Thai Meatball and Egg Drop Soup:Â Thai flavours mixed into a traditional egg drop broth for a comforting and filling soup. Paleo + Whole 30 + Low Carb
I could eat soup everyday. Without question. Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall. (Resisting the urge to sing the rest of the Gilmore Girls theme song.)
As far as comfort foods go, soup wins it for me every time. No matter what the occasion, there is never a time when sitting down with a big bowl of soup wouldn’t make me feel instantly better.
Growing up in my family, sick days meant soup days from the nearest Chinese restaurant. Usually it was wonton or egg drop – whatever the special may have been at the time – and always finished off with a generous helping of fried rice. If that’s not enough to make you feel better then I don’t know what would.
So last week when Mike came down with a nasty virus, soup was my first instinct.
My usual go to these days when one of us is sick is egg drop soup. It’s a simple enough soup that even Mike can put together whenever I’m feeling under the weather. That may not sound like much of a feat, but standing upright long enough to finish a dish is a big deal for anyone with POTS.
If there is one problem with egg drop soup it’s that it’s more of a starter/appetizer to a larger meal. While I’m quite content having a light dinner of what is essentially broth every now and then, Mike of course is a man which means he’s never full. Growing up with four brothers I’m very aware of the fact that boys have what feels like bottomless pits for stomaches. If there’s no meat involved in a meal then it’s merely a snack and snacks to don’t satiate you they just pass the time until your next meal. By the way your next meal is never soon enough.
Going back to this soup, it was Mike who had the stroke of genius to add the meatballs to our usual egg drop. Earlier in the day I had been filming a video to go along with these Thai meatballs. Since posting it last year, it’s hands down the most popular recipe on my blog. I wanted to go back and add a video to go along with the recipe to enhance the post & get in a little more practice with the video making. The meatballs were just sitting on the counter begging to be added to a meatball and egg drop soup. Perfect for adding to soup. Perfect for bulking out a meal enough to feed and satisfy my bottomless pit of a husband.
Thai Meatball and Egg Drop Soup
The base of the soup is similar to that of your average egg drop: broth, spring onions, a touch of ginger, eggs. Since we’re adding Thai inspired meatballs to this version I spruced up the broth with more typical Thai flavors: chilis, fish sauce, a squeeze of lime juice, and heaps more cilantro and spring onions. If there is one food rule in our house it’s to alway add another handful of both cilantro and spring onions to whatever you’re eating.
While the meatballs are baking, take that time to prep your soup. Slice the carrots into matchsticks, chop up the cilantro, deseed the chilies, and wash your spring onions. Get it all ready to add to your broth when the time comes. After the meatballs finish baking (about 25 minutes or so) begin making the soup. This part should take about 10 minutes tops. After you add the eggs to the soup you can finally add the meatballs. Taste your soup. Add a little more salt/pepper/ whatever you’d like and then serve.
This meatball and egg drop soup was good the first day, I went straight back the store the next morning to get more turkey to make it again. It’s nice to have a little something to look forward to on sick days. The whole sick part’s no good, but at least the food is nice.
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Thai Meatball and Egg Drop Soup
Thai Meatball and Egg Drop Soup: Thai flavors mixed into a traditional egg drop broth for a comforting and filling soup. Paleo + Whole 30 + Low Carb
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground turkey or chicken
- 1 large shredded carrot, about 1/2 cup (squeeze out excess moisture from shredded carrots)
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 red chili chopped* see note on chilies
- 1/4 cup green onion, green parts only for Low FODMAP, chopped + more for garnishing
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger, (make sure to squeeze out any extra moisture out of the carrots before adding to your meatball mixture)
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Aminos or 1 -2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce* see note
- 1/4 teaspoon salt *see note
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg
- dash red pepper flakes optional
Soup
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil, or coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 red chilies deseeded and chopped
- 4 cups organic chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Aminos, or gluten free soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 3 large eggs whisked
- 1/2 cup spring onions chopped, 1 large bunch, use only the green parts for low fodmap
- 1 large carrot cut into matchsticks
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Meatball Prep
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C
- In a bowl combine all of your meatball ingredients. Mix well and form into balls. If the mixture is a bit wet and sticks, wet your hand with a little water and then roll the balls.
- Place balls on lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Once cooked remove from the heat and set aside until your'e ready to add them to the soup
Soup Prep
- In a large pot, warm the sesame oil on a medium heat. Add the minced ginger and chopped chilis to the oil and gently sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the stock, water, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and lime juice to the pot and turn up the heat to medium high.
- While the broth is heating up, whisk your eggs. Once the broth begins to boil, slowly drizzle the eggs into the soup. Use a fork to stir the eggs to create ribbons and prevent clumping.
- Reduce the heat and then add the spring onions, carrot, and cilantro and let the soup cook an extra minute. Carefully drop the meatballs into the broth. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper to your own preference.
- Top with more spring onions, cilantro, and/or chili if you'd like and serve.
Notes
soy sauce/tamari is much saltier than coconut aminos - you may want to wait until the end to add salt or reduce the amount if you use soy
Feel free to use different types of chilies here based on your preference for spice. We use red anaheim chilies which tend to be more on the mild side. If you like things with more spice you can also use red or green jalapeños - red will be spicier than green.Â
Viviana Sherman says
Has anyone cooked the meatballs in the broth instead of baking them separately?
Tess says
This was REALLY good. I am always skeptical of recipes online that claim to be thai-inspired, as they usually lack flavour and spice. This soup was a home run for my husband and I. I followed the recipe step by step and it was a breeze. Thanks for the new weeknight staple!
Sarah says
Thanks Tess – so glad to hear that you guys liked it! Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know what you thought!
Kris says
I was looking for a dish thats perfect for an after 15-hour-plane ride for my parents in law. And this was just perfect since they’re arriving in an asian country. What a hit!!!! They loved the dish. It was fresh and just perfect. A few tweaks though. I added a bit of rice noodles in each bowl and next time, I will add the egg towards the final seconds of the cooking, and will not beat them but drop them like that, while stirring the soup to create white and yellow swirls. This was a real hit with the adults and my kids (8 and 20 months). Thankyou for sharing 🙂
Sarah says
That’s so great! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it and I love the addition of rice noodles – can’t go wrong with that! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought
Danielle says
Made this tonight for me and my husband. It came together pretty easily, especially since I had made the meatballs a couple days before. We both really liked this soup! (I am the one with stomach issues, so it’s great to find a recipe that hubby simply enjoys because it’s GOOD.) I’ll definitely be making it again (and again!). I added some bell peppers and spinach for more veggies It looks so nice with the ribbons of egg. Thanks for the recipe!
Sarah says
So glad to hear that you both enjoyed it! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review – I really love hearing how it went!
Sharon says
This is so delicious! I cooked the meatballs about 15 min could even be less. Will make this again for sure…
Sarah says
So glad you liked them!
Katie says
Thanks for the soup inspiration! On our third Whole30 and was feeling food boredom so googled around. I used pork for the meatballs, added coriander since I was fresh out of cilantro, and added zoodles and steamed broccoli to get in more veggies. Really good!
Sarah says
Ooh yay! SO glad you enjoyed it! Since you’re in your third round you probably don’t need it but good luck on the rest of your Whole30!
Cheryl S says
I was so excited to make this recipe. It sounded wonderful in every way.
I started by grinding my own organic chicken breast with my kitchen aid meat grinder. I used the large grind format. The meat mixture was very wet once mixed with the other ingredients but I did get the meatballs formed. I baked them per the recipe. They seemed cooked through but the texture was mushy and seemed to make the taste even undesirable. I’m super disappointed. I tried baking them longer but it didn’t improve the texture. I’m wondering if all those who raved about the recipe made the meatballs. I’d love some feedback. Mine went down the garbage disposal.
Sarah says
Hi Cheryl! Sorry to hear that! I’m not sure what went wrong here. It sounds like the meatballs ended up with too much moisture and needed something like a breadcrumb to soak up some of the excess liquid here. Unfortunately, I’ve never tried grinding my own meat so I don’t know if/how that might affect the final result.
I can tell you that I know a lot of people have made these meatballs. I actually have a recipe for just the meatballs + a sauce that inspired this one and it’s one of my most popular recipes. I get tagged on instagram quite often for both this soup and those meatballs and even pinterest https://www.asaucykitchen.com/thai-meatballs-paleo-low-fodmap/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/11681280261048089/activity/tried
I wish I could help more! Maybe someone else will see this and be able to offer feedback
Indiana F says
Almond flour is a great low carb binder for meatballs that is what I used and they were tasty.
Wondering what you are supposed to let the soup do though?
Reduce the heat and then add the spring onions, carrot, and cilantro and let the soup. (?)
Sarah says
Oops! My mistake! I recently went and fixed a small typo there and ended up with another typo! Thanks for pointing that out to me! It’s supposed to say ‘let the soup cook another minute’.
Joy Dauble says
This sounds amazing. I was looking for recipes that are Whole30 compliant, that would be easy to reheat for lunches. I love soup for lunch – especially in the winter! Can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Sarah says
I hope you like it!
Anna says
This soup is packed with flavor. My kids ask for it all the time.
Sarah says
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review letting me know what you guys think!
Karen Stevens says
This soup is delicious! Love Thai food, introducing my husband to these flavors!
Sarah says
So glad you enjoyed it! Also glad you were able to share it with your husband – I’m always happy when I’m able to get my husband to try new things too 🙂 Thanks for coming back to leave a comment/rating letting me know how it went!