🇵🇱 Poland, 🇩🇪 Germany, and 🇺🇸 United States · Ashkenazi Jewish kitchen of Central and Eastern Europe; eaten at Passover and in North America

Matzo ball soup

Jewish chicken soup served with dumplings of matzo meal, eggs and fat (matzo balls, kneidlach), a staple of the Ashkenazi Passover table.

Origin and history

Joan Nathan notes that the dumplings were first called knoedel, used in soups by Germans, Austrians and Alsatians, and that after Jews moved to Poland they were called knoedela. Chabad calls the matzo ball a relatively new invention, probably from the 19th century. Nathan says the English name matzo balls was probably popularised by American comedians and vaudeville performers, and that in the 1930s Manischewitz sold them packaged as 'Alsatian feathery balls'.

Make it at home

Makes: 6 servings
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Hands-on: 30 min

Ingredients

Metric US

2.5 l2.5 qt Jewish chicken soup (yoykh), strained and seasoned, see the parent recipe, hot and strained
4 large eggs
30 ml2 tbsp rendered chicken fat (schmaltz), skimmed from the chilled soup; or neutral oil
60 ml1/4 cup chicken broth or water
130 g1 cup matzo meal
2 tsp fine salt, plus 1 tsp for the cooking water
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp chopped parsley or dill, to serve
2 cooked carrots from the soup, sliced, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the eggs, schmaltz, broth, salt, nutmeg, ginger and a little pepper in a bowl until blended.
2. Stir in the matzo meal just until combined; the mixture is loose at first and firms as it rests.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (overnight is fine) so the meal swells.
4. Bring a large wide pot of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon of salt, then keep it at a gentle boil.
5. Wet your hands with cold water and form the mixture into balls about the size of a small walnut; they swell as they cook.
6. Drop the balls into the water, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until swollen and cooked through when cut in half.
7. Meanwhile, bring the chicken soup to a simmer with the sliced carrots and some shredded chicken.
8. Lift the matzo balls out with a slotted spoon, put 2 in each bowl, ladle the hot soup over them and sprinkle with dill or parsley.

Notes

Matzo balls (kneydlekh, singular kneydl) are the one change from the parent soup, which is the everyday chicken soup with noodles. They are cooked in salted water, not in the soup, so that they do not cloud the broth, and are added to the hot soup at serving.
Texture is a family argument. For lighter 'floaters', do not pack the balls tightly and keep the pot covered; for denser 'sinkers', roll them firmly.
Joan Nathan says the dumplings were first called knoedel and were used in soups by German, Austrian and Alsatian cooks; before machine-made matzo, Jews made matzo balls from the crumbs of matzo bought at local bakeries. Chabad calls the matzo ball a relatively new invention, probably from the 19th century.
Many communities (including Chabad) avoid matzo that has touched water (gebrokts) during the first seven days of Passover and serve matzo balls on the eighth day or on other occasions.
The balls can be cooked a day ahead and reheated in the soup; keep them separate from the broth in the fridge, as they absorb liquid.
Keep the soup meat-only for a kosher table: no butter or cream in the balls.

Adapted from Joan Nathan, matzo ball soup (NPR/KUNC segment), Chabad.org, matzo balls (kneidlach), and Joan Nathan, Pearl Nathan's Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls (via JTA).