Will you be celebrating a vegan Passover? Or a plant-powered Hanukkah? Or do you just have a hankering for nostalgic matzo ball soup? This vegan matzo ball soup is so good it’s worth enjoying all year round!
Over the years I’ve experimented with a lot of vegan matzo ball recipes, often with little luck. Matzo balls are very delicate and are traditionally held together with eggs, so it can be challenging to find plant-based ingredients (egg replacers) that bind the matzo meal together effectively. Too many times I’ve made perfect-looking matzo balls that end up disintegrating when you boil them in the soup. Well, friends, I’ve finally found my dream recipe that really works!
The star ingredient this recipes uses in place of eggs? Silken tofu!
I tried this recipe from Vegan: The Cookbook with great success. Now I make it for Passover, for Hanukkah, for sick days, on chilly days, and heck, even in the heart of summer. It’s really easy to make and a true crowd pleaser. So load up your pantry with matzo meal, and get cooking!
Note: It’s key to allow the matzo meal mixture to sit overnight in the fridge, so don’t skip that step.
- 1 lb 2 oz (500 g) silken tofu
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 9 oz (250 g) matzo meal
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped dill
- 6 ¼ cups (1.5 liters/50 fl oz) vegetable stock (broth)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, to garnish
- To make the matzo ball dough using a food processor or high-speed blender, blend the tofu and olive oil. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the matzo meal, nutritional yeast, baking powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and celery seeds. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper and stir well. Put the dough into an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
- Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté for 5–6 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the dill and stock, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to low and maintain a simmer.
- Using your hands or a soup spoon, shape the dough into 2-inch (5 cm) balls. Carefully drop the dumplings into the soup, trying not to break them. Cover the pot and cook the soup at a low simmer for 40 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, season the soup to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stir in the lemon juice. Garnish with the parsley and serve immediately.
Matzo Meal vs. Matzo Ball Mix
Matzo meal is vegan, and most matzo ball mixes are too! This recipe calls for matzo meal, which you can find at most grocery stores or online. But if you have matzo ball mix on hand, that will work as well, you can just adjust the recipe slightly!
Matzo ball mixes already contain baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) so you can leave out the baking powder in this recipe. They’re also usually pre-mixed with spices like celery seed, garlic, onion, and pepper, so there’s no need to add your own. Just calculate the amount of silken tofu and olive oil you need to use to fit with the amount of matzo ball mix you have (and approximation is fine), add in some nutritional yeast, and you’re golden! I have done this before on multiple occasions.
Meet The Cookbook
Recipe from Vegan: The Cookbook by French vegan chef Jean-Christian Jury. Jean-Christian Jury opened the doors to his first vegan restaurant in Berlin, Germany called La Mano Verde, and now shares many of his best recipes in this book.
This new cookbook is packed with 500 plant-powered recipes inspired by cuisines around the world. The recipes are simple, to-the-point, and many are accompanied by stunning photos like the one you see above. The book is giant and will keep you feasting on unique, fresh recipes for years to come. Enjoy!
More Vegan Passover Resources
Whether you’re getting ready to celebrate a vegan Passover, vegan Hanukkah, or just want to whip up some delicious traditional Jewish vegan recipes, we’ve got you. Here are a few resources and recipes that can help!
This vegan matzo ball soup recipe and photo were published with permission from Phaidon Press and the author and chef Jean-Christian Jury. All rights reserved. Please note that this article may contain affiliate links that support our work at World of Vegan.
