Matzo Ball Soup
Gluten free, high protein Matzo Ball Soup is a Passover classic. Chicken soup with matzo balls can also be considered Jewish penicillin, and a favorite remedy for a cold or the flu; however this is primarily a staple recipe for Passover. Did you know that all of my recipes are kosher for Passover?
Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I adore holidays that involve a change of seasons and Passover, occurring each year in March or April (depending on the full moon), ushers in spring.
Like most other families who grew up celebrating this holiday, we had matzoh ball soup every year. My grandmother made this soup. My mother made this soup. And now I have made this soup! My children will be at least the fourth generation of my family to partake in matzo balls!
I made a test batch today for my family to sample and was given the thumbs up. I will be serving this soup and other gluten free Jewish food at our Passover seder, which falls on Monday, April 2nd, this year.
Matzo Ball Soup
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups blanched almond flour, sifted
- 6 cups chicken stock
- In a medium bowl, beat eggs, (1 teaspoon) salt and pepper for 2 minutes
- Stir in the almond flour
- Refrigerate the mixture 2-4 hours
- Remove from refrigerator
- Heat a large pot of water (with 1 teaspoon salt) and bring to a boil
- Roll the batter into 1-inch balls then drop into the pot of boiling water
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
- Heat 6 cups chicken stock in a separate po
- When the matzo balls are finished, remove from simmering water with a slotted spoon and add to chicken stock
- Ladle stock, plus 2-3 matzo balls into individual bowls and serve
Serves 6
These gluten free matzo balls are non-gebruchts, pareve and kosher for Passover.
More chicken soups and soups you might enjoy:
Luckily I don't have to eat non-gluten things. But I'm glad you came up with this recipe for those who need to follow these restrictions.
Matzo ball soup is awesome!
The best Gluten Free Matzo Ball soup I have ever had came from EenaKadeena.com. I ordered the mix and followed the instructions.. it was simple, and they came out Perfect the very first time I tried.
My family tells me that they tasted just like the real thing!!
I'm going to buy more this week so I will have them for Passover
Hello,
Can you please give me a recipe or a product for matzo that does not contain OATS. Our granddaugter has celiac and now they realize that she cannot have ant oat product as well. Would appreciate any suggestions as soon as possible. Thanks.
Grandma
That mix might taste good, but it has 31 grams of carbohydrate per serving. The nice thing about Elana's recipe: it's gluten free AND is low-carb AND high protein, which is ideal for people who want to limit carbs.
Olga,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, matzo ball soup is amazing!
Elana
i love you! this was one of the things that was sooo hard to say goodbye to. THANK YOU!!!!
april,
You are very welcome! I hope you like it as much as we do.
Elana
yay! i have one of my absolute favorite comfort foods back! this is an amazing soup! the matzo balls are perfect!
april,
So glad you liked it.
Elana
Ah, I thought it needed a bit more flour. Perfect! I added this to my site as part of a rcipe (http://www.comfybelly.com/2008/12/stone-soup.html). Thank you for a wonderful variation on matzo balls!
Erica,
Glad you like them.
Happy New Year!
Elana
Thanks for the great recipe! I eagerly await your cookbook.
I have a matzo ball question: have you ever made these ahead and frozen them? I used to do that with regular matzo balls but this is my first gluten-free Passover.
Thanks!
Carin
What a great recipe, but I would point out that with the inclusion of chicken stock (presuming this is real chicken stock), this is not pareve.
My 5 year old loves grandma's matzo balls but is on a restrictive diet this year and I was going to cave in and let him have them. But a friend sent me a link to your site and found the recipe. I made them today with a couple additions -- parsley, dill, schmalz and club soda. He came home from school saying he only wanted grandma's then tasted them...sat down...ate three! Thanks so much. I plan on making these all year long.
Thanks everyone. Carin, I haven't tried making and freezing these ahead of time. Feel free to experiment. Mellisa, Love your additions to this recipe!
Hi Elana,
How can one tell if the matzoh balls are done (step 10)? I want to make this recipe, but also want to do it correctly.
Thanks,
Flora
This is officially my favorite new food blog...grain free matzoh balls??? I never even thought to attempt this, I haven't tasted a matzoh ball in years, I am SO excited!
Elana,
Thank you so much for this recipe. Whenever I am sick, I want matzo ball or chicken-n-dumpling soup to help me feel better, it's strictly a memory/comfort issue.
Have you expanded the matzo balls idea into an unleavened cracker taste? I miss the water cracker flavor of passover & seders & just nights with cheese & crackers.
My latest experiment is with 2 lbs almond flour to 1 lb coconut flour. The coconut flour alone gave me heartburn, but not mixed in this ratio, and it supplies the wonderful "pastry-like" texture I miss in pie crusts and flat rolled Christmas/Holiday cookies. Of course it requires the addition of more liquids. Have you tried this mix for any crackers? Your crackers are wonderful, and just perfect, and I wondered if you thought this mix would produce a closer flavor/texture for matzo/water crackers? Please advise?
Also, Borders only stocked one of your cookbooks at each store, necessitating a drive to 4 different stores in my area for Holiday gift-giving. You should let them know to stock more!
Kindest regards,
Suzanne
Any chance Bob's will work in a pinch? It's between Bob's almond flour/almond meal (new) and year-old Lieber's mix. (I imagine the preservatives keep it ok, but either way, it's a risk, I know.) I appreciate that Bob's may not the best, and was hoping WF would have another option...I doubt you're checking the blog right now, but just thought I would ask!
I will be mixing it up shortly to refrigerate. To serve today. (And have never made matzah balls of any kind before...always the best thing to do when a guest in someone else's home, right?)
Great Web site. I look forward to making your menu the next time we host. We do have at least on GF extended family member, and suspect there are a few in our household as well (which we'll find out soon enough). Thank you again.
I tried these and they fell apart when I boiled them. I did use chicken broth instead of water. Was that my problem?
Thanks
Sorry to hear that happened to you! Considering this is my one chance (I don't have any more flour), I'm hoping that doesn't happen to me!! Did you refrigerate, out of curiosity? If so, how long?
Elena, thank goodness for you!! I'm not Jewish but I've always LOVED Matzoh Ball soup. Now that I'm in the Celiac family, I can again make it and enjoy it! I love to make my own stock and add some finely chopped chicken, carrots & celery. It cures the common cold or flu, but it HAS to be homemade!
I have tried this recipe twice, now. Both times the balls fell apart. The second time, I tried freezing the balls before adding them to the soup. This helped a little bit but they still fell apart. How are your balls staying together?
Besides that, they taste great and I dig the recipe.
Hi DajM,
Thanks for your comment. I make these quite often and haven't ever had any trouble with them falling apart. Here are a couple of tips that might help your batches hold together:
-use large size eggs; if there's not enough moisture, that could be why the matzoh balls are not holding together.
-when you form the batter into balls, do so very firmly, applying a lot of pressure
-use the recommended type almond flour (blanched), and be sure to use one of the brands I recommend on my ingredients page, as those are brands that I have tested and know will work in my recipes.
Hope this helps and please let me know how it goes!
Elana
Elana,
Finally had a chance to make these, and though they did not fall apart, we found them to be pretty tasteless. Perhaps cooking them in broth next time, and maybe adding a bit of oil would help?
Laura,
I love to eat Matzoh Ball Soup after I've been sick; it's the first thing I turn to, probably because it's so bland. My mother's matzoh ball soup was bland, my Bubby's matzoh ball soup was bland, and now I find out that mine is bland --well, at least I'm in good company :-)
If you decide to flavor up the Matzoh Ball Soup, please come back and let us know what you do.
Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it :-)
Elana
Elana - Follow up on my comment that the matzoh balls were tasteless!
Tonight, I added 1 T olive oil, and cooked it in chicken/veggie broth - delicious!! All who tried them liked them!
Happy Pesach!
Laura
Thanks for this recipe! I made it for passover and it was so nice to feel like I was eating such comfort food. Next time I will add some shmaltz and cook again in chicken broth, not water. We added coconut flour crepes cut up into noodles and it was all wonderful!
This is my first of many years to come of being GF. I was thrilled with the recipe, especially since I have always been in charge of making the matza ball soup. However, I seem to be unable to follow recipes, so I made changes. I also, always cook my matza balls in the broth and I usually add broth to the balls before cooking them. Since this is a new flour for me, I tried to be careful. I had purchased the Bob's Red Mills brand, but I added about a teaspoon of honey to the dough. They turned out pretty good for my first round. Next year, I will experiment some more. Thanks for getting me started.
Also, I rinsed my hands after making each matza ball, which made it much easier to work with the dough.
I loved the "matzo" balls or kneidlach. For a variation, I made chicken kneidlach. I added a half cup of finely ground chicken breast to the mixture and 1 extra egg white, added 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed, 1/2 teaspoon dried chives, a dash of white pepper, and pinch of ground ginger to your Master recipe. Simmer the balls in H2O in a covered pot until tender - minimum 1/2 hour. Drain and add to the soup or refrigerate or freeze until needed.
Our family chicken soup recipe, passed down from my great grandmother from a shtetl in Poland, included a lot of "soup greens" besides the usual carrots, celery, parsnip, onion, garlic. We always included generous bunch of carrot tops, in addition to the usual handfuls of flat leaf parsley, and dill and celery leaves. In the summer, my mom would also pluck marigold blossoms and add those petals to the soup.
I also add a bay leaf and a piece of ginger root. Lately, I have also been adding a small segment of turmeric root which gives a yellower color to the broth and its own subtle addition of flavor, besides being very healthy.
Perhaps adding more stuff to your chicken soup such as the above will make it less bland.