Jewish comfort food meets Tex Mex comfort food with Matzah Ball Chicken Tortilla Soup! (Tortillas optional.) 
How’s your Passover going?? Are you loving matzah pizza for every meal, or do you find yourself dreaming of bagels and pasta? Y’all are doing great! Just a few more days. #freedom.
I don’t think I could ever get sick of matzah ball soup though.
Matzah ball soup is one of those Jewish foods that do not even need remixing. Dare I say it’s perfect as is? I dare. There is not much better than homemade stock, light matzah dumplings with a slight bite (my preference), and lots of dill. But that certainly doesn’t stop me from trying to improve upon perfection.
When I first moved from New York City to Austin, Texas, I missed some of my favorite foods (Bagels! Pizza! Really good coffee for 80 cents out of a cart!) But then I discovered new loves.
Queso, the addicting cheesy dip responsible for a 10-pound weight gain, and tortilla soup, the healthy-ish spicy tomato soup, topped with chunks of avocado and crispy fried tortilla strips. If matzah ball soup is Jewish penicillin, then chicken tortilla soup must be the Mexican version.
You may or may not notice this tortilla soup is missing the tortillas. Minor detail — the rich tomato broth gives you all the Tex-Mex flavor you need. Feel free to pile on the tortilla strips post-Passover, but with lots of avocado, jalapeños and cilantro, I didn’t even miss them. P.S. Make sure your spices are kosher for Passover if you’re into that sort of thing.
Cilantro and cumin go into those balls. 
Ball so hard. 
Oh y’all. I had fun making my soup in my new Le Creuset Soup Pot. Simmered to perfection and the tomato didn’t even stain the surface. Love! 
Soup’s on!
Matzah Ball Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- For matzah balls:
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsp. olive oil or schmaltz
- 3 tbsp. sparkling water
- 3/4 cup matzah meal
- 2 tbsp. grated onion dried well
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 cup cilantro minced
- For soup:
- 1 large dried pasilla chile stemmed
- 2 tbsp. olive oil or schmaltz
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt or to taste
- 1 small onion diced (1/2 cup)
- 2 jalapeños diced (leave the seeds and veins out for less spice), plus more for garnish
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika or paprika
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper or to taste
- 5 cups chicken broth preferably homemade
- 29 ounces diced tomatoes with liquid
- 1 cup cooked shredded chicken
- For garnish:
- Cilantro leaves minced
- Limes
- Diced avocado
Instructions
- First, make the matzah ball mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, olive oil or schmaltz, and sparkling water. Then stir in matzah meal, onion, baking powder salt, pepper, cumin and cilantro. Do not over-mix. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the mix is not as sticky.
- Meanwhile, start your soup. Put the chile in a small heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Let the chile soak until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove chile and reserve soaking liquid.
- In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil or schmaltz over medium heat. Add in onion with ¼ teaspoon salt and sauté for 5 minutes, or until softened. Then add in jalapeño and garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes. Add in cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, black pepper and remaining salt and sauté while stirring for 1 more minute.
- Transfer to a blender with 2 cups broth, half of the tomatoes, the pasilla chile and ½ cup soaking liquid. Blend. You can also use an immersion blender and blend right in the pot.
- Place mixture back in the pot and add in remaining broth and tomatoes.
- Matzah ball time! Form matzah ball mix into about 15 1-inch balls. Bring soup to a simmer and place balls in the stock. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until balls float and are cooked through. You can also cook the matzah balls separately in water or chicken broth.
- Then add chicken and cook a few more minutes uncovered until chicken is warm. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with cilantro, lime, avocado and jalapeño slices.
Thank you Le Creuset for sponsoring this giveaway and to you for supporting WJWE! Jew rock.
79 Comments
This looks DELICIOUS!!! I’m Italian but love Jewish fold (especially challah)!
Thanks! You definitely don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy tasty food!
I just had my very first Passover with my new in laws- and you definitely don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy the food 🙂 I even read parts of the Haggadah around the dinner table! I’m going to try this recipe out on the husb!
Love it!!
This looks and sounds so yummy, great flavor combos!
Floaters for sure!
Floaters are really needed after eating all that matzah this week
So yummy!! Go team floaters!
Team floaters!!! This looks like perfection.
Looks SO delicious! I am plotting how I can make it for dinner! Thank you!!
Killer combo! And I’m stocked with matzo ball mix post-passover 😉
Team Sinkers! I’m a PA to Austin transplant so this recipe looks fabulous!
Woo hoo Austin!
Team Floaters. Looks so good. Thank you.
OH MAH LAWD! That soup looks phenomenal! And yes, chicken tortilla soup is Mexican penicillin (or at least Tex Mex penicillin), along with menudo. I think I need to make this soup. No, I know I do!
Oh that looks amazing! I am going to have to try that! I am team Floaters!!! 🙂
Delectable. Floaters are yummy.
Team sinkers DEFINITELY! My dad used to say that if you dropped your matzah ball and it didn’t go through the floor, it wasn’t hard enough!
Ha!
Love this recipe! Going to have to try it out!
Did you even have to ask? Floaters, of course! 😉
I like the floaters.
I like floters and my husband likes sinkers. I try to alternate from year to year.
Hope I win
I prefer floaters.
OMG, you just opened up a world of possibilities. Matzah balls in Lentil soup, mushroom soup, chili?!
Ooh yes! I did one in a spinach soup base and it was awesome too!
team sinkers
I would never think to do this but I might have to try to convince my non-jewish friends to eat some yumminess.
Also, it was lovely meeting you at MJ & Adrienne’s wedding this past weekend! <3
Ha my non-Jewish friends love my matzah ball soup- nice meeting you too!!
Ummm OMG YUM!! This Arizona girls need to make this soup STAT. Looks muy bueno! Also, I prefer floaters but I really don’t discriminate when it comes to matzo balls.
Team floaters!
This looks awesome! I don’t know much about Jewish food but all that I have had is amazing. I think I need to make an eating pilgrimage to Israel lol
Tex Mex! Those matzah balls sound sound yummmmy floating in tortilla soup!
Mary Beth Elderton
OMGoodness, this looks absolutely scrumptious. I want a bowl and I want it right now.
[…] choose from. A fun tone and superb pictures to lead you where you want to find deliciousness! This Matza Ball Chicken Tortilla Soup has me ready to make this NOW! Great food […]
Can’t wait to try this recipe !!! ( as I am eating leftover matzoh ball soup from lst night 😉
I like sinkers!
Floaters, but really all matzah balls are good matzah balls 🙂
What an amazing twist! I like when they sink and then I can break them up and soak in all the juices 🙂
And I thought my matzah balls with caramelized onions inside were a winner – but this looks really tasty. I will definitely give it a try – hopefully with a new le creuset pot! 🙂 PS – I like floaters.
That sounds great!
Team sinkers!
Team floaters!
My 2 favorite soups in 1!
Team floaters! Yum!
Floaters!
I am team floaters.
Floaters! yes, now that I have worked out a tomato sauce replacement, I can make this!
Can one be team both? Because mine tend to have some floaters and some deep sinkers; I don’t know why.
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{in the contest I am Margot C__ on the Rafflecopter}
I have no experience with matza balls…yet. So I can’t weigh in until I try your recipes.
sinkers, but the floaters never go to waste!
Floaters, for sure!
Team floaters!
Love me some floaters
This soup sound delish going to try it soon (I love soup) I am team floaters!
I go both ways – sinkers, floaters, I don’t care. Just keep ’em comin’. 🙂
i don’t know–i’ve never had matzoh ball soup…isn’t that tragic!?!
I was raised on sinkers…the heavier, harder the better. When I got married, my mother-in-law made them soft as clouds. Now that is in my hands I try to make both.
Team floaters, by a long way!
Looks great. Tortilla soup is my favorite, thanks for sharing
This sounds like the best combo ever! Can’t wait to try it and def passing it along to my Jewish friend!
Amy!!! This recipe is killer!!! What a great twist on the classic! YUM!
Floaters all the way!
Dense in the middle with a fluffy outside – when you cut with a spoon it sticks 🙂
Team floaters
Team Floaters!
Floaters!!!
team floaters. thank you for the giveaway!
Team floaters for sure!
Team Sinkers here 🙂
Can’t wait to try this recipe!! I used your Mushroom Matzo Ball Soup recipe as inspiration the other night and it was a big hit, so I can only imagine how this one will be received too!
I’m on team floaters.
Team floaters!
Wow, this soup looks spectacular! I’m definitely on team FLOAT!
Floaters are nice. Sinkers are yummy too
Oh how I want a bowl of this soup. Team floaters for sure….
[…] matzah ball chili or matzah ball gazpacho is not on my list of soups improved by matzah balls. But Matzah Ball Chicken Tortilla Soup, Matzah Ball Tomato Soup, Matzah Ball Potato Chowder, Matzah Ball Egg Drop Soup and my favorite […]
kind of tacky comment about spices isn’t it? yes some spices are not for Pesach BUT “if you’re into that sort of thing…” is a bit crass