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Chicken Soup With Matzo Balls (The Quick Method)

Sometimes shortcuts in cooking are needed and that’s totally ok. This is my chicken soup with matzo balls, the quick method. By “quick“, I mean faster, but it does not mean ready in 30 minutes. Many people love the idea of 30-minute meals, I totally get that and I try to blog about what I call “quick meals” occasionally. But, sometimes, good things can’t easily be rushed, but they can be helped along a bit, as is the case here.

chicken soup with matzo balls

So while this is not a fast soup, it’s a good one and well worth the effort, even if you don’t serve it on Passover like I do. A good friend of mine once said this soup has healing powers. She believed a pot of this soup nursed her back to health when struggling with a bad case of pneumonia. That’s a tall compliment, but I’ll take it. Despite it being a Jewish holiday go-to for me, I make it whenever anyone in my family gets sick.

Quick Stock

The “quick” aspect of this soup is making a great homemade stock with the help of a store-bought roast chicken. Believe it or not, this saves time and gives you great flavor. Instead of making a traditional 6-hour chicken stock, my quick method yields a rich, flavorful base in substantially less time. By whole chicken I literally mean the entire thing, besides reserving some chicken meat for the finished soup, you use it all: juices, bones, skin, I mean everything. You also use some good quality store-bought chicken stock. In this recipe, you are basically “enhancing” a stock to make the base for your chicken soup with matzo balls. So don’t be intimidated by the longer-than-usual ingredient list or cooking time, there is less labor time than it appears. I wrote the recipe with steps telling you what to work on and when, if you do so, it will all come together in a timely fashion.

chicken soup with matzo balls

Matzo Balls

A quick note about my matzo balls. If you ask anyone who is Jewish, they will often go into a lengthy explanation about what makes a great matzo ball. Honestly, there are hundreds of matzo ball variations out there, all based on personal preference. Soft and fluffy, dense and firm, the options are limitless. I personally like a well-balanced matzo ball, and I think I finally found it. Most matzo balls in Jewish cooking call for schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) an ingredient unique to Jewish cooking. In Northern Cal, this is honestly rather hard to find. You can make your own, but it’s involved, and not quick at all. For this matzo ball recipe I used refined non non-flavored coconut oil instead of schmaltz, and it did the trick nicely and made even a slightly healthier matzo ball in the process.

About the Author

Andrea Potischman

I am a professionally trained NYC chef turned CA mom and food blogger. I post about real food, with doable ingredient lists that are family friendly.

2 thoughts on "Chicken Soup With Matzo Balls (The Quick Method)"

  1. Avatar photo Sherrie says:

    Loved the chicken soup hacks … it was quicker and tasted great! Thank you!

    1. Thanks for your comment Sherrie, so glad you liked the recipe!

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