Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Turkey meatball and orzo soup with spinach
Small turkey meatballs poached in broth with orzo and spinach.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 22 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm sixteen small meatballs cook through in 10 to 12 minutes of gentle poaching
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 45 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 560 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 42 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains eggs, gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- dried breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs can contain soya or milk; check the label.
- chicken stock. Stock often contains celery, and sometimes gluten or soya; check the label.
- orzo. Most dry pasta is just wheat and water, but some contains egg; check the packet.
- Parmesan. Parmigiano Reggiano is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian. Vegetarian Italian-style hard cheeses are widely sold.
Cooking steps
Mix the turkey mince, breadcrumbs and egg with your hands until just combined, then wet your hands and roll sixteen small meatballs, each about 3 cm across.
Soften the diced onion and carrot in the oil in a large pan for 8 minutes.
Add the stock and bring it to a gentle simmer, never a rolling boil.
Lower the meatballs in one at a time and poach for 10 to 12 minutes, adding the orzo for the last 8.
Cooked when: 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Stir in the spinach until it wilts and serve with the grated Parmesan.
The useful detail
Poach the meatballs in a gentle simmer rather than browning them first. There is no binder here beyond one egg, and a rolling boil knocks them apart into the broth.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl with eight small meatballs. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Chicken mince instead of turkey
Softer and richer, and a little more fragile in the pot.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about 2 g less protein, about the same fat.
Small pasta shapes instead of orzo
Chunkier. Add it a few minutes earlier.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Oats instead of breadcrumbs
Softer meatballs. Blitz them first if you want them invisible.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A soup at nearly 40 g of protein a serving, which is where a broth stops being a starter and becomes dinner.
| Energy | 560 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 42 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| of which saturates | 6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| of which sugars | 9 g |
| Fibre | 5 g |
| Sodium | 2,150 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| turkey mince | 250 g | FDC 172850Turkey, ground, 93% lean, 7% fat, raw | 375 kcal | 46.8 g |
| dried breadcrumbs | 20 g | FDC 174928Bread, crumbs, dry, grated, plain | 79 kcal | 2.7 g |
| eggs | 50 g | FDC 171287Egg, whole, raw, fresh | 72 kcal | 6.3 g |
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| carrot | 120 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 49 kcal | 1.1 g |
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| chicken stock | 945 g | FDC 174536Soup, chicken broth, ready-to-serve | 57 kcal | 6.1 g |
| orzo | 70 g | FDC 169736Pasta, dry, enrichedFoodData Central records dry pasta as one entry rather than by shape. Orzo is the same durum wheat pasta, cut small. | 260 kcal | 9.1 g |
| spinach | 100 g | FDC 168462Spinach, raw | 23 kcal | 2.9 g |
| Parmesan | 20 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hard | 78 kcal | 7.2 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1121 kcal | 83.4 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. The orzo keeps swelling and drinks the broth; add stock when you reheat.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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