Add the olive oil to a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium to medium-low heat.

Add the celery, carrots and onion along with a couple shakes of crushed red pepper, a tiny pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.

Cook everything nice and slow until the vegetables soften and become translucent with just a little bit of golden color. We’re not trying to fry these vegetables!

Add the chopped or sliced garlic and sauté for another minute or so, just until it becomes fragrant.

Don’t burn the garlic. Nobody wants that.

Pour in the entire jar of tomato basil marinara sauce.

Then pour a little of the chicken stock into the empty sauce jar, put the lid back on, shake it up and pour it into the pot. We are getting EVERY DROP of that sauce out of there!

Add the remaining chicken stock and stir everything together.

Bring the soup up to a boil.

Once the soup is boiling, add the frozen mini meatballs and 2 cups of dry elbow macaroni.

The frozen meatballs will bring the temperature down, so let everything come back up to a boil.

Cook until the macaroni is al dente and the meatballs are completely heated through, stirring every so often so that macaroni doesn’t settle on the bottom of your pot.

Once the macaroni is just about done, lower the heat.

Add the Pecorino Romano, heavy cream and roughly chopped spinach.

Stir until the Pecorino melts into the broth, the spinach wilts and everything becomes creamy and absolutely GORGEOUS.

Let it gently simmer for another couple of minutes.

NOW taste it.

This is why I don’t go crazy seasoning this soup in the beginning. Between the marinara sauce, chicken stock, meatballs and Pecorino Romano, there is already a TON of flavor happening in that pot.

Taste it at the end and add more salt or cracked black pepper only if you think it needs it.

Ladle it into bowls, add some extra Pecorino Romano or Parmesan on top and THAT’S IT.

Spaghetti and meatballs soup night, baby!