Oma’s Fabulous Matzo Ball Soup

Good soup. Takes a few tries to get the matzo balls right though.

I haven’t made it yet. I’m looking for a similar recipe to my Oma’s Ball Soup; we’re not Jewish, but German & her soup was the best. as people back then didn’t write down their recipes, I have to rely on the internet to find similar recipes. Thank you so much for sharing yours!

I used thyme instead of parsley this year. It has a nice flavour. My daughter loves it.

Waaaaay too much onion, and if you follow the directions, they come out uncooked. I would use maybe a quarter of one onion instead of two while onions. Plus, the broth is thin and boring. Otherwise, it seems fine.

Very Good! I always loved Matzo Ball Soup, but never made my own. I followed this recipe pretty much to the T, just with minor adjustments based on other reviews and my own tastes. Instead of soaking the matzo in water I used half water half chicken stock and just enough to moisten, so no need to drain. I added extra salt to the mix and 1 onion which I minced and then sautéed in the butter before adding the matzo. I suggest after you make your tester ball, taste it then you can add more seasoning if you want. I made it hearty by adding some Rotisserie chicken, carrots and celery to the stock and seasoned the stock with parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Terrible….This was my first attempt at making this soup so I followed the recipe exactly – I should have studied other recipes before going with this one in the first place….The matzo balls weighed a ton and tasted disgusting…..It took me all day to prep and I ended up throwing the whole mess into the garbage…..

I subbed vegetable oil for the butter and fork whipped the eggs before adding. Delicious! I will be making again and again.

Lovely. Make sure you make your own chicken broth from scratch, or buy the absolutely best quality prepared stock you can find, or it won’t be worth the effort to make these. My Jewish sister in law was suitably impressed, though I did warn her they were not kosher.

This was my first time making Matzo Ball Soup and I’m happy with how it turned out. I read most of the reviews and took some advice. I added a little more salt to the water to cook the matzo balls, I cooked some chopped carrots, celery and a bit of onion in the chicken broth to add flavor, and I only used about 3/4 of an onion for the balls since 2 onions seemed way overkill. Don’t forget to oil your hands when you are forming the balls. I found that I needed more broth, between it cooking off, and the matzo balls soaking it up. This recipe will feed an army, though. I made probably 50 balls. It’s a little messy, and I was worried about it coming together, but it turned out really great. Please note…it took a lot longer than the 55 minutes listed in the recipe, more like 2 hours since it seemed to take so long for the matzo to seem “dry”. I gave up after a while because I didn’t have the time but it all worked out and was very tasty.

Before venturing into this recipe, this goy boy made sure he read all the reviews to enhance and support anything missing from the recipe – so thanks for all the FAB feedback. This was my first time making this soup after years of enjoying it at Canter’s Deli in Hollywood. Since I live alone, I cut the recipe in half (at the advice of other reviewers) and ended up with about 22 matzo balls. It came out perfect! LOVED IT! Here is what I suggest .. when you are crumbling your matzos into small pieces, small pieces does not literally mean “pieces” per se – get them as crumb-like as you can so that when they are absorbed by the water your mix becomes like a paste! Think paste! When you are done drying and browning the “paste” and begin adding your other ingredients, the end result should almost be like chop meat if you are making meatballs. Being a good Italian boy, this is what it reminded me of … I knew what to add to make they balls round, and solid – wet your hands, use some water, add the extra egg if necessary. My matzos rose to the top of my boiling water in 1-2 minutes. Thank you Oma, whoever you are! This is one happy gentile 🙂 As we say in Italian, CIAO e buon appetito!!

Smaltz is what you want to use instead of butter. Trust me this jewish girl has been eating Matzo Ball Soup since around age 3 and making your own stock will give you the absolute best soup; also my mom always used dill in her stock in case the recipe you use doesn’t include it. Its worth the wait to make from scratch I have fond memories around Hanukkah of my mom cooking from morning until night. Other than those few suggestions this seems like a great very straightforward recipe.

First time ever making matzo ball soup and let me tell you…not only was it fantastic but it was easy too! Made it for Passover and it was a hit! The matzo ball recipe makes a lot! I froze the extra in rolled balls.

Best matzoh ball soup I have ever had! (I have been eating this “homemade” [made with matzoh meal] my entire life). I loved that real matzoh was used for the batter rather than skipping the steps and using prepared matzoh meal; these matzoh balls have a much richer flavor and subtle, yet interesting texture than those made entirely with the prepared meal. To keep kosher – use shmaltz (chicken skin renderings) and vegetable based oil of choice instead of butter. Do not continuously add more matzoh meal if the batter does not stick together;instead, make sure to alternately add meal and eggs until the batter is a soft, doughy texture, similar to meatballs. Add a few carrots, celery, and onions chopped in inch-long pieces and fry them with canola oil and parsley and dump them into same soup base. Use this same pan to fry the rehydrated matzoh in to use the most of this freshly flavored oil left in the pan. Also, make sure to flour your hand continuously while forming the matzoh balls to avoid having the batter stuck to your hands; this will enable you to form the balls in your hands through rolling rather than relying on the stickiness of the matzoh meal and eggs alone. Happy cooking! 🙂

I just don’t get all the five star reviews!! I did not like this recipe at all! I’ve made my fair share of matzo balls but decided to try somethiong different. I followed the recipe to a t. The only thing I changed was another reviewer’s suggestion to use a potato masher. Glad I didn’t make the entire amount!!! I’ll stick with my tried & true recipe from now on.

The proportions of this recipe are ridiculous unless you’re hosting the most epic Seder ever! I adjusted this recipe for 5 and still halved the amount of matzoh and margarine. Otherwise, it’s a good recipe, but I made these changes: 1) after soaking and draining the matzoh I used a potato masher to get it to a finer texture, and I continued to mash with a spoon while I cooked the mixture to dryness 2) I used cilantro instead of parsley 3) I sauteed the onions in margarine before adding them to the matzoh mixture 4)I used Manischewitz “Everything” matzoh, it made for a more savory maztzoh ball, but it is not Passover kosher. 5) wash and dry your hands after rolling every few balls otherwise the egg will stay on your hands and make it hard to roll, or make the balls look sloppy. 6) Just sprinkle the matzoh meal until it reaches the right consistency. I think depending on the size of eggs, you need very little meal, if any. I’m not Jewish myself, but I made this for my Jewish boyfriend, and he was very happy with it!

I’m sorry to say that this was a LOT of work for an “eh” result. This was my first time making matzo balls although I’ve grown up eating the soup. I guess my idea of a matzo ball is a more compact, more together, ball. I’m assuming these are quite authentic, considering I used two(!)packages of matzo to make them, but I prefer the more harder/compact ball myself. I saw a recipe for matzo balls on the matzo meal container and thought, “oh, THIS is how I should have made them.” My “test” ball fell apart in the water so I added more matzo meal and tried again. The next ball was better and so I added the balls to the soup. BIG MISTAKE! Some still fell apart and the soup was a chunky, cloudy mess. I agree with the previous reviewer who said the balls should be cooked in salted water FIRST and then added to the broth. Be warned that this makes MASSIVE AMOUNTS of balls…. I had between 40-50 balls. TOO MANY! Try cooking 50 balls in 96 oz of soup. If you’re making this for a family of, oh, I don’t know, 6 or under, definitely halve the recipe!I froze 2 dozen of them. I was literally in the kitchen for 3 hours making this recipe.30 minute prep time? You GOTTA be kidding. I wonder if more direction in the recipe would have helped. What kind of matzo..flavored? How fine should I have made the matzo pieces? Maybe my pieces were too big hence the chunky balls? We’ll never know!

Great taste, fast and very easy. My matzo balls didn’t come out finely textured like the picture though, should I have mashed the crackers more? All in all I would use this as my go to.

This recipe worked the first time through without any additions,changes or alterations. Perfect dinner for a cold rainy night.

I’m a gentile but I grew up with mostly Jewish friends and love Matzoh Ball Soup. This recipe is great but I easily overcame it’s alleged shortcomings by buying a Matzoh Ball mix and jazzing it up as the recipe indicates and as others have improvised. Save yourselves the angst and watch the dumplings float and rise and be what you remembered. I also added celery, carrots, onions and garlic to the broth as suggested. Heaven.Four stars only because making the balls from scratch is unnecessary.

Love it! Thanks! Anna Reyes, Riverside, California

I’ve been using this site for a few years now, and this recipe prodded me to actually register as a member so i could write a review. Don’t let the troublesome comments deter you from trying this! Not only did the recipe work out just great, i had a fabulous time making it… could just be the mood I’m in, on the verge of becoming an empty-nester, and struggling with irrelevance… but I’m home alone with a new Adele c.d., and determined to continue being fabulous, even when there is no one here to notice. And I’ve had FUN! The only reason I didn’t grant 5 stars is because I can’t quite settle for can’d broth and I didn’t plan far enough ahead for it. I have no chicken, and my bra is off so going to the store waits until tomorrow. The matzo balls are lightly cooked and refrigerated until then. for this I know tomorrow is going to be a great day! Thanks for sharing!