Love meatball soup? Well you're gonna love this Creamy Autumn Squash and Italian Sausage Meatball Soup. It combines rich and velvety winter squash soup with fork tender meatballs creating a hearty meal in a bowl. A delicious and quick way to turn last night's soup supper into what feels like a new dish!

Creant Autumn Squash and Meatball Soup in a white soup bowl garnished with parsley.

There is nothing better than making a pot of soup and extending to make another delicious meal in a bowl! For this meatball soup riff, we will start by making our version of Curry Autumn Squash Soup. While the squash roasts, we will start on the meatballs.

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What you'll need
How to make Italian sausage meatballs for soup
Variations
Storage and reheating
Top tip
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Creamy Autumn Squash and Italian Sausage Meatball Soup

What you'll need

Here's a quick overview of some of the key ingredients to make this meatball soup. The Italian sausage meatball recipe can be found at the bottom of the post. Don't forget to add the ingredients and check out the Curry Autumn Squash and Carrot Soup recipe on Our Table 4 2.

Here's what you'll need to make meatballs:

bacon
onion
garlic cloves
large egg
whole milk
fresh bread crumbs - the fresh bread crumbs is a key ingredient to achieve tender meatballs. No fresh bread on hand? No worries, use panko bread crumbs or another plain (no seasoning) dried bread crumbs.
smoked cheddar cheese - for maximum flavor grate your own cheese versus purchasing already grated cheese.
fresh cilantro
dried oregano
ground cumin
Italian sausage, pork sausage or ground chuck or a mixture of meats are great options. Choose a mild spiced sausage and you will want to remove the casings.
salt and pepper

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Italian sausage meatballs for soup

To make meatballs we will create a panade, which is a cooking technique of combining a starch, like fresh breadcrumbs, and a liquid (whole milk) to make a paste. The secret to moist and tender meatballs is to gently work the panade into the meatball mixture.

Alright, gather your ingredients and let's start cooking.

Cook the bacon. Place the bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat until it is crispy. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel- lined plate to drain and remove all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat from the skillet. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it into small pieces.
Saute the onion and garlic. Add the onion to the skillet and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring constantly. This will happen fast, needing only about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat and set it aside.

Bread crumbs soaking in milk for the Creamy Autumn Squash and Italian Sausage Meatball soup

Create a panade. In a small bowl, combine fresh bread crumbs and milk, stirring to allow the breadcrumbs soak up all the milk.

Blended breadcrumb mixture for Italian sausage meatball mixture.

Add the egg, and blend using a hand blender until the mixture is smooth and paste like.

Creamy Autumn Soup and Italian Sausage meatball soup meatball mixture in a glass bowl.

Mix together meatballs. Combine the Italian sausage, bacon, cooled onion, cheddar, cilantro, oregano, and cumn and the bread mixture in a medium mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly until the meat mixture is well combined and has become tacky.

Creamy Autumn Squash and Italian Sausage Meatballs Soup meatballs in a cast iron skillet ready to be cooked

Shape the meatballs. Scoop the meatballs into golf ball size pieces and place on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. It will yield about 16 meatballs. Roll each ball between your palms to give it a smooth spherical shape, then return to sheet pan.

Cook the meatballs. In the now empty bacon skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium high heat. Working in batches, place meat balls in even layer to fry until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Rotate the balls and repeat on other side, frying only two sides total to prevent from drying. Remove the meatballs from pan and set aside.
Add soup and serve. In a medium soup pot or Dutch oven, add the curry autumn squash and carrot soup and meatballs, allow the soup to come to a boil, then reduce the heat so the stock is simmering. Cook for 10 minutes. Ladle the soup into soup bowls, sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Italian sausage meatballs cooked in a cast iron skillet ready to be added to the creamy autumn soup.

Variations

The meatball variations you can add to creamy autumn squash soup are endless. Here are a few to consider:

Turkey meatballs - swap out the Italian sausage meatballs for these turkey zucchini meatballs.
Chicken meatballs - use ground chicken in place of the Italian sausage
Frozen meatballs - Short on time? Skip making meatballs and grab a bag of your favorite frozen meatballs and add them to the squash soup. Reheat meatballs in the soup pot with the soup until warm throughout.
Add Coconut rice along side the meatballs. To make coconut rice for two, add a ½ cup rice, 7 ounces of coconut milk, and ½ cup water to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until the rice is light, fluffy and the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Add some honey, and scoop some rice into each soup bowl alongside the meatballs.

Storage and reheating

Make ahead as the flavor of the meatball soup gets better a day or two after sitting in the refrigerator.

To Store: For best results, store meatballs and soup separately. This will help the meatballs keep their shape. A 24-ounce glass jar is the perfect airtight storage container for soup.

Use a square or shallow sided freezer container for the meatballs to protect their shape. Store the soup and the meatballs in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to a few months.

To reheat: If soup is frozen, remove from freezer the night before and place in the refrigerator to defrost. If meatballs are frozen, for best results reheat soup and meatballs on the stovetop, adding apple cider and the coconut milk to achieve desired soup consistency.

If stored in the refrigerator you can reheat the soup and meatballs in the microwave. Again add some apple cider if your soup is too thick.

Top tip

Want to know the secret to making Creamy Autumn Squash and Italian Sausage Meatball Soup? Here are some of my best tips that I’ve learned making this recipe again and again.

Make a big pot of autumn winter squash soup with carrots a day or two before making the meatballs. The soup flavor gets better a day or two after sitting in the refrigerator.
When forming the meatballs, keep a small bowl of water nearby and wet your palms periodically to prevent the meat from sticking to your hands.

Love this recipe? Please leave a star rating and review in the comments below! And don't forget to subscribe to Our Table 4 2 for even more cooking for two recipes and tips.

Looking for other soups, stews and curry recipes perfectly portioned for two? Try these:

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