Russian Chicken Meatball Soup

Russian Chicken Meatball Soup is so light and fresh, made with aromatic vegetables, potatoes, rice and the most tender chicken meatballs. This is a soup that is a favorite with the whole family.

Russian Chicken Meatball Soup with rice, potatoes and fresh herbs is so easy to make, but is both healthy and filling. The light, "brothy" soup with the tender chicken meatballs is the perfect comforting meal any time of year. It seems every culture loves their meatballs in many ways.  A great option is to serve it in soup. My mom made this Russian Meatball Soup, which we called Суп с Фрикадельками, quite often and I make it for my own family now. This soup is light and healthy, but absolutely delicious.

This is definitely a quick dinner option, since there is very little prep work and the cooking time is fairly short. The ingredients are very simple pantry staples, but marry together to create an incredibly tasty soup. I really prefer using chicken for the meatballs, with their clean flavor and such moist, plump and succulent texture. You will feel light and fresh when sipping each pleasing spoonful, not only from it's healthy goodness but also because you'll still have some energy left, instead of spending it all on the cooking.

Watch the Video of How To Make Chicken Meatball Soup

Ingredients:

• butter or oil (for sauteing)
• onion (for the soup and the meatballs)
• carrot(s)
• celery
  • celery was not a popular ingredient in the Russian cuisine, so many recipes of this soup do not use celery, but I really love it.
• garlic
• potatoes
• water
  • Most of the time when I make soup, I use broth but in this soup I prefer regular water. It will be make the soup really light and fresh, resulting in a delightful broth. The clean flavor of this soup is absolutely amazing because of that and I actually prefer it.
• dry bay leaves, dry herbs and spices
• rice (I use long grain white rice, you can use other rice if you want, adjust the cooking time depending on the rice that you use.)
• fresh herbs (parsley, dill, green onions)
• salt, pepper

Chicken Meatballs

• ground chicken
  • Of course, you can use other ground meat, like ground beef, ground pork, ground turkey. My favorite, by far, is ground chicken. It is the secret to the best version of this soup.
• breadcrumbs (panko is m favorite, you can use any that you like)
• milk
  • any dairy free milk will work in this recipe as well. Even water can be used, although in my opinion, milk is better.
• onion
  • I use half of the onion in the soup and half in the meatballs. Grating it finely on a box grater will ensure that the onion will be cooked through in the meatballs, since they cook really quickly.
• salt, pepper, dry herbs and spices, garlic powder

How to make Chicken Meatball Soup

1. Saute the vegetables. Heat the butter or oil and add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
2. Pour in the water, bay leaves and potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and any herbs and spices that you like.
3. Cook, at a simmer, until the potatoes are cooked through. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until everything is cooked and the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
   • Pour the milk over the breadcrumbs and set it aside for about 5 minutes, until bread has been absorbed by the milk and is soft.
   • Add the rest of the ingredients to the meatball mixture (including the grated onion) and mix until well combined. 
   • Using moistened hands, form the ground meat mixture into approximately ½ - 1 Tablespoon meatballs and drop into simmering soup. (I like to use a small portion scoop to form the meatballs first.)
5. Add the rice to the soup. The rice and the meatballs will take about the same amount of time, about 10 - 15 minutes, depending of the size of the meatballs. 
6. Garnish with the fresh herbs. Serve:).

Serving the Soup:

Our favorite way to serve the soup is with some bread, like my Simple Homemade Bread or the Crunchy No Knead Bread.

This recipe makes a big batch, so feel free to halve it. It reheats really well, so I like having this big batch to enjoy the soup the next night too and have a night off from cooking. Oftentimes, I will give soup to my boys for lunch the next day or two. It's great to have something healthy and nutritious as an easy lunch option on hand.

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