Mom’s Classic Meatball Soup is loaded with vegetables, rice and my quick homemade meatballs. Cooked in under 30 minutes, this recipe will become your new wintertime go-to!
Meatball soup was one of my mother’s signature dishes. To feed her small army of children and hungry husband, she would make a giant pot of this soup and let us come back and serve ourselves until we had our fill. If there is anything that represents a Ukrainian household more than a pot of soup, it’s having a large family to feed it to!
Some of Mom’s Other Signature Soups:
Making Meatballs for the Meatball Soup
Making meatballs might sound daunting to you. But, for this recipe, all you need to do is combine a few ingredients together, form them and pop them straight into the boiling soup! There is no need to pre-cook or fry the meatballs at all.
Tips for Making the Meatball Soup
- If you want to go a bit healthier, opt for brown rice instead of white. It will work just as great!
- Feel free to exchange the rice for noodles if you like. Egg noodles are my favorite. Just make sure you don’t add them to the pot too early and overcook them. Add them in last and cook them until they are al dente!
Note: Noodles absorb a ton of liquid. If you store leftovers in the fridge, you might wake up to find that your noodles have sucked up all your broth! When you’re ready to reheat, add more broth to the meatball soup and reheat in a saucepan over medium-heat.
- Add in some extra veggies to the mix. If you have some greens you need to use, don’t let them go to waste! Kale, cabbage shreds, celery and corn are great additions.
- Fresh herbs take this soup to the next level. I love using chopped parsley and green onions. But, if you have dill or basil on hand they work great too!
- Love making soup, but hate storing a ton of cans of broth in your pantry? Try using a broth concentrate instead! My favorite is the Better Than Bouillon brand. It comes in a ton of different flavors and takes up a fraction of the space.
Meatball Soup Variations
You can switch things up and change the flavor profile of this soup by using different meats to make your meatballs. Here are some of my favorite variations:
- Italian ground sausage makes awesome meatballs. Typically pork-based and mixed with garlic and herbs, it will add a nice earthy, Italian flavor to the soup. See if your local butcher carries it bulk-style.
- Use a mixture of ground beef and ground pork or turkey if you want a more savory and dense meat ball.
- Ground turkey is my personal favorite. I like its lightness and simplicity!
If you Can’t Get Enough Meat Ball Soup, Try These
- Meatball Kale Soup Recipe – This hearty soup is chock-full of ultra-healthy kale, chunks of potatoes and large meatballs! It’s perfect for a rainy day.
- Tomato Lentil Soup with Meatballs– Lentils and meatballs are married together with a delicious fire-roasted tomato broth. Make sure you have a big hunk of bread to sop up the broth with!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tbsp salt (to taste)
- 1/2 medium onion diced in small cubes
- 2 medium carrots grated
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 medium potatoes
- 1/2 cup rice
- 2 tbsp green onions diced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley diced
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tbsp salt (to taste)
Instructions
Making Meat Balls For the Soup
- Combine together ground meat, salt, pepper, and an egg.
- Using the meat mixture, form round shapes. You can use a small ice cream school to help achieve more even results.
Mom's Meatball Soup
- Sautée grated carrots and diced onions with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Sautée until the vegetables are soft (about 5 minutes) and set them aside.
- Place a cooking pot with 4 quarts of water on high heat. Add potatoes, rice and sauteed ingredients to the pot. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
- Once it's boiling, one by one, add meatballs into the water. Make sure that the water is boiling at all times, otherwise the meatballs will fall apart. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat to low and let it cook for 15 minutes.
- Add green onions and parsley to the meatball soup. Let it all cook for another 15 minutes. Serve soup right away or reheat before serving.
This soup was delicious. I used beef for the meatballs (added some parsley to the meat mixture), low-sodium chicken stock instead of water, added celery and instead of rice and potatoes, I added rice and orzo. I also added garlic and a pinch of turmeric! Great winter day soup for the whole family.
Hi Michael, I am so thrilled this soup was a success! I love how you were able to really make this recipe your own! Thank you for the awesome feedback! Enjoy!
I am so glad I found this recipe and started baking these balls, because they blow any other meatball I’ve ever made out the kitchen window
I am so glad you loved the recipe, they really are crazy easy to make and delicious!
Hi! Would it taste just as good with ground beef instead of turkey?
Hey Cris, beef tends to be more dense, which is why I like using chicken or turkey. But it would work.
Thanks!
Enjoy 🙂
Do you add the better than bullion Into the soup?
Not always, but I do. It does add more flavor to the soup.
So good! Easy, too. Definitely a favorite in our house.
April, I am so happy you love the recipe. Thank you for sharing!
This is my favorite comfort food! This is so flavorful and delicious!
Awesome! We love it too. Isn't childhood food the best! 🙂
I love how easy this is to make, no precooking of the turkey meatballs! This soup is perfect for chilly fall weather.
Yes, I made it at my inlaws house the other day and they were so surprised how quick the soup came together. 🙂
This is just like the soup I grew up with!
Awesome Tanya! Childhood memories are always the best! 🙂
My family loved this last night. SO GOOD and easy!
Aimee, thanks for sharing! So glad it was a hit!
First off, I love your site, it is now my go to for incorporating familiar Russian dishes for my little girl. I made your zharkoe recipe last week and it was a hit for all of us! I've never made it so full of flavor before.
As for this soup, I want to add cauliflower and broccoli, at what point during the cooking process would you add them ?
I would add them towards the end because they cook really quick. Maybe all the way in the end and cook for 10 more minutes so they're not mushy.
Hi again !! a tip on flavor,,,lets say you have broth , a soup ready to go and decide ya want to add broccoli or cauliflower ,,you have now changer that flavor of the broth ,,,so try cooking those in a separate pot of salted water till you like their texture then add to soup it deserves original flavor and the veggies retain their crispiness and their own flavor ,,try you will adapt this tip to other recipes ,,,Joseph associate of the late James ,Jimmy ,Beard. "Good Eating "
Thank you for sharing your tip!
this soup looks delicious!gotta try it soon!!!!
Thank you Katy! I hope you love it but let me know how it goes 😉