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:
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Iris says
I must have forgotten to write after the seders last year. I finally got this to work egg-free by basically adding a chia-flax equivalent of an extra egg. 5 tbsp of a mix of chia seeds & ground flax seed (or just one or the other) mixed into 3/4 cup warm water, Mix well, let sit for 10 minutes or so to gel, then mix with almond flour and spices. Let sit for the recommended 3 hours or longer and make as you recommend.
Wishing you and your family a meaning-rich Pesach,
Elana says
Iris, thanks so much! Happy Passover to your and yours :-)
Jaclyn says
jaclyn.harris17@gmail.com
I used about 1.5 cups almond flour and had to use .5 cup coconut flour because I ran out of almond flour. The mixture was very doughy, not like matzo balls made from a box of matzo ball mix. They didn’t expand while cooking either. They’re very dense, as well. Is that how the mix/matzo balls are supposed to be or do you think the coconut flour absorbed too much liquid?
Elana says
Jaclyn, thanks for your comment! If you follow the recipe these will be perfect. For more on the differences between almond flour and coconut flour go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-baking/
Happy Passover!
Elana
Tanya says
Is it just me? I just put the batter in the fridge and it’s SUPER salty :( Will the taste change once they’re cooked in the context of the soup?
Elana says
Tanya, thanks for your comment! A lot of that will cook out into the water when you make the Matzo Balls :-)
huvs says
I nearly made the mistake of putting both tsp of salt in the almond mixture. But one is for the mixture the other for the water
Elana says
Huvs, thanks for your comment!
Randi Seidner says
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?
Elana says
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!
Ana Wons says
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!
Elana says
Ana, I’m so glad to hear my matzo balls were better than the real thing! We love them too :-)
Rebecca says
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?
Elana says
Rebecca, thanks for your comment! Unfortunately homemade almond flour doesn’t work well in my recipes. For more on that please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/almond-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Avrohom Getter says
Hi Elana,
Passover is coming around, any ideas for kishka recipes?
Thanks
Avrohom
Elana says
Avrohom, I will add that to my list of requests!
Ruth Lanton says
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.
Cynthia Taylor says
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?
Elana says
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.
Nancy Smith says
what is the carb count of these matza balls
Elana says
Nancy, for more information on nutrition please see this post:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Chag Samaech!
Elana