all garlic together...it's easier)
  • 2 tablespoon chopped fresh chives (try for chives since they taste better, if you can't find them you may substitute white and light green part of green onions or shallots)
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black ground pepper
  • For the Soup:
  • 1 tablespoon salted or unsalted butter
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 3 medium carrots sliced into 1/4" rounds
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 7 cups Homemade Chicken Broth or the best quality broth you can find
  • 1/2 small cauliflower (total cauliflower weight about 1 1/2 pounds) cut into small florets
  • 1 large yellow squash, diced
  • 1 large zucchini, diced
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 pound asparagus, cut into 1/2" lengths, tips kept whole
  • 1/4 pound baby spinach leaves, washed (if using regular spinach, use double the amount because you lose about half when stemming)
  • Chopped fresh basil (about 15 leaves)
Instructions
  1. Make the Meatballs:
  2. Place the oven rack in the upper half of the oven. Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  3. Mix all ingredients for meatballs together in a medium bowl. Scoop 2 level teaspoons of mixture and form into about 1" diameter meatballs. Only measure once, as a guide, and just eyeball the rest. Makes about 48 meatballs. Place meatballs on baking sheet. They may be placed close together - about 1/4" to 1/2" apart.
  4. Bake the meatballs until fully cooked through, about 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and reserve.
  6. Make the Soup:
  7. Start the soup while the meatballs are cooking.
  8. In a large pot heat butter on medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring so onion doesn't brown, until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook for an additional minute. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
  9. Add broth, cauliflower, yellow squash, zucchini, and salt. Bring to a boil, turn heat down immediately to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are just softened, about 12-14 minutes.
  10. Add asparagus and spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until asparagus are just tender and spinach is wilted. Taste and add more salt if required.
  11. Ladel soup into bowls, add 5-6 meatballs to each bowl, and top with a little chopped basil. Serve immediately with grated parmesan on the side.
  12. Alternately, put soup into a serving bowl, add all meatballs to soup, sprinkle basil on top, and serve the soup at the table.
  13. Make ahead: Soup and meatballs may be made ahead the same day. Refrigerate soup and meatballs separately until ready to serve. Reheat the meatballs by baking at 300° until just warm. Gently reheat the soup on the stovetop.
Recipe by Preheat to 350˚ at https://preheatto350.com/summer-vegetable-soup-with-mini-chicken-meatballs-low-carb-gluten-free/