Elana's Pantry

New York Times Bestselling author Elana Amsterdam founded Elana’s Pantry, the go-to website for easy, healthy, grain-free, Paleo recipes, in 2006

matzo ball soup

Matzo Ball Soup

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This gluten-free Matzo Ball Soup recipe is a healthy twist on a classic Passover recipe. My secret to making this dish gluten-free is to use almond flour in place of matzo meal. Yes, it’s true, I’ve created a Paleo Matzo Ball Soup!

Growing up, I loved chicken soup with matzo balls, and I still do. When I am getting over a cold, this soup dish is the first thing I make. We like to say that chicken soup is Jewish penicillin! And these gluten-free matzo balls only make it better. Be sure to use my chicken bone broth recipe in this soup, so that it is extra healthy and unbelievably delicious!

Traditionally, we serve this Paleo Matzo Ball Soup at Passover. Pesach is one of my favorite holidays. I adore holidays that involve a change of seasons and Passover, occurring each year in March or April (depending on the full moon), ushers in spring. Did you know that all of my recipes are kosher for Passover because they use almond flour?! That’s right I don’t have any gluten or chametz in the 800 recipes on this entire website! And all of my cookbooks are kosher for Pesach too!

Matzo Ball Soup
Serves: 6
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, (1 teaspoon) salt and pepper for 2 minutes
  2. Stir in the almond flour
  3. Refrigerate the mixture 2-4 hours
  4. Remove from refrigerator
  5. Heat a large pot of water (with 1 teaspoon salt) and bring to a boil
  6. Roll the batter into 1-inch balls then drop into the pot of boiling water
  7. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
  8. Heat 6 cups chicken stock in a separate pot
  9. When the matzo balls are finished, remove from simmering water with a slotted spoon and add to chicken stock
  10. Ladle stock, plus 2-3 matzo balls into individual bowls and serve

Like most other families who grew up celebrating this holiday, we had matzoh ball soup every year. My grandmother made this soup. My mother made this soup. And now I have made this soup! My children will be at least the fourth generation of my family to partake in matzo balls! But they will have gluten-free matzo balls!

I made a test batch today for my family to sample and was given the thumbs up. I will be serving this soup and other gluten-free Jewish food at our Passover seder.

These gluten free matzo balls are non-gebruchts, pareve and kosher for Passover. If you love these matzoh balls as much as we do, be sure to take a look at my healthy Paleo Passover menu! Here are some of my other classic Paleo Passover recipes:

Comments

  1. This is a full-proof recipe that I have been using for quite a few years thank you Elana!

    Do you know if these can be made 3 days in advance and how to hold them if so?

    Reply

    • Randi, I haven’t tried that so not sure. I usually make mine the day before the holiday and keep the Matzo Balls in a container in the fridge and then heat them in the chicken soup before serving. I’m so happy to hear that you are enjoying this recipe, we love it too!

      Reply

  2. This matzo balls were amazing! Better than the real thing. I boiled more than needed for the first seder and left them in a bowl covered is plastic for the next night.
    I also tried your charoset recipe. I loved it! very light and healthy.
    Thank you!

    Reply

  3. Can’t I make my own blanched almond flour with my organic almonds? Boil almonds in water to get skins off, put nuts in vitamix and then have flour?

    Reply

  5. I just made this recipe with ground walnuts instead of blanched almond flour. It came out delicious! A much better texture than the potato balls I used to make, before I realized that I can’t eat potatoes either.

    Reply

  6. Hi, I, too, am becoming an aficionado of your site & recipes– have yet to try one that wasn’t great! Thank you so much for being there!

    A comment & a question: for those who can’t eat eggs, but are okay with soy (i.e. both not intolerant & okay with Sephardic Passover rules, which allow legumes), when my daughter was a vegan, I used tofu as an egg substitute in regular matzo balls, & it worked perfectly. Except that they were lighter in color, no one could tell the difference from the ones with eggs. Haven’t tried it with these, though, as we are back to eggs, just local, organic & free-range.

    The question: if I need to make these the night before, is it better to cook & then freeze or refrigerate, or to prepare them & cook them the day of? I couldn’t tell from what I read above. In the past, my husband & I had to make a huge batch of regular matzo balls for a large group. We made them the night before & refrigerated them, and they were like rocks! I’m afraid all the air will leak out of them overnight– but maybe the GF version isn’t as prone to that?

    Reply

    • Cynthia, I make these the night before and then store them in a glass mason jar in the refrigerator without any liquid, then add them to the hot chicken stock the next day when we eat them.

      Reply

  9. Can the Matzo meal mix be left it the fridge over night or does it have to be the specifically the 3 hours stated in the recipe?

    Reply

      • Just tried there and I did leave overnight( except for the one I tried immediately). They are much better overnight. If you cook them in chicken boullionor stock they are fantastic.!!!!!!

        Reply

          • Elana,
            I love all your flavorful inventions. Is there a reason why you do not cook
            your gF matzo in the chicken broth?? Sometimes, I also like to slice and toast in toaster oven, mmmm.
            Thanks, Yvonne

          • Yvonne, I find it works better to cook it in the boiling water and then to transfer it to the broth.

          • Hi Elana love this recipe, I’m gonna try it later I’ve made many of your recipes before loved all of them, “great stuff”
            Question; do you have any recipes for “Kishka” ?
            I’ve tried many online Passover kishka recipes and they don’t seem to stay firm after cooking, tastes are fine but they fall apart. I’m looking for something that I could slice and serve with gravy

            Thanks,
            Avrohom

          • Avrohom, I haven’t had kishka in ages. Thanks for reminding me about it! I will add your request to my list. What a great idea! Thanks!

  10. I’ve made these and although they turned out beautifully and tastes good, they still have that ‘nutty’ taste and crunch due to the almond flour. Is there a way to make these less crunchy?

    Reply

    • Hi Elyse, thanks for your comment. Which brand of almond flour did you use? When I make these they do not have any crunch, but I use a very finely ground almond flour which makes all the difference!

      Reply

  11. Hey Elena, I’ve been searching for a gf dumpling type recipe to replace the dumplings in my mothers chicken and dumpling recipe. I was wondering if It was possible to just plop these matzo balls into the the pot of chicken mixture instead of transferring them from the water into the other pot? That way they take on the favors from the soup mixture. Please let me know if that’s possible.

    Reply

  12. Sounds amazing. I love matzoh ball soup. But Iwas wondering if you could come up with a gluten free meat kinshes. They where my childhood and would be cool to have at passover (:

    Reply

  14. Elana, thank you for this recipe. I made it for 3 of us – 2 different seders. Everyone really enjoyed them – more so than traditional matza balls. I did add a few seasonings. Mine did not want to hold together so I added a heaping T of coconut flour and that did the trick. I’m sure my almond flour was the issue. I also made your Chocolate Walnut Torte – it was wonderful! I will be making that again soon.

    Reply

    • Kim, make sure to refrigerate these for the full 3 hours, that helps too! Glad you enjoyed the Matzo Balls!

      Reply

  16. BEST EVER! thank you!

    I couldn’t believe how much they were like the real deal. Happy girl right here…

    Reply

  17. These came out GREAT! Light and delicious. I did add garlic powder and minced onion. Cooked them in chicken stock. The dough was sticky and I just pushed it off the spoon with my finger and dropped them in the simmering soup. They are not perfectly round, but the flavor is all there!

    Reply

  18. Thank you for this super simple wonderful recipe!! My boyfriend is Jewish and we are both gluten free. I made it for him and he ate almost the entire recipe (besides the serving I ate). I haven’t made a recipe from your site that hasn’t turned out wonderful :).

    Reply

  19. Made today. Sifted with a strainer but still came out very grainy in texture, font know what I did wrong??? Followed directions

    Reply

  20. I made this and it was pretty good. I still miss the texture of the real thing, but it was delish (and I’m paleo, so I’ll deal with it). Tonight, I had to sub a little coconut flour (ran out of almond), and I made the mix into tiny dumplings. I also heavily seasoned them with garlic and dill and added them to chicken soup. Very good!

    Reply

  21. Love your recipes Elana. I made your matzo ball recipe. I just made them smaller and put them in my traditional southern chicken and dumplings. Your matzo balls are the perfect grain free dumpling! We all loved them. Thank you.

    Reply

  24. To keep the dough from sticking to your hands during the rolling, keep handy a bowl of cold water with a couple of ice cubes in it. Rinse your hands in the water from time to time. Also, my favorite matzoh ball addition is onion powder or dried onion flakes. Fresh onion tastes too strong for this purpose, in my opinion. I like to add ground grass-fed beef to the soup sometimes, for a change of pace–not traditional, but it makes a stew. I thought I’d never eat a matzoh ball again–thank you so much Elana for fulfilling my dream of gluten-free matzoh balls!

    Reply

  25. When I put the matza balls into the water they fell apart. So I dropped them by teaspoonful onto parchment paper and baked them. They were delicious. My 3 year old granddaughter saw them and asked if she could have some “cookies”. Then she ate one, and I asked her if she still thought it was a cookie. She thought for a moment and said “it tastes like a yummy bread cookie”.

    Reply

  26. Do you have a recipe for challah to go with this amazing soup? It would complete my Friday night dinners!! Love your recipes

    Reply

  27. I made these with a little modification. I chopped up some parsley, and added some ginger. I used s bit of grape seed oil instead of one egg. I beat the egg whites separately like I did with my pre-low carb matzoh balls and because I used no-salt and wasn’t sure if it would affect their puffiness. I didn’t refrigerate them very long. I cooked them in water. Let them cool on parchment on cookie sheets, froze them on the cookie sheets and after they were frozen, I put them in ziplock bags. I defrosted them by putting them in my steamer and heated them up in a vegetable stock, where they puffed up nicely. When they were done, I poured my chicken stock into the pot with the vegetable stock. No one knew they weren’t made from matzoh meal except my husband and I. They were delicious. Texture was fabulous. They were floaters not sinkers. Lot’s of complements. And tasted great the next day with soup. Thank you for this recipe!

    Reply

  28. Wow! Mine were a little gritty (I didn’t sift the almond flour) but they were quite tasty. The poofed up like mad so next time I’ll make them smaller to start. I was trying to use things up so added some spinach, asparagus and carrots to the broth. Thanks for thinking this up, I’ve really missed matzo ball soup since jumping on the low carb bandwagon.

    Reply

    • The matzoh balls are parve until you put them in the chicken soup. If you want to keep them parve, heat them up in a vegetable stock. There is no cheicken stock in the matzoh balls.

      Reply

  31. Wow!!!! These are delicious. I made a homemade veg soup today, with one pot of regular matzoh balls for my family and another pot of these for me. I was skeptical, but these are delicious. Mine puffed up beautifuuly but were almost bright white out of the water, so I was afraid they wouldn’t have much taste, but they did. NeXt time I might cook them in stock. I also like to add some finely chopped herbs. Make extras and pan fry in butter for a lunch treat.

    Reply

  32. I am having severe allergies to basically everything but need to find a substitute for the eggs! any ideas? i miss my moms cooking!

    Reply

  34. Elana, thank you for posting links to define gebruchts, pareve and kosher. I’m Catholic but I’ve always wondered about those terms. And thanks for posting a recipe for gf matzos, I’ll have to try them!

    Reply

  35. I love matzo ball soup! I’m going to try this recipe and add my miracle noodles to make chicken noodle soup. :)

    Reply

  37. This was amazing! I have been craving Matzo Ball soup and I must have missed this at some point … I can’t tell you how happy I am that you shared this recipe. It is super simple and was so delicious. I found a really yummy free-range chicken stock that has no sugar or soy added and it was just perfect for this! Thank you!

    Reply

  38. Has anyone tried making these with seltzer water? That’s what we’ve done in the past with wheat-based matzo balls.

    Reply

  39. Thank you so much! Words cannot express my gratitude for your delicious, simple, HEALTHY recipes!!! Your tips have saved me. I am so tired of GF processed ‘food’. I, too, am finding my Paleo roots and appreciate your recipes. Anxiously awaiting your GF matzah-as the store bought is so pricey!!
    Chag Pesach Sameach!
    Kim Halpern:-)

    Reply

  40. I am psyched for this! I am gluten free and used to love matzah ball soup but it’s not worth the stomach pain! Can’t wait to try this !!!!!

    Reply

  41. I am going to try this with the almond flour. I made some the other day with a little amaranth flour – were okay…not great! thanks for today’s post, love it!

    Reply

  42. Do you have any substitution for the eggs? I have a friend who needs to do gf and egg free. Would love suggestions.

    Reply

    • I am vegan, but even if I weren’t, am allergic to eggs!

      Have been craving matzo ball soup for the last few weeks, I assume since it’s beginning to feel like autumn!

      I’m going to try this recipe with ground flax seed instead of egg. (1 tblspn ground flax seed + 3 tblspn warm water for each egg. You let it sit until it congeals a couple minutes and then mix it into the batter like normal)

      And I will see how that goes. Gonna make a veggie broth for my matzo balls etc.

      Reply

  43. I loved the “matzo” balls or kneidlach. For a variation, I made chicken kneidlach. I added a half cup of finely ground chicken breast to the mixture and 1 extra egg white, added 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed, 1/2 teaspoon dried chives, a dash of white pepper, and pinch of ground ginger to your Master recipe. Simmer the balls in H2O in a covered pot until tender – minimum 1/2 hour. Drain and add to the soup or refrigerate or freeze until needed.

    Our family chicken soup recipe, passed down from my great grandmother from a shtetl in Poland, included a lot of “soup greens” besides the usual carrots, celery, parsnip, onion, garlic. We always included generous bunch of carrot tops, in addition to the usual handfuls of flat leaf parsley, and dill and celery leaves. In the summer, my mom would also pluck marigold blossoms and add those petals to the soup.

    I also add a bay leaf and a piece of ginger root. Lately, I have also been adding a small segment of turmeric root which gives a yellower color to the broth and its own subtle addition of flavor, besides being very healthy.

    Perhaps adding more stuff to your chicken soup such as the above will make it less bland.

    Reply

  44. This is my first of many years to come of being GF. I was thrilled with the recipe, especially since I have always been in charge of making the matza ball soup. However, I seem to be unable to follow recipes, so I made changes. I also, always cook my matza balls in the broth and I usually add broth to the balls before cooking them. Since this is a new flour for me, I tried to be careful. I had purchased the Bob’s Red Mills brand, but I added about a teaspoon of honey to the dough. They turned out pretty good for my first round. Next year, I will experiment some more. Thanks for getting me started.

    Reply

    • Also, I rinsed my hands after making each matza ball, which made it much easier to work with the dough.

      Reply

  45. Thanks for this recipe! I made it for passover and it was so nice to feel like I was eating such comfort food. Next time I will add some shmaltz and cook again in chicken broth, not water. We added coconut flour crepes cut up into noodles and it was all wonderful!

    Reply

  46. Elana – Follow up on my comment that the matzoh balls were tasteless!

    Tonight, I added 1 T olive oil, and cooked it in chicken/veggie broth – delicious!! All who tried them liked them!

    Happy Pesach!
    Laura

    Reply

  47. Elana,

    Finally had a chance to make these, and though they did not fall apart, we found them to be pretty tasteless. Perhaps cooking them in broth next time, and maybe adding a bit of oil would help?

    Reply

    • Laura,

      I love to eat Matzoh Ball Soup after I’ve been sick; it’s the first thing I turn to, probably because it’s so bland. My mother’s matzoh ball soup was bland, my Bubby’s matzoh ball soup was bland, and now I find out that mine is bland –well, at least I’m in good company :-)

      If you decide to flavor up the Matzoh Ball Soup, please come back and let us know what you do.

      Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it :-)

      Elana

      Reply

  48. Hi DajM,

    Thanks for your comment. I make these quite often and haven’t ever had any trouble with them falling apart. Here are a couple of tips that might help your batches hold together:

    -use large size eggs; if there’s not enough moisture, that could be why the matzoh balls are not holding together.

    -when you form the batter into balls, do so very firmly, applying a lot of pressure

    -use the recommended type almond flour (blanched), and be sure to use one of the brands I recommend on my ingredients page, as those are brands that I have tested and know will work in my recipes.

    Hope this helps and please let me know how it goes!

    Elana

    Reply

  49. I have tried this recipe twice, now. Both times the balls fell apart. The second time, I tried freezing the balls before adding them to the soup. This helped a little bit but they still fell apart. How are your balls staying together?

    Besides that, they taste great and I dig the recipe.

    Reply

  50. Elena, thank goodness for you!! I’m not Jewish but I’ve always LOVED Matzoh Ball soup. Now that I’m in the Celiac family, I can again make it and enjoy it! I love to make my own stock and add some finely chopped chicken, carrots & celery. It cures the common cold or flu, but it HAS to be homemade!

    Reply

    • Sorry to hear that happened to you! Considering this is my one chance (I don’t have any more flour), I’m hoping that doesn’t happen to me!! Did you refrigerate, out of curiosity? If so, how long?

      Reply

  52. Any chance Bob’s will work in a pinch? It’s between Bob’s almond flour/almond meal (new) and year-old Lieber’s mix. (I imagine the preservatives keep it ok, but either way, it’s a risk, I know.) I appreciate that Bob’s may not the best, and was hoping WF would have another option…I doubt you’re checking the blog right now, but just thought I would ask!

    I will be mixing it up shortly to refrigerate. To serve today. (And have never made matzah balls of any kind before…always the best thing to do when a guest in someone else’s home, right?)

    Great Web site. I look forward to making your menu the next time we host. We do have at least on GF extended family member, and suspect there are a few in our household as well (which we’ll find out soon enough). Thank you again.

    Reply

    • I use Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour when I make “cornbread”, Almond Flour from Lucy’s Kitchen is my fav, then Honeyville. I find the texture of Bob’s Red Mill much different than the fine ground blanched almond flours.

      Reply

  53. Elana,
    Thank you so much for this recipe. Whenever I am sick, I want matzo ball or chicken-n-dumpling soup to help me feel better, it’s strictly a memory/comfort issue.

    Have you expanded the matzo balls idea into an unleavened cracker taste? I miss the water cracker flavor of passover & seders & just nights with cheese & crackers.

    My latest experiment is with 2 lbs almond flour to 1 lb coconut flour. The coconut flour alone gave me heartburn, but not mixed in this ratio, and it supplies the wonderful “pastry-like” texture I miss in pie crusts and flat rolled Christmas/Holiday cookies. Of course it requires the addition of more liquids. Have you tried this mix for any crackers? Your crackers are wonderful, and just perfect, and I wondered if you thought this mix would produce a closer flavor/texture for matzo/water crackers? Please advise?

    Also, Borders only stocked one of your cookbooks at each store, necessitating a drive to 4 different stores in my area for Holiday gift-giving. You should let them know to stock more!

    Kindest regards,
    Suzanne

    Reply

    • LOL – I used to teach a piano student that is a nurse-anesthetist at a major research hospital here on the West Coast. She always says that chicken mazto soup ought to be called “Jewish Penicillin”. (She’s Jewish) :) It works, too, especially when the broth is homemade.

      We butcher our own broiler chickens every year, and I make all our broth from the backs, wingtips and feet. Makes great soup for flu season!

      Reply

  54. This is officially my favorite new food blog…grain free matzoh balls??? I never even thought to attempt this, I haven’t tasted a matzoh ball in years, I am SO excited!

    Reply

  56. Thanks everyone. Carin, I haven’t tried making and freezing these ahead of time. Feel free to experiment. Mellisa, Love your additions to this recipe!

    Reply

  57. My 5 year old loves grandma’s matzo balls but is on a restrictive diet this year and I was going to cave in and let him have them. But a friend sent me a link to your site and found the recipe. I made them today with a couple additions — parsley, dill, schmalz and club soda. He came home from school saying he only wanted grandma’s then tasted them…sat down…ate three! Thanks so much. I plan on making these all year long.

    Reply

  58. What a great recipe, but I would point out that with the inclusion of chicken stock (presuming this is real chicken stock), this is not pareve.

    Reply

  59. Thanks for the great recipe! I eagerly await your cookbook.

    I have a matzo ball question: have you ever made these ahead and frozen them? I used to do that with regular matzo balls but this is my first gluten-free Passover.

    Thanks!

    Carin

    Reply

    • Elana,

      Thank you for sharing your recipes with us!

      Your Matzo Ball soup recipe reminds me of dumplings that I used to make and add to either my soups or stews.

      I am in the process of learning Kosher/Jewish cooking cf to American and was curiouse why you cook the Matzo Balls in water instead of the chicken stock?

      Lynda

      Reply

  67. Luckily I don’t have to eat non-gluten things. But I’m glad you came up with this recipe for those who need to follow these restrictions.

    Matzo ball soup is awesome!

    Reply

    • The best Gluten Free Matzo Ball soup I have ever had came from EenaKadeena.com. I ordered the mix and followed the instructions.. it was simple, and they came out Perfect the very first time I tried.

      My family tells me that they tasted just like the real thing!!

      I’m going to buy more this week so I will have them for Passover

      Reply

      • Hello,
        Can you please give me a recipe or a product for matzo that does not contain OATS. Our granddaugter has celiac and now they realize that she cannot have ant oat product as well. Would appreciate any suggestions as soon as possible. Thanks.
        Grandma

        Reply

      • That mix might taste good, but it has 31 grams of carbohydrate per serving. The nice thing about Elana’s recipe: it’s gluten free AND is low-carb AND high protein, which is ideal for people who want to limit carbs.

        Reply

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