Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup With Spinach
Updated Oct. 24, 2024
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Ingredients
- 1pound ground chicken or turkey, preferably dark meat
- ½cup crumbled feta
- ¾cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1small red onion, halved (½ diced, and ½ grated, then squeezed with a paper towel to remove excess liquid)
- ⅓packed cup fresh dill leaves and fine stems, finely chopped
- 1tablespoon ground cumin
- ½teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 3tablespoons olive oil
- ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving
- 4cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
- 4packed cups baby spinach (about 5 ounces)
- 2lemons (1 juiced and 1 cut into wedges for serving)
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
426 calories; 23 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 36 grams protein; 1160 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, add the chicken, feta, ¼ cup oats, the grated onion, most of the dill (reserve about 2 tablespoons for garnish), the cumin, ½ teaspoon turmeric and 1 teaspoon salt. Gently combine without squeezing too hard or overworking the meat. Lightly wet your palms and shape the meat into small balls, a little smaller than the size of a golf ball, about 1½ inches. (You will have approximately 25 balls.)
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or wide pot over medium until shimmering. Add the diced onion, season with salt, and cook until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon turmeric and the red-pepper flakes, and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Push the onions to the sides as best you can, then add the meatballs. (They will be close together, and that’s OK.) Cook until browned on two sides, 5 to 7 minutes total.
- Step 3
Pour in the broth and remaining ½ cup oats, then gently tilt the pot to the right and left to distribute the oats and broth without disturbing the meatballs. Bring to a gentle boil, then immediately reduce the heat to maintain an active simmer. Season with salt. Cook, gently stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom, until the oats have softened and the meatballs are cooked through, about 4 minutes more.
- Step 4
Stir in the spinach and lemon juice until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes more. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Spoon into bowls, top with pepper and the remaining dill. Serve with lemon wedges.
Private Notes
Comments
Long time lurkers, first time commenters - be gentle. We love this recipe so much, and wanted to share modifications for other gluttons out there. Use the 1/4 c oats in the meatballs Don't use the oats in the soup, instead substitute with 1 c orzo Increase stock to 6 cups Add thinly sliced celery for extra crunch (cook with the onions!) We tend to up the red pepper and don't add salt at step 3 Enjoy, as the perfect acidity is balanced by the silken coated orzo sliding down your gullet.
I would substitute a different herb, as my wife and I are not dill fans. However, the rest sounds great. And I want to mention how much I love and appreciate the NYTimes cooking community. I love reading your comments and I appreciate all of you out there cooking.
This was really tasty and easy to make. I didn’t do the part where you move the onion over for meatballs, though. Instead I did meatballs for 15 mins in 400 oven on parchment paper then popped them in the broth to finish. Easier I think and worked great (meatballs brown/cook evenly in the oven without breaking up)
I ended up making this into more of a orzo pasta dish than soup which turned out fantastic. Followed the meatball recipe as is however I mistakenly bought goat cheese instead of feta and just went with it. The meatballs were very easy to over work and turned up pretty large only yielding about 15. Instead of adding the oats to the soup to thicken I went with 1/2 cup orzo cooked to a hard al dente. Between the goat cheese and the pasta the soup thickened quite a bit but the orzo also took on a lot of the flavor. After sitting overnight it really became an entirely orzo dish that was smooth and flavorful. Great recipe with lots of room for interpretation.
Delicious! Would definitely make again, tho will reduce turmeric in the broth by 1/3 next time. Had everything on hand except oats so replaced it with 1/4 c almond flour in the meatballs - they held together beautifully, but likely were more dense than with oats. Took others’ suggestion of adding orzo, and since recipe called for a whole lemon, added its zest to the onions when adding the turmeric and red pepper flakes.
This was AWFUL, The amounts of cumin and turmeric were off by multiples! After all that work on the feta, onions, etc in the meatballs! All they tasted like was a substance and Cumin! The broth was bitter. We ate half the soup for dinner and threw out the rest. Cannot understand the 5 star reviews!