Posted By Kimberly Turner on Jan 16, 2011 in Beef, Eastern European Food, Ethnic Foods, How To Cook, Main Dishes, Soups, Stews & Chilis | 2 comments

It’s a great idea to learn how to cook meatball soup because it’s rather quick to create and is full of protein for those who love more “stuff” in their soup, but has lots of broth for us soup lovers out there!

A favorite comfort food in our household is meatball soup like my mom used to make! It’s not Italian in nature, as you may think. In fact, I would say it’s taste is more from our Eastern European soup recipes.

There are some variations on this recipe and I make it differently often. In the photo to the left, I had added mushrooms & tomato that day – I guess it just depends on your mood and what you have in your kitchen that day.

The broth is light, but a bit creamy. There’s enough meatballs in it for those manly appetites and it has vegetables in it to round it out!

Try it – I promise you’ll like it! Here’s the basic recipe below.

Type: Soup Recipe
Serve With: Fresh, crusty bread
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 1.25 hr
Yield: 1 large stock pot full

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 1/2 cups crumbs – bread, cracker or chips
• 1 egg
• 2 large onions – chopped with 1/8 cup finely chopped
• 2 cups carrots – chopped
• 1 cup celery – chopped
• 4 cloves garlic – sliced with 1 clove minced
• 4 tbsp fresh parsley – chopped
• 12 cups broth, tea or water
• 1 1/2 cups cream or 2 cups milk
• 1 bay leaf
• freshly cracked black pepper – 1/4 tsp + to taste
• sea salt – 1/8 tsp + to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat a large frying pan to medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil.
2. To make meatballs, evenly combine ground beef, crumbs, egg, 2 tbsp parsley, 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, 1/8 tsp sea salt, 1 clove minced garlic, & 1/8 cup onions finely chopped. Roll 1-1.25″ sized meatballs and set aside in a bowl or on a plate.
3. Pre-heat a heavy-bottomed stock pot on medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil.
4. Evenly place meatballs in pre-heated frying pan and brown on all sides – approximately 8 minutes.
5. While browning meatballs, saute onions for about 3 minutes, then add bay leaf, carrots and celery for about 5 more minutes, stirring periodically. Add garlic and continue for an addition 2 minutes or so.
6. Add 8 cups of liquid, whether it’s stock, a neutral tea or water and bring it up to a simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
7. Add meatballs and allow to simmer for an addition 20 minutes. Add milk or cream and bring back up to a simmer.
8. Adjust seasonings & serve with fresh crusty bread. Enjoy!

Experiment with a few different additions…this soup is a great canvas. Even try adding 1 cup of barley when  you add the meatballs…

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I hope you enjoyed this Beef Recipe on Cooking with Kimberly! Until next time…

Eat Deliciously,

Kimberly Edwards 🙂

P.S. Be sure to check out the Cooking with Kimberly Store!

[tags]meatball soup, meatballs, how to make meatballs, how to make meatball soup, how to cook soup, how to cook meatball soup, beef recipe, soup recipe[/tags]

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