Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup
Passover is almost here. What would this traditional holiday be without a great matzoh ball soup? In my pre-vegan days, I would have ordered a pre-made soup from the local kosher deli (what a princess!). Now that I’ve evolved into somewhat of a decent vegan cook, I decided to try my hand at my own matzoh ball soup from scratch.
I wanted to give you a really great recipe, so I tried many different versions over the past week. The “hands-down” best recipe for vegan matzoh ball soup came from the wonderful cookbook Vegan With A Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Since I already posted about how to prepare a vegan seder plate, I feel that it is my obligation (and pleasure!) to give you this fabulous matzoh ball soup recipe too. And fabulous it is! Although the recipe is not difficult to make, it is time consuming. Therefore, I would suggest that you prepare the vegetable broth portion of this recipe a day or two in advance of your seder, and the matzoh ball mixture the night before. The final result will be well worth your efforts!
I started by making the rich vegetable broth with these ingredients (oops, I forgot to include the olive oil in this photo)…
I chopped my vegetables to about this size…
After I prepared the vegetable broth, which took about 2 hours (in total) to make, I started making the matzoh balls using these ingredients…
Preparation of the matzoh balls involved adding some wet ingredients to some dry ingredients, mixing in grated carrots and blending everything together to produce a nice mixture…
You must cover this matzoh mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight before you can proceed to make the matzoh balls! This step cannot be skipped!
When you remove the cold matzoh mixture from the refrigerator, you may proceed to form the mixture into walnut size balls. I made mine a bit larger as you can see…
After the matzoh balls are cooked, you will see (after you lift the lid) that they float to the top of the pot…
After a few minutes, they will drop back down to the bottom of the pot…
The process is fun to watch. When you’re finished preparing the matzoh balls, you will place a few in a bowl and ladle some heated rich vegetable broth over them filling the bowl just halfway. You may garnish with some fresh dill or parsley and serve…
Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup
RICH VEGETABLE BROTH
Makes About 8 cups
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (you may include skin)
2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 leeks, well rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
1 cup loosely packed fresh dill
12 cups water (Isa Chandra uses 9 cups of water)
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
In a large stock pot, heat the oil. Saute the onions for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours (ie. 90 minutes), uncovered.
Let the broth cool until it’s an okay temperature to handle. Strain into a large bowl through cheesecloth or a very fine-mesh strainer. Press the vegetables with a gentle but firm pressure to get all the moisture out.
This will keep in the fridge in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
VEGAN MATZOH BALLS
Yields approximately 16-18 matzoh balls (depending on size)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups matzoh meal
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus extra for the boiling water
3/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 (12-ounce) package firm silken tofu (like Mori-nu)
8 1/2 cups or so Rich Vegetable Broth (recipe above)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 carrot, peeled
A handful fresh dill, coarsely chopped
Fresh parsley for garnish
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine the matzoh meal with the salt and pepper; set aside.
Crumble the tofu into a blender or food processor, add 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth, and puree until smooth. Add the oil and blend again.
Mix the tofu mixture with the matzoh meal, making sure that everything is moist. Grate half the carrot into the mixture and mix until it’s well distributed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight. You can’t skip this step! It’s important in making sure that the matzoh balls will not fall apart when boiled.
When you are ready to form the balls, fill a large stockpot with enough water to fit all the matzoh balls with minimal touching. Salt the water generously, cover, and bring to a boil.
Set out a cutting board upon which to line up the formed matzoh balls, and cover it with parchment paper if you have any, to prevent sticking.
Remove the matzoh mixture from the fridge. Form into tightly packed, walnut-size balls and place on the prepared cutting board. When all the balls are prepared, drop carefully into the boiling water, one or two at a time, with a spatula or slotted spoon. Take your time and be careful not to plop one on top of another.
When all the balls are in the water, cover the pot, lower the heat to a low setting and DO NOT LIFT THE LID FOR FORTY MINUTES!!! When the 40 minutes are up, you can remove the lid. The matzoh balls will have floated to the top. If you wait a few minutes, they will drop back down to the bottom of the pot.
Now the matzoh balls are ready to be served. If you want them to be a little lighter, turn off the heat, cover the pot again, and let them sit in the water for another hour or so.
Prepare the remaining vegetable broth by placing it in a separate pot, grating the other half of the carrot into the broth, along with a healthy handful of fresh dill. Bring to a low boil, and when it’s just heated you’re ready to prepare the bowls.
With a slotted spoon, carefully remove the matzoh balls from their pot and place two or three into each bowl. Ladle the broth over the matzoh balls, so that they are covered only about halfway. You can garnish with some more fresh dill, or parsley.
If you are not serving the soup right away, you can refrigerate the matzoh balls overnight, and boil them when ready to prepare the soup.
Click Here for more Fabulous Passover Recipes for a Super Seder
Vegan Rosh Hashanah Recipes: From Soup to Strudel
Enjoy!
I never liked Matzoh ball soup no matter who made it (sorry mom!). This soup is different and so much better than anything I had in the past. I would recommend this soup to both jews and gentiles.
This is a terrific soup. Very tasty and satisfying.
Glad you enjoyed it! It’s a family favorite!
This is by far the very best matzoh ball soup recipe ever. I have always attempted to duplicate my grandmother’s matzoh balls, and seemed to fall short. Hers, unlike the average matzoh ball revered by most Jewish cooks, which are light, fluffy and fall apart, were firm/solid like these and so delicious. I have been using tofu in cooking/baking for over 25 years, since I first became a vegetarian and subsequently a vegan. I would never have thought to use it in making matzoh balls. How wonderful! I make this recipe at least twice a month and everyone devours it. Thank you for offering this most awesome recipe.
Thank you so much for this comment! I totally agree that this is the best matzoh ball recipe ever! My husband and kids love it too! Leave it to Isa Chandra Moskowitz to come up with this fabulous recipe!
Do you know of any way to prepare the matzo balls without tofu? Many of us do not eat kitniyot (including soy and other bean products) during Passover.
Hi Aron!
Ill have to look into this to get another vegan matzoh ball recipe without tofu.
Hi, Did you ever find a good replacement for the tofu?
ok, so this didn’t turn out as planned…
Followed all the steps carefully, refrigerated for well over 12 hours, dropped the balls carefully one after the other into the boiling water and after 40 minutes they had all disintegrated into soy fluff. Will resort to traditional ones as the Seder is in only four hours…
So sorry! I’ve never had that happen with mine. On the contrary, they’ve always had the perfect consistency. Happy Holiday nevertheless.
Why are we cooking the balls is water as opposed to just cooking them in the broth?
I always do this with a little vegie bouillion to add a little flavor and you don’t cook them originally in the soup because if you cook them in the soup they will absorb it all and you won’t be left with much soup.
This recipe is great and everyone at the Seder said they were the best matzoh balls ever., I had two issues: 1) I did a test ball and that disintegrated. I added more oil and that fix the problem. 2) The pot kept over flowing making a mess, even at a low heat. I removed the cover and they still came out OK.
All matzoh balls are a bit messy to make. These are really great!
Can the cooked matzo balls be frozen for later use?
Hi Risa,
We haven’t tried freezing them but if you have, please let us know how they came out! Thanks for reading and contributing!
I made these for last night, and they were a hit with both vegans and non-vegans. I did not make the broth from this recipe, though, too much work. I let the matzah ball mixture refrigerate for about 24 hours and they were quite firm. However, they need to be taken out of the boiling water immediately after the 40 minutes are up, or they become lighter. Carefully use a slotted spoon. I placed them on parchment paper until cooled and then put in the fridge until dinner.
My only complaint is that I did need to add a lot of seasoning to the recipe.
Hi Robyn,
We’re s o gold that they came out great! Matzoh balls are so tricky in any case! More seasoning sounds delicious! Thanks for reading and contributing!