Not your mama’s (Gluten-free) Matzoh Balls
Look, mom! A healthy, gluten-free matzoh ball to kvell over.
Nothing says Passover like matzoh ball soup, the original Jewish comfort food. Feeling under the weather? Have some matzoh ball soup. Depressed? Have some matzoh ball soup. Homesick? Defrost some of mom’s matzoh ball soup. Matzoh ball soup devotees tend to fall into one of two camps: those who prefer a feather-light “floater,” and those who prefer a firm, dense “sinker.”
Of course, for those of us who can no longer partake in matzoh or its glutinous derivatives such as the matzoh meal used to make matzoh balls, the soup course of the Passover Seder–which falls on April 8-9th this year– is a sad, sad time. What’s more depressing than spending two hours recalling your ancestors’ persecution and suffering, only to be served a steaming bowl of plain, matzohball-less broth? While I’ve tolerated this indignity in years past, I decided that this year, it was time to MMODGFMB. That’s Hebrew for: make my own damn gluten-free matzoh balls. Enough was enough.
I discovered two main approaches to GF matzoh ball-making online. One called for only potato starch in lieu of the matzoh meal, and the other called for a combination of potato starch and almond meal. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be a third option. After all, almond meal is significantly more caloric than the matzoh meal it replaces owing to the natural fat in the nut oils; and since the soup is just the first of many, many courses at the traditional Seder dinner, I’d prefer to pace myself. As for a matzoh ball made entirely of potato starch? It seemed like more of a (heavy, heavy) potato dumpling than a matzoh ball to me. Besides, Passover desserts deliver their own fair share of potato starch, and a nice, Jewish gluten-free girl cannot live on potato starch alone.
I decided to see if I could find a gluten-free flour that was also kosher for Passover with which to fashion my GF matzoh balls. I even consulted the family Rabbi, who confirmed what I had hoped: quinoa is considered by most authorities to be kosher for Passover. Now, without delving into theological intricacies, I will mention that quinoa flakes may or may not be processed in a facility that is free of all off-limits-for-Passover grains, so if you’re on the more religiously observant side, you may want to err on the side of caution here. And that’s all I’ll say on that topic.
Can you tell which is the "control" matzoh ball and which is the gluten-free one?
I decided to use the recipe on the back of a standard matzoh meal box as a foundation off which to riff on several matzoh ball experiments, and prepared a control batch of matzoh-meal matzoh balls against which my gluten-eating husband could judge the experiments. There were several variables to consider: quinoa flour or quinoa flakes? Alone or mixed with potato starch? Water, seltzer or no liquid at all? Xanthan gum to bind the batter and promote sponginess or no xanthan gum? It took two days and 8 different experiments, but I am happy to report that the following recipe produced a matzoh-less quinoa “matzoh ball” that is firm but not dense, fluffy but not overly feathery. It tastes like a matzoh ball is supposed to taste, and it’s made with whole grain, high-protein, quinoa flakes instead of starchy or heavy alternatives.
Recipe: Tamara’s Gluten-free Quinoa “Matzoh” Balls
Makes 10-12 quinoa balls
1 cup quinoa flakes*
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt (use regular iodized salt, not kosher salt)
A sprinkle of ground black pepper to your liking
* look for quinoa flakes in the hot cereal/oatmeal section of your grocery store, or order online from the gluten-free mall or your favorite site. Ancient Harvest is the most well-known manufacturer.
Directions:
- Measure out quinoa flakes and xanthan gum and combine in a small bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat the two eggs. Add oil, salt and pepper and beat again until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix well until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (You don’t want the matzoh balls to be crowded).
- Remove batter from refrigerator and wet hands. With wet hands, fashion a SMALL amount of batter into a smooth ball shape and drop into the boiling water. (For reference, the batter should be enough to make 10-12 matzoh balls, so portion each one accordingly. Each uncooked ball should be no larger than the size of a ping-pong ball… they will expand when cooking, and if they’re too big, the middle may not cook through sufficiently.)
- Cover pot and cook the quinoa balls, maintaining a rolling boil, for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, remove the balls from boiling water with a slotted spoon and let sit to cool for a few minutes. Then, refrigerate the balls until ready to serve.
- Before serving, place quinoa balls in pot of soup to warm them through. Serve, and accept heaping praise from your gluten-intolerant guests at what a considerate host you are.
Approximate nutrition info per ball (assumes recipe makes 10 balls): 150 calories, 7g carbohydrate, of which 0.5g is fiber, 2.5g protein, 13g fat.
So now that you’ve got the renegade GF matzoh ball recipe all squared away, check out this recipe for a newfangled lemongrass matzoh ball soup broth to float them in from NPR!
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The photo looks yummmm, and I admire your efforts to create the perfect gf “matzoh ball”…which leads me to the question of what to call it, since it is not made with matzoh meal. But quinoa ball sounds so, so, un-Passover-like. Do we just use quotation marks around “matzoh”, or make it into a hybrid: matzoa, quinoatzoh, quatzoh, or…. ???
Brilliant, I thought about using quinoa for matzo ball soup and googled a recipe and there it was on this blog! I made them and they are exactly like the real deal and even better for you. I vote “quatzoh ball soup”
I’m glad you liked them! Now I can sleep at night knowing that all of my failed experimental batches that wound up in the garbage were sacrifices for a greater good.
I agree… “Quatzoh Ball soup” is the best option by far.
They turned out great! Thank you very much, will use this recipe over and over.
These sound great. I will have to give them a try! Thank you for all of your efforts. Sounds like it paid off! G’mar Chatimah Tova!
~Ellen
I am very glad to have found this. I have a small natural food store/gluten-free cafe and being Jewish I am continually being asked to make traditional dishes that have been made gluten-free. I hope you don’t mind if I use your recipe at the store.
Oh, and I just wanted to mention that although they are not kosher for Passover, there is a line of gluten-free baked goods by Shabtai Bakery. They ship all over the country and their products taste exactly like their glutenous counterparts. The rainbow cake and black and whites are just incredible!
You are more than welcome to use my recipe, so long as you let me know where your store is so that I can stop by one day for a free bowl of Quatzoh Ball soup!
Thanks for the tip on Shabtai; I’ve come across their rainbow cookies in the past and went a little crazy with them… they are one of my childhood faves.
Wow these were awesome! Thank You! As a newly diagnosed diabetic who likes noodles, pasta, etc these were a excellent substitute in my chicken soup! Just FYI since I did not have any xanthan gum on hand and it is Christmas day I subbed a teaspoon of corn starch – worked really well! I doubled the batch too and it was just fine.
[...] the Quinoa Flakes you have leftover from making my gluten-free Quatzoh Balls (of course this will make the recipe more hippie than it is [...]
Can’t wait to try them! I think i will call them “whatza balls” – the what coming, of course, from the second syllable of quinoa.
Thanks a million for this recipe. Just tried them and they came out great!
Have you ever frozen them? I used to make my matzo balls ahead and freeze them so that the days right before the holiday would be a bit easier.
I’m so glad I found your blog!
Hi, Carin,
I’ve never tried freezing them, though I can’t imagine any reason why that would be a problem… Let me know how it turns out if you try!
Thanks for saving me the time experimenting. Just curious–did you try any recipes with millet, or sorghum flour? Don’t know how the rabbis feel about those ingredients (it took a few years for quinoa to make it into the “okay” list), but as flours go I like how they taste and work in recipes.
I did not try either of those flours in my experiments, but did try quinoa flour in all sorts of permutations and it was a huge bust. I suspect that any traditional flour (Rabbi approved or not) will result in a dense, heavy ball that does not cook all the way through, so you’ll have a raw center. In fact, the idea to use quinoa FLAKES instead of quinoa flour was based on the appearance of matzoh meal, which we noticed has larger, lighter particles than a milled flour. In this respect, I’d bet that rolled (gluten free) oats or rolled spelt flakes (for those who can eat gluten) might actually work well, too, but I personally haven’t tested those either.
I tried your recipe and they were a huge hit, even with my gluten eating husband and kids. i will be making these for monday’s seder for my celiac self and my celiac mother. i’m hoping for leftovers!
Just reporting back that I froze a test batch of quinoa matzoh balls and they were great. I could not see any difference between the fresh and the frozen. So I am making a double batch today, freezing them in a few containers, and will use them throughout Passover.
Thanks!
OMG!!! These were fantastic!! I made them for my niece at our seder and I am now making another batch because she can’t get enough
thank you sooooo much!!!
these are incredible-way better than potato-based ones we’ve made. this is the only way we make matzah ball soup any more, but we call it “quinoatzah balls”. Mucho gusto!