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Wedding soup or Italian wedding soup, known in Italian as 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.

Origin

The term wedding soup comes from a mistranslation of the Italian language phrase minestra maritata ('married soup'). 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]

Ingredients

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. Wedding soup sometimes contains pasta (usually cavatelli, fusilli, acini di pepe, pastina, orzo, etc.), lentils, carrots, or grated Parmesan cheese. Egg whites are also a common addition.