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
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal), sifted
- 6 cups Chicken Stock or Kettle & Fire Bone Broth
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, beat eggs, (1 teaspoon) salt and pepper for 2 minutes
- Stir in the almond flour
- Refrigerate the mixture 2-4 hours
- Remove from refrigerator
- Heat a large pot of water (with 1 teaspoon salt) and bring to a boil
- Roll the batter into 1-inch balls then drop into the pot of boiling water
- Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes
- Heat 6 cups chicken stock in a separate pot
- When the matzo balls are finished, remove from simmering water with a slotted spoon and add to chicken stock
- Ladle stock, plus 2-3 matzo balls into individual bowls and serve
Equipment
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:
elana says
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
Lynne says
My son has a nut allergy. Have you tried these with chickpea flour? Thanks!
Elana says
Hi Lynne, I haven’t tried that so not sure if it will work. Here’s a link to my nut-free recipes for you and your son:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/nut-free/
I hope you find something you love!
Elana
DajM says
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.
jbird0001 says
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!
Jennifer Thompson says
I tried these and they fell apart when I boiled them. I did use chicken broth instead of water. Was that my problem?
Thanks
Nicole says
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?
Nicole says
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.
Lisa says
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.
Suzanne says
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
dep31 says
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!
Aura says
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!
Flora says
Hi Elana,
How can one tell if the matzoh balls are done (step 10)? I want to make this recipe, but also want to do it correctly.
Thanks,
Flora
elana says
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!
Melissa says
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.