GREEK MEATBALL SOUP (GIOUVARAKIA)

Greek Meatball Soup has soft, tender meatballs, with rice, simmered in a beef broth, infused with a bright, lemony Avgolemono sauce.

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Ingredients for Greek Meatball Soup

• 1 pound, ground chuck

• 1 small onion, grated

• 1/4 cup, uncooked rice

• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup, flour

• 2 tablespoons, extra virgin olive oil

• 1-2 carrots, diced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 cup, chopped parsley

• 6 cups, beef stock

• 4 eggs, separated, room temperature

• 2 lemons, juiced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Greek Meatball Soup Broth

Take a large stock pot and set it to low heat. Add in the extra virgin olive oil. Throw in the diced carrots and saute for about 5 minutes. You want to soften up the carrots just a bit. They will finish cooking in the broth. Next add in the minced garlic and cook for a mere minute. Pour the beef broth into the pot and bring it to a simmer. Add in the parsley and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

Meatballs with Rice

In a large bowl, grate the onion. Add in the ground chuck, rice, egg, cheese, salt and pepper. Mix it all together.

Take a baking tray and sprinkle it with the flour. Next, start rolling out the Greek meatballs into marble sized portions. Hey, I know that seems like a ridiculous size but we, as Greeks, don’t make things easy on ourselves. And yes, it will take you a hot minute to roll marble size meatballs, but just trust the process, ok? Take a load off and sit down while you’re doing this. Put a Netflix show on or now would be a great time to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I don’t know. Just roll em out and place them on the floured tray. Please and thank you. After all, it’s called Greek Meatball Soup for a reason.

Shake the meatballs in the flour until well coated. Time to drop them off in the simmering beef broth. Once all the meatballs have made it into the pot, gently stir. Put your heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes. You will want to test to make sure the rice is cooked inside the meatballs. These meatballs are so small nobody will know if one or two are missing! If the meatballs aren’t done cook for another 5 minutes. Keep to a simmer for the Avgolemeno sauce.

When life gives you lemons, make Soup!!!

My family has an addiction to lemon. I mean it. My boys used to suck the juice out of lemon wedges. Now they squeeze lemon juice on almost everything. Their wings, salsa, vegetables and of course soup!

This “particular” Avgolemono sauce, in my opinion, is the icing on the cake. Truly. This sauce adds a wonderfully bright, lemony and velvety texture to this Greek Meatball Soup. And it can add another level of flavor to your broth based soups. Like, my SPINACH AND BEEF SOUP.

When I said “particular”, it’s because there are a couple of different ways you can make Avgolemono sauce. And they are all equally as good and serve different purposes. Check out my other AVGOLEMONO SAUCE for STUFFED PEPPERS.

Avgolemono Sauce for Greek Meatball Soup

In a blink of an eye this Greek Meatball Soup is going to be done. Let’s get started. Using a mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Next, add in the egg yolks one at a time followed by the lemon juice.

Remove some of the hot broth, just a couple ladle fulls into an easy pour vessel. With the mixer on low, slowly add in some of the broth. Let the egg mixture absorb the hot broth and repeat that step. What you are doing here is tempering the egg mixture. Meaning, you are preparing the eggs to adjust to a hot broth. Without doing this step your eggs will curdle. And that, my friends, is not what you want. This Greek Meatball Soup deserves the best!

Adjust the soup heat to medium. When the soup starts to boil gently, pour the Avgolemono sauce into the Greek Meatball Soup and stir until thickened. And just like that, you have made an unbelievable tasty soup!

What to serve with the Soup

The options are quite endless. If you want to stick with the “Greek” theme then I would serve a couple pieces of SPANKOPITA or CHEESE TRIANGLES along with the soup.

If not, you could always do a hearty grilled cheese sandwhich, salad, grilled veggies. Anything goes!

You can eliminate the Avgolemeno sauce all together. This Greek Meatball Soup is absolutely delicious all on its own. Enjoy!~Christina