Meatballs & Kale In Lemony Garlic Broth

This comforting meatballs and kale in lemony garlic broth recipe is perfect for a nourishing, warming meal with rich flavours from herbs, tender meatballs, and a zesty, savoury broth.

This cracking recipe is thanks to my lovely friend Irena from Irena Macri | Food Fit For Life. I’m a huge fan of Irena’s work – her recipes are delicious, nutritionally balanced, easy to make.

This recipe is super popular for very good reason!

Health benefits

Packed with protein from the meatballs and chicken broth and loaded with antioxidants from the kale and garlic, this soup is a great immunity booster. The fresh lemon juice adds vitamin C and enhances digestion, making it a wholesome, healthy option.

Ingredients

This recipe uses ground turkey, chicken, or pork mince for the meatballs, seasoned with fresh herbs and cloves garlic. The chicken broth includes nutrient-rich kale, leek, garlic, carrot, potato, and a splash of lemon and lime juice for a refreshing tang.

How to make Meatballs & Kale In Lemony Garlic Broth

Start by blending leeks, herbs, garlic, and lime zest for the meatballs, then mix with mince and seasoning. Form into meatballs and fry until golden. For the broth, sauté leek, lemon peel, carrot, and potato, then add garlic, cumin, star anise, chicken stock, and fish sauce. Combine everything, add kale, and finish with a squeeze of lemon and lime juice for an added burst of flavour. If you own a Thermomix, we’ve also included Thermomix instructions for this recipe.

Serving suggestions and how to store

Serve hot with crusty bread or a side salad for a balanced meal. This soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and reheated gently on the stovetop until warmed through.

Vary this to suit your dietary needs

Try swapping the herbs with sage or oregano, or use basil instead of parsley for a fresh twist. For a different protein source, fish mince works well too, adding a unique flavour to the broth.

Meatballs and Kale in a Lemony Broth

Prep 20 minutes minutes

Cook 20 minutes minutes

Total 40 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

This delicious, zesty soup come meal is so nourishing - truely food as medicine!

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Ingredients

For the meatballs

• ½ leek (pale part), roughly cut (or 2 spring onions)
• ¼ bunch/s fresh parsley leaves (about 10 g)
• ¼ bunch/s fresh mint leaves (optional)
• 4-5 sprig/s fresh thyme leaves (1 tablespoon approx.)
• 1 clove/s garlic
• 1 lime/s -zest
• 600 g ground mince (turkey, chicken or pork mince)
• 1 tsp sea salt - or to taste
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp butter, ghee or coconut oil

For the soup

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - extra virgin
• ½ leek (green and pale part)
• 1 lemon/s (5 peels of the skin)
• 1 carrot/s (large) peeled and diced into halves
• 1 potato/s (large) peeled and diced into small cubes
• 3 clove/s garlic - sliced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 star anise
• 750 ml chicken broth or stock (3 cups)
• 1½ tbsp fish sauce
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste
• 10-12 stem/s kale - torn off the stem and into smaller pieces
• ½ lime/s - juice
• ½ lemon/s - juice (approx. 2 tablespoons)

Method

• If you have a food processor, place leeks, parsley, mint, thyme, garlic, and lime zest inside with an S-blade on. Blitz a few times, until the ingredients are finely ground up. If using a Thermomix 10 seconds, speed 5. Alternatively, chop everything very finely using a knife.
• Transfer to a large mixing bowl together with the mince, salt and pepper. Mix really well, until well incorporated. If using a Thermomix, 40 seconds reverse speed 3 (you may need to use the spatula to help mix it through).
• Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Roll the mixture into small meatballs, about 20g each, smaller than a Ping-Pong ball. Fry the meatballs for 7-8 minutes, turning them throughout so they go golden-brown on all sides.
• In the meantime, add the olive oil, the other part of the leek, lemon peel, carrot and potato to a medium saucepan. Sauté for a few minutes, then add the garlic, cumin, star anise, chicken stock and fish sauce. Season with some salt and pepper and bring to boil.
• Add the meatballs and cook over medium heat, covered, for 3-4 minutes. Prepare the kale and add to the soup, stir through and cook for a further 5 minutes, covered. Test the potato and once soft, remove from the heat and add the lime and lemon juice.
• Stir and taste for salt. Let it sit for 5 minutes off the heat before serving.

Make-ahead

• Re-heat in a pot over a low heat until just hot.

Store

• Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Variations

Herbs

Other herbs like sage and oregano can be used instead of thyme and coriander or basil will work well instead of parsley.

 

 

Let us know how you like this delicious, nourishing meal. Please post a comment and rate this recipe below!

Course: Main Course

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