| Italian wedding soup | |
| Alternate Name: | Italian: Minestra maritata (in Italian) |
| Country: | Italy |
| Course: | Italian: [[Italian meal structure#Formal meal structure|Primo]] (Italian pasta course) |
| Type: | Soup |
| Main Ingredient: | Green vegetables (endive and escarole or cabbage, lettuce, kale, spinach), meat (meatballs, sausage), chicken broth |
| Serving Size: | 100 g |
| Calories: | 71 |
| Protein: | 3.2 |
| Fat: | 2 |
| Carbohydrate: | 10 |
Italian wedding soup, known in Italian as Italian: minestra maritata, is a soup consisting mainly of green vegetables and meat in chicken broth. It is popular in the United States, where it is a staple in many Italian restaurants and diners.
The term wedding soup comes from a mistranslation of the Italian language phrase Italian: minestra maritata ('married soup'). Italian: Minestra maritata more directly translates to 'wedded broths'. The marriage of its meats and vegetables inside of its broth is the only matrimony relevant in this context.[1]
Italian wedding soup consists of green vegetables (usually endive and escarole or cabbage, lettuce, kale, and/or spinach) and meat (usually meatballs and/or sausage, the latter sometimes made of chicken and containing Italian parsley and Parmesan cheese) in a clear chicken-based broth. Sometimes it contains pasta (usually Italian: [[cavatelli]], fusilli, Italian: [[acini di pepe]], pastina, orzo, etc.), lentils, carrots, or grated Parmesan cheese. Egg whites are also a common addition.