Chinese Chicken Meatball Soup

This Chinese Chicken Meatball Soup has juicy meatballs in a flavorful tomato broth. It is easy to make with simple pantry ingredients and is super comforting in the winter. You can start simmering the soup first, then prepare the meatballs in parallel and the dish will be ready in one hour.

Can't get enough of Chinese soups? Try my Duck Soup or Watercress Soup next!

🥘 About This Recipe

I grew up eating this Chinese chicken meatball soup. I do not think it is a traditional Chinese dish, but my mom always made it and I recently saw a Youtube video of someone making it. Regardless, it is one of my favorite soups to make in the winter. Yes, tomatoes are not in season in the winter but they are still available at most grocery stores year-round.

The meatballs are handmade with ground chicken and simmered in a rich tomato broth. It is one of the most whole dinners you can make, and its warmth on a cold day is unbeatable.

I highly recommend making your own chicken stock for the tomato soup. It is super easy, and the flavor is much better than that of store-bought. You can try my homemade chicken stock recipe.

⭐ Tips For Making Meatballs

Here are my tips to make incredibly juicy and flavorful meatballs.

• Grind Your Own Meat: If you are looking for that special touch, I recommend doing this. It lets you control the fat content and quality of the meat. The cheap, fatty cuts are the best for meatballs. I recommend chicken legs, thighs, or drumsticks.
• Use Egg and Cornstarch: This is what my mom always did. It is important for two reasons. The egg gives the meatballs a more cohesive texture and the cornstarch helps absorb juices that would otherwise get squeezed out during cooking.
• Bake the meatballs: It is way easier and cleaner than pan-frying. With pan-frying, you have to cook them in several batches, but with baking, you can do it all at once. Not only that, pan-frying results in a lot of oil splatter that you have to clean up afterward.

🧂 Ingredients

For the tomato soup:

• Tomatoes: You can use fresh tomatoes or a 14-ounce can of whole tomatoes.
• Chicken stock: I am using my homemade chicken stock for this recipe. If you want a quicker option, you can use chicken bouillon powder but it will not taste nearly as good.
• Onions
• Ginger
• White vinegar

For the chicken meatballs:

• Ground Chicken: You can buy pre-ground chicken or grind your own. Grinding your own meat is a bonus because you can use leftover bones for chicken stock.
• Seasonings: Soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and white pepper.
• Eggs
• Cornstarch
• Green onions
• Ginger

🔪 Instructions

STEP 1: In a large soup pot, add the chicken stock, tomatoes, onion, ginger, salt, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let it simmer for 60 minutes. In the meantime, you can make the meatballs.

STEP 2: In a medium bowl, combine the ground chicken, breadcrumbs, green onions, ginger, egg, cornstarch, oyster sauce, soy sauce, white pepper, and sugar. Mix vigorously for about 1 minute until it is thick and pasty. This will give the meatballs a firmer texture.

STEP 3: Shape the mixture into 25 meatballs, approximately 2 tablespoons each.

STEP 4: Bake the meatballs in a 450°F oven for 18-20 minutes until they are fully cooked and have a nice brown color on top.

STEP 5: Add the meatballs to the soup and let them simmer for 5 minutes. You can remove the onion halves if you don't like them. Serve the soup immediately with rice and green onions sprinkled on top!

📋 Recipe

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