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
- 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.
- Pour in the water, bay leaves and potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and any herbs and spices that you like.
- 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.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
Russian Meatball Soup
Russian Meatball Soup with rice, potatoes, 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.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon butter or oil
- ½ of a large onion (finely diced)
- 1-2 carrots (shredded on large holes of box grater)
- 2-4 celery stalks, finely minced
- 2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1-2 bay leaves
- 10 cups water
- 3 medium potatoes (chopped)
- salt (pepper)
- ⅓ cup long grain rice
- ½ Tablespoon dry herb mixture (optional)
- fresh chives (parsley, dill, minced, for garnishing)
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken (or ground turkey, pork or beef)
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ -⅓ cup milk
- ¾ - 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ of an onion (grated on the finest setting on the box grater, to form a pulp)
- ½ teaspoon dry herb mixture (optional)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- 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.
- Pour in the water, and add the potatoes and bay leaves. Bring the water to a boil. Season with salt, pepper and dry herbs and spices to taste. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.
- 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 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 use a small portion scoop to form the meatballs first.
- Add the rice to the soup. Allow to cook until the rice and meatballs have completely cooked through, 10-15 minutes. Garnish with the fresh herbs.
- Serve the soup hot/warm.
olga- what herbs do you add to the soup? also do you buy the bread crumbs or grate dry bread? does it have to be dry bread? sorry im a little confused on the bread part.
Thanks!
Hi Olga,
I add fresh dill, parsley, green onions, whichever I have on hand.
In regards to the breadcrumbs - you can use one slice of bread, ground in the food processor or you can grate on a box grater. You can also use panko bread crumbs.
I made this soup a couple of days ago. Outstanding!
This is my favorite cooking blog for sure!!!
My American husband is enjoying all the new foods I've been making for him. 🙂
I now made 4 of your recipes and you do not disappoint!
I made this soup last week and loved it! All I had at home was ground turkey and the meatballs tasted great.
It tastes almost the same as my moms and reminds me of my childhood 🙂 Thank you!
That's great, Elena. This is such a simple soup to prepare but so comforting and healthy too. It reminds me of my childhood too; my Mom made it a lot.
This turned out amazing!!! I think I may have overcooked the potatoes so the consistency is more like split pea soup or stew-like but I think it will be a hit tomorrow! 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!
Made this delish soup today!! EVERYONE absolutely LOVED it! Thanks so much, dear Olga!!! Bless your heart <3
That's wonderful, lanchik7. I'm so glad you enjoyed the soup. It's one of our favorites.
Tried it... LOVED IT!! Just added the herbs in the meatballs and threw in a few cloves of garlic in the mix. Very yummy soup! Kiddos love it 🙂 Blessings to you and your hubby!
I'm so happy to hear that, Tanya! This is definitely a great choice for kids. I agree with adding herbs; they bring so much freshness and brightness to the bowl.
Perfect recipe! Sooo yummy!! Thanks for sharing 🙂 God bless!
That's awesome, Nadia. Glad you liked it:). It's one of my husband's favorites.
Thank you for the recipe. This soup was a hit with my kids.
I followed the recipe exactly and added 1 cup of breadcrumbs. It was way too much, you couldnt even taste the meat. So sad. otherwise it was good.
Hi Tanya,
I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't to your liking. Taste is very subjective, so I know not everybody will agree with my opinion on food. I like my meatballs that way, you like them differently.
Deffinitly always gonna make this soup with gound chicken vs beef instead 🙂 Thank you!
Thanks Olga!! This makes me feel warm and cozy inside 🙂 I love Russian and Ukrainian soups. They are generally the healthiest and taste awesome! Your recipe looks really good. We've tried your cookies and katleti and both were awesome! Thanks again!
I made this today. It was very good. we make it with beef but it seems like chicken works so much better. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks hon! Your such a great and inspiring cook
olchik ur recipes are mouthwatering. Can you by any chance post some more dessert recipes! having guest (lots) and need some new stuff hehe thanx
Thank you Emma! I'm glad you're enjoying them. I will do my best to post new desserts also.
My family favorite! Will have to try it with chicken. Thanks for the idea.