Making chicken noodle soup should be simple — in fact, we’ve got a new podcast episode out about just this. Choosing a chicken noodle soup to make should be simple too, thus I hadn’t intended to add a third chicken noodle soup recipe to this site. But, I’m kind of restless. I fidget. I always wonder if something could be better. And it’s from this place that I’ve come clean with myself to admit that quite often, my least favorite part of chicken noodle soup is the chicken. It easily overcooks in the broth, ending up dry and hard to chew. Do you know what’s not? Buoyant, tender chicken meatballs.
At home, we call this Jewish Wedding Soup — a nod to Italian Wedding Soup with meatballs, pasta, greens, and parmesan. [Although it has nothing to do with weddings, fun dish names always trump boring ones.] This one has classic Grandma-style chicken noodle soup flavors: chicken instead of pork meatballs, carrots and celery, chicken broth, ample noodles, plus parsley and/or dill. Despite the fact that we have to form meatballs, the rest of the soup is a cinch and I easily make this recipe in 45 minutes on a weeknight.
About those noodles: Do you ever read a seemingly random article or essay that stays with you forever? It’s been over a decade since I first read The Unlikely Chef from novelist Jami Attenberg and I’ve not made chicken noodle soup once since without remembering, “We watched in horror as the noodles sucked up all the soup. We tried to add more water, but it was too late.” Sure, they’d just put too many noodles in the soup but it’s not untrue that noodles love to drink up soup broth long after they’re done cooking, draining your hard work. So, in this recipe we’re going to get out ahead of it — I cook the noodles separately in either salted water, a chicken bouillon broth (I’m too stingy to use my good homemade chicken stock for noodle cooking water, anyway) and then we add the amount our heart desires (needless to say, our hearts desire a lot) directly to our bowls and ladle the soup and meatballs over it. Repeat as needed all blustery, shivering winter long.
Chicken Meatball and Noodle Soup
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) water or milk
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup (20 grams) plain dried breadcrumbs (such as panko) or matzo meal
- 1 pound ground chicken, ideally a mix of dark and light meat
- 6 ounces (170 grams) soup noodles of your choice (I choose these)
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 4 to 6 cups (950ml to 1.4l) chicken broth
- Minced parsley and/or dill to finish
Meatballs
Ingredient section
Cook noodles: In a medium saucepan, bring salted water (or water with some chicken bouillon added for flavor) to a boil and cook noodles according to their package directions. Personally, this is not a place where I want “al dente” noodles — I cook mine until tender. Drain and set in a bowl until needed.
Make soup: In a large saucepan (or, my favorite braiser), heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring, until partly tender, about 6 minutes. Add 4 cups of the broth and bring it to a simmer. Carefully add chilled meatballs, one at a time, and bring broth back to a simmer. Simmer meatballs for 10 minutes, checking one at the end to make sure it’s cooked through and adding more time if needed. If meatballs have absorbed a lot of broth, you might find that you want to add 1 or 2 cups of the remaining chicken broth, bringing it back to a simmer. Taste broth for seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
To serve: Spoon cooked noodles, to taste, into your bowl, then ladle broth and meatballs over. Finish with chopped herbs.
Do ahead: Keeping the meatballs/broth mixture and noodles separate is ideal for storing leftovers, too. Reheat soup over medium-low heat in a covered pot until simmering. Let the soup warm the noodles when serving.
Previously
6 months ago: Easy Basque Cheesecake
1 year ago: Brown Butter Brown Sugar Shortbread
2 years ago: Baked Brie with Garlic Butter Mushrooms
3 years ago: Russian Napoleon
4 years ago: Small-Batch Eggnog and Baked Brie with Balsamic Red Onions
5 years ago: Unstuffed Mushroom Casserole and Banana Toffee Cake
6 years ago: Baklava Babka and Cosmopolitan
7 years ago: Dutch Apple Pie and Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread
8 years ago: Pimento Cheese Potato Bites
9 years ago: The Browniest Cookies, Gingerbread Layer Cake and Feta Tapenade Tarte Soleil
10 years ago: Deep Dark Gingerbread Waffles, Fairytale of New York and Roasted Grape and Olive Crostini
11 years ago: Breakfast Slab Pie, Gingerbread Snacking Cake and Rum Campari Punch
12 years ago: Fromage Fort
13 years ago: Cinnamon Brown Sugar Breakfast Puffs and Scallion Meatballs with Soy Ginger Glaze
14 years ago: Spicy Gingerbread Cookies, Crescent Jam and Cheese Cookies and Milk Punch
15 years ago: How to Host Brunch and Still Sleep In, Spinach and Cheese Strata, Pear Bread, Parmesan Cream Crackers, Walnut Pesto, and Spicy Caramel Popcorn
16 years ago: Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake, Seven-Layer/Rainbow Cookies, Grasshopper Brownies, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Sugar and Spiced Candied Nuts
17 years ago: Robert Linxe’s Chocolate Truffles and Caramel Cake
18 years ago: Parmesan Black Pepper Biscotti
This makes me smile! The first year I was married–2020, which was otherwise horrible–I made your Italian wedding soup frequently. It was comforting, frugal, and easy. Since we keep kosher, it was tweaked into basically this recipe, except orzo instead of long noodles. Jewish wedding soup indeed!
It’s worth noting that the meatballs can be made in advance and frozen. I always make them quite small, and they cook from frozen in just 6-8 minutes.
Dearest Deb, Any recommendations for a noodle that is not priced at $18.99 on day of publication? Seems like the noodles really make this soup. Thank you!
Mr. Google tells me the same noodles, same brand are available from World Market for less than $6. And I’d bet any thin egg noodles will work. Our grocery store (Kroger chain) has thin egg noodles for $2.50/lb. An alternate term is “fine” egg noodles.
Why do you need to add water or milk to the meatball mixture?
Helps keep it tender
I am admittedly not dearest Deb, but I love “No Yolks” egg noodles and that’s what I would use!
No Yolks are the best! My mother always made chicken soup with orzo.
Of course! That price is for two packages, but it is high. [I get them at Schaller & Webber on the UES. Similar price, but I want the store to stay open forever so I endure.] Any old egg noodles from the grocery store will do. Common brands are No-Yolk, Pennsylvania Dutch, Manichewitz (at least in NYC). A pasta you like in soup will work too.
Ooooh I know what I’m making for the next soup swap I do with friends. I think I’ll just make the soup/meatballs and freeze, and will advise them to add copious amounts of separately-cooked noodles.
Yum!
This looks amazing! Not having to separate chicken meat from bones when soup is done is very appealing. Can I impose on you to provide weights of carrots, celery, and onions so I know how much to put in food processor before chopping/dicing/slicing (and how much I need to buy)? That would be most helpful! I already know this recipe will become part of the winter rotation, Many Thanks!
Vegetable yields, weight to cups
https://www.almanac.com/measuring-vegetables-recipes-pounds-cups
Or eyeball it. (❁´◡`❁) Soup isn’t that precise (and you can freeze any extra saueted veg or use it in something else).
I find ground turkey has a bit more flavor and I always enhance it with some poultry seasonings, dried or fresh. It’s not so much that noodles absorb broth, it’s that noodles compromise the strength of the broth as they leach their starch, especially if they are a quality noodle that have a dusting of flour. I now use a few nests of pappardelle noodles I give a quick rinse under the faucet before floating into the broth. Their long, luxurious strands are perfect for slurping!
Fun fact! Your chicken meatballs are the same thing as “falshe fish” which is basically imitation gefilte fish with chicken instead of fish! But chicken meatballs definitely sounds more appetizing.
Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing, but I make it without the garlic.
This recipe is reminding me of my childhood. We lived in Bergen County, New Jersey. There were a lot of both Jewish and Italian people where we lived. My family is mostly Italian. We ate a variety of meatball soups. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ll be making it this weekend, since we’re expecting a snowy weekend in Mount Shasta CA, where my husband and I live now. Would capellini work in the absence of egg noodles?
Of course — use any noodle or pasta you like in soups.
Deb,
Thank you for this recipe. I was inspired by your podcast with Kenji on chicken soup, and look forward to trying this version.
After listening to the podcast I made a chicken stock with one big chicken breast and about a pound and a half of chicken wings. I pulled out the breast as soon as it hit 165 degrees, chilled it, and reserved it to put in the soup I made the next day. I continued to cook the wings in the broth for another hour. My family really liked this soup base.
Yes, noodles and rice can both suck up all the broth! Your solution to add an already cooked carb is a good one. I also freeze the base soup with no pasta, and then just cook it fresh when I’m using the thawed soup.
Approximately how many meatballs should this recipe make?
Here’s an easy way to find out, based on how large YOU choose to make them.
https://goodcalculators.com/meatball-calculator/
24 from a 1-tablespoon measure
This looks so so delicious. Couple of questions:
1) Why is it preferable to mix dark and light ground chicken? I find that dark meat is tastier and less apt to be dry.
2) Ten minutes seems like a very short cooking time for the meatballs, even if adding a few minutes more. Any thoughts about cooking them longer, or you think it’s fine?
1. I suggested a mix because I usually can’t find all dark meat at all. Most packages boast that they’re only white meat, but if you find one that’s a mix or with a higher fat content, grab it.
2. They cook in 10 minutes. You will check on at the end to be sure. You can cook them longer if you wish, but it’s not necessary. Eventually they’ll taste dry.
Thanks. I go to a kosher butcher and they often do have ground dark meat. When they don’t, they always have boneless skinless thighs and I have them grind a couple of packages for me.
In the Netherlands traditional vegetable soup usually has meatballs in it, always wondered why we do not call it meatball soup, wedding soup sounds even nicer.
I’ve became a vegetarian more than 30 years ago and I make soup with vegetables and beans, but these days you can actually buy tiny vegetarian “meat”balls in the supermarkets here, for vegetarian soup.
For anyone who wants to have the noodles in the soup, I recommend trying Japanes Udon noodles. For some reason, they don’t continue to absorb too much broth even when left over. I just eyeball part of a package, depending on the amount of broth, break the long lengths into about four shorter lengths, and cook them in the soup. They are a bit heartier than fine egg noodles, and they hold up much better.
Those noodles you chose are very common in Egyptian (or at least Jewish Egyptian) cooking, where they’re called “sha’reyah”. And a great thing my mom used to do with them is to toast them in the oven a bit before adding to soup – you can let them get pretty brown, they’ll still soak up liquid afterwards but will be extra-delicious.
I made this last night and we all loved it! I used ground turkey (because that’s what i had) and some pho noodles (because that’s what I had). it was so satisfying and kind of fun to make (i had my doubts that the soup pot could hold the 23 meatballs I came up with!). Definitely putting this in the rotation!
Thank you! My daughter feels the same way, her absolute favorite food is “no chicken” chicken soup which usually means me picking out the meat. She does like meatballs though. I think I might use my usual recipe making the broth from scratch but then make these meatballs and save the boiled chicken for chicken salad sandwiches (mayonnaise being a fantastic cure for dry meat).
I wanted to make this right away–only had to wait a couple of days before I got to the store for ground chicken! It’s not something I’ve kept around before, but I’ll be making this soup again because we all enjoyed it, even my 5-year-old, who doesn’t like soup but does love meatballs.
I used rolled oats in place of breadcrumbs/matzo meal, as I usually do for my GF kid, and they worked fine. I chopped them up a bit before adding. Barilla GF spaghetti noodles worked nicely here.
Soup with meatballs is so great! These look really good.
In re: overcooked chicken, for me, chicken soup is the best when the chicken is cooked separately – roasted or sauteed chicken (and mushrooms), and then put it in the hot broth at the last second – and ladle it over fresh spinach in the bowl, like you do with the noodles. Then all the textures and flavors are just right.
Perfection. So easy to make and so flavorful. Somehow cooking the noodles on the side made the plating feel kind of fancy. No substitutions. Made as suggested, including the same noodles which were new to us and a gun new thing to try. The bag is 17.6oz so plenty leftover for other meals.
I have a question – you briefly had up a recipe for a caramel chocolate cheesecake which I made and found INCREDIBLE, but the recipe seems to have disappeared. Is there any way I can get a copy to print out? I’m not sure my family will ever forgive me if I don’t make it again!
The carmel chocolate cheesecake is here https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/08/no-teddy-bear-guts-no-glory/
I often find that it takes several seconds for all the options to appear in the search results and/or I have to scroll a bit.
It is here. https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/08/no-teddy-bear-guts-no-glory/
I often find that when I enter a term in search, I have to wait a few seconds for the full list to appear in the results.
Making this tonight. I’ll be using “fideo”, (basically vermicelli, labelled in Spanish, and is meant for soups). It’s incredibly cheap at places like Grocery Outlet (like, .50 to .99 cents a package). Broken up into small pieces and toasting it, (as someone pointed out below) makes it even more delicious. Also, adding some alphabet noodles still makes my 11 yr old smile. Such a WIN when that happens! Thanks Deb!
A tender, respect question: will we get any holiday-ish recipes from you this year? You’ve been so marvelous in the past with latkes, cookies, gingerbread waffles, etc. It feels like it’s missing this year.
My core family now needs to eat gluten free. I use potato flakes instead of the usual suspects as binder in meatballs, meatloaf, turkey burgers etc. I use a lot less by volume than the wheat products or the result gets gummy. I also use very fine rice flour to thicken gravy’s, also less. Don’t sauté in butter or the rice gets coated and doesn’t thicken. It doesn’t have the raw taste that flour has if it is not sautéed.
I have followed your blog for years and would love to see you insert some of these substitutes for gluten containing ingredients. There is a world of people out there, non celiacs even, who need recipes that work for them too.