This was inspired by a recipe for Italian wedding soup in my book Quick & Kosher: Meals in Minutes. I have pulled back on the liquid to make this more of a stew rather than soup and swapped the traditional red meat for ground chicken “meatballs.” Abracadabra! It turned into a light entrée that eats like a meal. It’s perfect for a holiday night meal.
Chicken Meatball Stew
Servings
6 Servings
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds ground chicken
- 3 large eggs beaten
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 3 tablespoons matzo meal
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil such as Colavita, divided
- 2 small onions diced
- 3 cups diced celery
- 1½ cups sliced carrots
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, egg, parsley, matzah meal, salt and pepper. Roll into 36 small balls and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons evoo in a large pot or dutch oven over mediumedium-high. In two batches, brown meatballs for about 4 to 6 minutes or until nicely brownedon all sides. Remove and set aside.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons evoo and sauté onion, celery, and carrot for 5 minutes or until slightly softened. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes more. Return meatballs to pot and add broth. Bring to a boil; then reduce to a simmer and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in spinach and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until wilted.
- Divide evenly between 6 bowls.
Hi Shelley,
I’m so sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t turn out well for you. I make chicken meatballs frequently, and I’ve noticed that the amount of starch needed, in this case matzah meal, can vary quite a bit. It might depend on whether the chicken was previously frozen or is freshly ground. Sometimes the mixture is very thick and sticky, while other times it’s more liquidy. The eggs usually help bind everything together regardless, and then just add matzah meal as needed, but just enough, if you add too much they don’t taste as good. As for sticking to the pot, maybe you need a better pan, nonstick is best, and it does sound like your mixture was too wet which causes the spritzing of the oil.
I hope this helps!
Tamar
Thanks Tamar. The tricky balls already came out a little bit hard so I didn’t wanna add any more matzo meal For that exact reason. When I make my chicken burgers, I don’t even have an egg. I just sometimes put in a bit of mayonnaise, which gives it nice flavour and also has a bit of egg. I find the whole egg. It just makes it too wet. And the recipes for two eggs so that would’ve been like a total mess. I think the recipe said use a Dutch oven, and Dutch ovens aren’t usually nonstick, only my fry pans are. Well, if I decide to try it again, I’ll have to adjust the recipe. Thanks for your response.
I made this tonight for Shabbat Pesach Dinner. It was a disaster from the get go. The recipe has way too many eggs for ground chicken. It was mush and I could barely form balls. Then when I added some to the pot of oil, they stuck, and the oil spirted all over my arms. I had to scrape the balls from the bottom of the pot. The recipe shows prep time 15 min…the the prep time and making the balls, it was over 2 hours! The texture of the balls was not soft at all, more hard and rubbery. Seems like nobody else has had this problem, I would love some feedback. Thanks
Delicious! I added lemon juice and zucchini to the soup.
would be a AMAZING addition! (I adore fennel!)
Would fennel work with this?
Joanne – I love this comment – awesome, awesome, awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Made this for lunch today for my husband and neighbor young man. They raved over it, over and over again-especially after each bowl. Two for husband, three for young man. My husband told me I could make it weekly until he tells me to stop! I used my special chicken stock for the broth.
OMG – love your Israel Substitution ideas. And totally agree with you that this special meal stretches the dollar without seeming so and without sacrificing taste. Thanks for commenting and sharing the helpful ideas.
Very yummy festive meal, especially for the “don’t let the family know we’re tight for cash, its Yom Tov” occasions. I can feed an army, literally with a kilo of ground turkey. However, in Israel, spinach has a short season, is expensive and has major bug problems (the price of bug-free is ridiculous) so I substitute fresh beet greens or mangold and saute them last with the chopped onion and carrots (stalks substitute for celery which also isn’t quite like the US stuff) and it comes out fine.
yay Dinah thanks so much for sharing!
I made this tonight for dinner and it was AMAZING! I had a few changes purely based on what I had available. I used ground turkey instead of chicken and vegetable broth instead of chicken. I paired it with an Israeli couscous which my fiance put into the broth and loved it! Highly recommend!