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Youvarlakia: Greek Meatball Soup
4.9 from 234 votes

Youvarlakia: Greek Meatball Soup

Youvarlakia is a traditional Greek meatball soup made with tender ground turkey meatballs mixed with glutinous rice, herbs, and spices. The meatballs simmer in a vegetable- and lemon-infused broth until cooked through, then are combined with a silky egg-lemon sauce (avgolemono) to add creaminess and bright acidity. The soup has a comforting texture and balanced flavor from fresh herbs, paprika, and lemon.

Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Total Time
1 hr
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Greek

Ingredients

For the meatballs (youvarlakia):
  • 0.5 kg ground turkey
  • 150 g glace rice glutinous
  • 1 onion finely chopped, large
  • 1 egg medium
  • ¼ parsley finely chopped, bunch
  • ¼ dill finely chopped, bunch
  • 2 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 Florina pepper finely chopped, Greek red variety
  • 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Greek
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • all-purpose flour for dredging
For the soup:
  • 1 liter water
  • 1 potato cut into cubes
  • 1 carrot shredded, large
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 20 ml extra virgin olive oil + extra when serving
  • 1 celery finely chopped, stick
  • 1 lemon zest
  • salt
  • black pepper
For the egg-lemon sauce:
  • 2 egg large yolks
  • 1 lemon juiced
  • 1 tsp corn starch

Instructions

For the meatballs:
    Cup of Yum
  1. In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients for the meatballs apart from the flour. Mix with your hands until well combined.
  2. Pick up some of the ground meat mixture and shape into meatballs the size of a walnut.
  3. Fill a large container with all-purpose flour. Add the meatballs and dredge in the flour, until completely coated.
For the soup:
  1. Fill a wide pot with the 1 liter/ 4¼ cups of water and place over medium heat. Add the potatoes, carrots, bouillon cube, celery, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the meatballs to the pot, cover with lid and simmer for about 30-35 minutes.
For the egg-lemon sauce:
  1. In a large bowl, add the 2 egg yolks, lemon juice and cornstarch. Whisk until mixture is light and frothy.
  2. Remove lid from pot and turn off heat. Using a ladle, pick up a ladleful of the hot soup and add it to the egg mixture, while whisking continuously. Repeat the same process, until the egg mixture is warm and thickens a little. This is done slowly in order to temper the eggs gradually so they don’t curdle.
  3. Turn heat on low and pour the egg-lemon mixture into the pot. Swirl the pot gently, until the sauce thickens a little.
  4. Transfer to deep dishes, drizzle with some Greek extra virgin olive oil and serve.

Notes