Enjoy this beautiful meatball soup all throughout the year, especially in the cold season. It warms up your whole being. It is one of those really addictive dishes. My kids are addicted to this and I have to say I still am and probably always will be.
I ate a lot of this soup as a kid, my mum used to make it often and I always loved it. I thought I must share the recipe with you, I am sure you will love it too!! ;-))
We love having it with fresh homemade bread and fresh green chillies or pickled ones. Delicious!
It is one of those soups that go very well with children and even those that do not eat vegetables will definitely eat this! I can guarantee you that if they eat it once they will ask for it again and again. My kids also get very excited about the meatballs which they really enjoy eating and say they are the best meatballs in the whole wide world. They are sweet to say that but I also feel that they are perfectly right and they do know what they are talking about ;-))
How to make this meatball soup?
All it takes is about 20 min of your time, the rest is left for boiling so let the stove do all the work for you.
Start by Making the Meatball Mixture
In a mixing bowl, add the ground meat, add finely chopped onion, add the rice, the eggs, and season with salt and black pepper. Mix well to combine. This is a 3 min activity.
Form the meatballs and set them aside on a plate or chopping board.
Make the meatball soup
Option 1
Take out a larger pot. Place it on medium heat, add the chopped onion, grated or diced carrots, parsnip celery, diced celeriac, courgette/zucchini and the red pepper. Add a drizzle of water or oil if you wish. Cook for a few minutes until softened, stirring regularly.
Add most of the water or broth depending on how you like your soup, add the meatballs, and a little later the canned tomatoes. Season to your taste. At the end garnish with your preferred chopped fresh herbs.
Option 2
See the recipe card - it implies no oil addition, no frying/sautéing the vegetables. It is how I make most of my soups for many, many years now and it is as delicious as the other option.
Cooking Tips
- Ground meat - in this meatball soup you can use any meat you wish (turkey, pork, lamb, chicken) or even a mix. I like mixing pork with beef, beef with lamb - are particularly good. I always use extra-lean meat as I do not like at all greasy soups.
- Egg - only add on egg if the mince/ground meat is super lean - anything above 10% far does not require and egg.
- The rice - try and use more glutenous rice - helps with the binding. The rice here in this recipe does not require precooking. Simply wash it and it to the meat.
- Vegetables - if you do not have, cannot eat or simply do not like vegetables like parsnip, celery, celeriac, do not worry. Other vegetables that could be used in this meatball soup are leeks, swede, yellow, green or orange pepper, green beans, peas or potatoes. If you add potato, make sure these get added after you added the tomato juice/paste as this will help to keep them whole and not get mushy.
- Stock - Use any low salt vegetable, beef or lamb and use chicken stock only if you are using chicken or turkey mince.
- Fresh herbs - add some freshly chopped parsley and/or lovage only to the soup you will eat and not to the whole soup (if any will be leftover). Herbs are good and make a truly delicious addition when freshly added.
FAQs
This meatball soup recipe serves about 4-6 people. For our little family of 4, we generally (unless we go for seconds) end up with a little bit (1 or 2 bowls) of soup leftovers which always makes a fab lunch starter the next day. If you will have any leftover soup, when this is completely cool, place in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for 2-3 days.
Yes, absolutely but you will need to make sure the soup it's perfectly cooled before you may freeze it. When you decide to have it, thaw the soup in the fridge overnight and then reheat it to boiling point before serving. You might want to season and add some freshly chopped herbs to give it a refreshing touch.
Other recipes you may like :
- Potato soup with ham hock and petit pois (garden peas)
- Black pepper and olive oil homemade white bread
- 13 winter warming and comforting soup recipes ready in less than one hour
Give this super tasty grandma's meatball soup a try and let me know how you liked it.
Grandma's Meatball Soup Recipe
Equipment
- bowl
- pot
- chopping board
- knife
Ingredients
Preparing the meatballs:
- 500 g beef mince (1lb) ground beef (lean -up to 12% fat)
- 1 small onion
- 50 g rice (1.76 oz) uncooked *
- 1 egg (optional) *
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper freshly ground
Preparing the soup:
- 1.5 l stock (51 fl oz) low salt (vegetable, beef or lamb)
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large parsnip *
- 1 large carrot
- ⅓ small celeriac *
- 2 sticks celery
- 1 small red pepper
- 1 medium courgette/zucchini
- 1 can tomatoes (400g/ 2 cups) chopped (tinned or freshly chopped)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 10-12 sprigs parsley fresh
Instructions
- In a bowl, place the minced beef along with the small finely chopped (or grated) onion, the uncooked and washed rice, salt, pepper and the egg(s) if you chose to use it. Mix all thoroughly and make small bite-size meatballs. Place them on a big plate or a chopping board.
- Pour the stock into a pot and bring it to a boil.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion finely, and then chop, dice or grate all the washed vegetables. Cut into small cubes or bigger chunks or even grate them if you prefer. Place them all in a large bowl and set them aside.
- When the stock is beginning to boil, reduce the heat to medium and gently drop all the meatballs (one by one) with the help of a spoon. Allow them to cook for a few minutes until some foam will gather on the water surface. Remove this foam carefully with a slotted spoon or a skimmer.
- Add all the chopped vegetables to the soup and let it cook for about 10 mins.
- Add some salt, tomato paste and the chopped tomatoes and allow to cook (uncovered) on medium heat until it starts boiling when you could reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 20-20mins or until it gets a nice deep red colour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place the soup in serving bowls, sprinkle a good pinch of chopped parsley or lovage and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nelly says
I have made this meatballs soup because when I saw the pictures I just had to. It looks and it tastes amazing! It will be a regular in my house going forward. I will try it with other meats too. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe, Ramona! There are a few more recipes that I have saved from your amazing site that I must get done ASAP. Wonderful content here and right up my alley!!
Ramona says
Thank you so much dear Nelly, I would definitely want to hear more from you on the recipes you will be making 😉 I am super happy you enjoyed my meatballs soup.
Deanna says
Yummy and hearty. Perfect meal for the rainy days we've been having, especially with crusty bread for dipping.
Nayomi says
This soup looks super appetising. I can imagine how brilliant it taste with those homemade olive and seed rolls. Absolutely delicious!
Raquel says
Delicious! Cannot wait to make this!
Alexandra says
Hearty, delicious and full of flavour - this is my new favourite soup recipe. It is so comforting!
Ksenia prints says
Love that this recipe honours your grandma. You really did it justice!
Kris says
We loved this, and garlic bread tasted great dipped into the broth.
Audrey says
You know any recipe with Grandma in the title has got to be good!!
Nicki says
I gave this recipe to mum, she made the soup and it was delicious!
Ramona says
Yayy, thank you Nicki, I am super happy you liked the soup. It is a very nice soup indeed, kids love it too especially the meatballs 😉