If you love Italian wedding soup, you will love this Italian wedding orzo recipe. This hearty orzo dish has all of the delicious flavors of Italian wedding soup combined into a one-pot pasta dish. Mini Meatballs are cooked into tender orzo, and then you add spinach, parmesan cheese, and a splash of milk for creaminess. I know you will love this recipe so much and look forward to eating it every time.

One Pot Orzo Recipe

My favorite kind of dinner is a one pot recipe. Even if I have to put ingredients in at different times, I still love how all of the flavors come together in the same pan. Last year, I started getting really into one pot orzo recipes and I made a bunch that I shared on my page. One of my favorites was this lemon chicken meatball, kale, feta, and orzo dish. I made it so many times last year and it made me want to make a new meatball and orzo recipe.

That is how I came up with the idea of making a spin on Italian wedding soup. Some people add a lot of pasta to their Italian wedding soup, so this is basically that, but less brothy. Feel free to add more broth, but then it would turn into a soup and not really an orzo dish.

The reason why orzo works so well in a one pot dish is because of the size. Orzo cooks pretty fast even if you aren’t boiling it. Therefore, it makes it easier to time just rice with proteins like chicken, beef, and pork, without over cooking them. Using large pasta shapes can be challenging when you are trying to cook them in the same pot with meat. The meat tends to cook faster than the pasta. Orzo pasta is a great choice for this Italian wedding orzo recipe because it cooks super fast, but you still get to enjoy pasta.

Orzo with Meatballs

When you cook a one pot meatball and orzo dish, it is important to brown the meatballs first, as you really want to ensure that it finishes cooking all the way through while the orzo cooks. I also think browning the meatballs a little creates a better flavor and helps them maintain their shape.

In this dish I make the meatballs kind of small, which means they cook a little faster. I sear them on two sides, remove them from the pan, work on my other ingredients, and then I add the meatballs back in so that they do not over cook.

One of my favorite ingredients to add when cooking orzo, is to add some wine to the dish. When I add wine to my recipes, I let it cook on high heat to “burn off” any of the alcohol and it lends a really nice mellow flavor to the broth. I also added chicken broth to this recipe and that is the liquid that helps the orzo cook.

Once the broth is seasoned, I stir in the orzo. Then, I add the meatballs on top, bring to a boil, and then settle at low heat before I cover the dish to finish cooking. The orzo normally cooks in 10 minutes, so then I turn off the heat, give it a good mix, and let it rest for about 5 minutes longer with the cover on top so that the orzo finishes cooking.

I then finish the dish off with a bag of fresh spinach, that steams into the orzo, and I top it all off with a mountain of parmesan cheese. You can use different types of cheese like asiago, pecorino, or grana padano.

How to make one pot orzo with meatballs

Ingredients for Italian Wedding Orzo

Meatballs

8 oz ground beef
8 oz ground pork
1/3 cup seasoned panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp olive oil plus more for cooking
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp sea salt

Orzo

16 oz Orzo uncooked
2 tbsp butter
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups broth I used chicken broth
1/2 cup milk plus more if you reheat it
1/2 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
6 oz fresh spinach

Instructions for Italian Wedding Orzo

Combine all of the meatballs ingredients into a medium size bowl. Mix well and then separate into 35 small meatballs. Lay them on a baking sheet as you work. If the meat mixture is sticking to your hands, wet your hands with water and then try again.
In a large frying pan that has a cover add 1 tbsp of olive oil and turn on the stove to medium heat.
Working in two batches, brown the meatballs on at least 2 sides. You only want to brown them and then add them to a plate to rest. They will finish cooking after you add the orzo and broth.
After removing all of the meatballs, add the butter and garlic to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
Next, add the wine and let it start to bubble and cook for at least 5 minutes. This will cook the alcohol out, but leave the flavor. Add the broth and orzo and stir. Add the meatballs and juices on top, pushing down on them slightly so that they are submerged in the broth.
Bring the heat down to low and cover the pan. Cook for 13-15 minutes, or until meatballs are finished cooking and orzo has absorbed the liquid. Then, turn off your heat. Add in your spinach and stir until the spinach is combined and wilted.
Add in you milk and parmesan cheese and stir well.