chicken meatball and noodle soup

1 month ago 15

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 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.

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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.

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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.

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Chicken Meatball and Noodle Soup

Why matzo meal? If you grew up with matzo ball soup, you might like the familiar flavor (and I’m convinced extra buoyancy) from using it, but don’t worry, breadcrumbs work just as well. The amount of noodles suggested for this soup is generous because we like it that way, but for a more classic balance, you might find 4 ounces to be just fine. If you prefer to cook your noodles directly in the soup, make it with 4 additional cups of broth.

Meatballs

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

Ingredient section

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

Make meatballs: In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs, onion powder, salt, and many grinds of black pepper. Add ground chicken and use a fork to mix just until parsley is distributed throughout mixture, trying not to overmix. Use wet hands to shape mixture into 1 tablespoon-sized meatballs, arranging them on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. The meatball mixture will be very soft but keeping your hands wet should help it roll off. Place meatballs in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.

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.