Chicken Meatball, Butter Bean and Spinach Soup

Good quality fresh chicken stock works best here, for a richer, fuller flavour. You could try browning your meatballs before poaching, for a more golden colour.

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamPublished: 11 December 2023

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This recipe is perfect as a lunch or light dinner option. If you want to make it more hearty then it would be delicious served with a crusty loaf of bread or with some cooked rice added.

If you're a fan of this recipe, then we have lots of healthy recipes to try this New Year.

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Yields:

4 serving(s)

Prep Time:

20 mins

Cook Time:

40 mins

Total Time:

1 hr

Cal/Serv:

295

Ingredients

2 tsp.
olive oil
1
onion, finely chopped
2
carrots, finely chopped
2
celery sticks, finely sliced
1
courgette, finely chopped
1
litre fresh chicken stock
6
chicken sausages, about 200g
2
x 400g tins butter beans, drained and rinsed
125 g
baby spinach
Finely grated zest 1 lemon

Directions

1. Step 1Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook for 10min, stirring occasionally, until softened. Meanwhile, peel off the sausage skins and discard. Roll the meat into grape-sized balls.
2. Step 2Add courgette, stock and plenty of seasoning to the pan, turn up heat and bring to the boil. Add meatballs and simmer for 12-15min, until meatballs are cooked through.
3. Step 3When meatballs are cooked, remove lid and stir through beans. Cook for 10min, then stir through spinach to wilt. Check seasoning. Ladle into 4 bowls and sprinkle over the lemon zest. Serve.

Per serving:

Calories: 295
Protein: 22g
Total fat: 8g
Saturates: 2g
Carbs: 28g
Total sugars: 7g
Fibre: 12g

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The Good Housekeeping Cookery Team

An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).

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