Vegetable Meatball Soup

This is the best meatball vegetable soup with turkey meatballs - an easy, quick, healthy, and delicious meatball soup recipe.

This meatball vegetable soup is a typical soup cooked in the South of Romania, a soup that my grandmother learned how to make while she was young and living in Oltenia.

The perfect soup for me; I grew up with it, and I love it. Although I've cooked many of my grandmother's soups already following the instructions she gave me, no soup (except the chicken and semolina dumpling soup) ever tasted so much as if it was really cooked by my grandma.

Recipe ingredients

• Stock: I use the chicken stock I make for Romanian Chicken Soup or turkey bone broth. Otherwise, use good-quality bought stock.
• Meat: I used turkey to make the meatballs. However, you can use ground pork or beef or a mixture of the two as well. Chicken meatballs are also an option.
• Rice: You will need some rice to make the meatballs. I also make pork meatballs with rice for the very popular Romanian soup – ciorba de perisoare or Romanian pork meatball soup.
• Vegetables: Carrots, zucchini, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and onions.
• Herbs: Parsley and lovage. Fresh lovage is not easy to find. You can replace it with dried lovage, which you should add to the soup together with the meatballs. If you cannot find it at all, leave it out.

How to make vegetable meatball soup?

• Cook the rice until half done. Drain well.
• Cook the chopped and grated vegetables (except tomatoes). Add the tomatoes and stock, bring to a boil, and simmer while you prepare the meatballs.
• Make meatballs: Mix rice, ground meat, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, salt, pepper, and paprika. Form small meatballs.
• Cook meatballs in the soup.
• Add the herbs and adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Start with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and add more according to your taste.

Vegetable Meatball Soup

Meatball vegetable soup with turkey meatballs, an easy, quick, healthy and delicious meatball soup recipe.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Romanian

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 402kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

Meatballs:

• ▢ 2 ½ tablespoons long grain rice
• ▢ 1 lb ground turkey 450 g, Note
• ▢ 2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ground black pepper

Soup:

• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 onion
• ▢ 1 large carrot
• ▢ 1 medium zucchini
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper
• ▢ 6¼ cups chicken stock or turkey stock, 1.5 liter
• ▢ 2 medium tomatoes
• ▢ 2-4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 small bunch parsley
• ▢ 4-5 leaves fresh lovage or ½ teaspoon dried lovage, optional

Instructions

• Cook the rice in salted water for about 7 minutes or until half done. Drain well.

  2 ½ tablespoons long grain rice
• Prepare soup vegetables: Grate the carrot and the zucchini. Chop the onion and the bell pepper very finely.

  1 onion + 1 large carrot + 1 medium zucchini + 1 red bell pepper
• Saute vegetables: Heat the oil in a large pot. Cook the onion, carrot, zucchini, and bell pepper for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times in between. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and the stock. Bring to a boil and let cook while you form the meatballs.

  2 tablespoons olive oil + 6¼ cups chicken stock/ 1.5 liter + 2 medium tomatoes
• Make meatballs: Mix the ground turkey, rice, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, egg, sweet paprika, salt and pepper very well. Form about 25-30 meatballs, about the size of a walnut. Wet your hands from time to time when making the meatballs; it works better.

  1 lb ground turkey/ 450 g + rice + 2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs + 1 large egg + 2 tablespoons chopped parsley + ½ teaspoon sweet paprika + ¾ teaspoon salt + ground black pepper
• Add the meatballs to the soup (and dried lovage, if using) and let simmer gently for about 12-15 minutes or until done.
• Add herbs: Chop the fresh herbs and add them to the soup.

  1 small bunch parsley + 4-5 leaves fresh lovage
• Adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar. Start with 1 teaspoon of the vinegar and add more to taste.

  2-4 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Notes

Ground meat: You can also make meatballs with ground chicken, pork, beef, or a mixture of pork and beef.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/6 of the soup | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 127mg | Sodium: 736mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g

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