Youvarlakia (Greek Meatball Soup)

Keto, Paleo, Diabetic-friendly, Gluten-free

Youvarlakia is a traditional Greek soup, where savory meatballs swim in an egg-lemon sauce. For those who are familiar with and love avgolemono (Greek lemon chicken soup), the addition of meatballs and dill is a welcomed one. This particular recipe is rice-less, and the dill is a little trick a friend revealed that was passed down from her mother’s family in Greece, giving it a subtle but wonderful fragrance.

Organic free-range eggs provide a much richer flavor than factory eggs, and organic chicken broth and grass-fed beef mean this soup is antibiotic and hormone-free. The meatballs are bound using an egg, so this particular dish is a protein powerhouse. Feel free to use organic ground bison, pork, turkey, chicken, or lamb

Savory, hearty, and tangy, the trick to making sure the egg doesn’t curdle is to temper the lemon egg sauce with hot but not boiling broth and not allowing the mixture to come to a boil. It’s so tasty your family will come back again and again to refill their bowls! If you’re someone who loves the lemon flavor, feel free to add the juice of a second lemon.

This soup reheats well if you make sure to keep an eye on it, and stir often so that it heats evenly. 

Ingredients 

• 1 lb organic grass-fed ground beef
• 3 tablespoons organic onions, minced (optional)
• 1 tablespoon organic parsley, minced
• ½ teaspoon organic oregano
• 5 large organic free-range chicken eggs
• 3 cups organic chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon organic dill, minced or dried (more, if you love dill, or none if you don’t)
• Juice of 1 organic lemon, plus some zest (add more lemon juice if desired)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine ground beef, parsley, onion, oregano, 1 egg, and salt and pepper to taste. Roll into small meatballs, about 1.5 inches in diameter or the size of a golf-ball.
2. Bring a pot of broth to a boil and drop each meatball in one at a time, making sure they don’t stick to the bottom of each other. Once meatballs have been cooked through, turn off the heat and stir in the dill.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or whisk, combine lemon juice and zest and the remaining 4 eggs. 
4. Temper the egg-lemon sauce by slowly incorporating the hot, but not boiling broth, whisking constantly. Once most of the broth has been added to the bowl, return the egg-lemon sauce to the pot.
5. Bring up the heat slowly until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly to distribute the heat evenly, do not allow it to simmer/boil, or else the sauce will separate. Serve hot/warm.
6. To reheat, slowly bring to temperature on the lowest setting on the stove, stirring constantly.