Butterball Soup

Butterball Soup is a warm, comforting dish that’s perfect for any season. Combining tender, juicy chicken with a rich, flavorful broth.

Don’t let the butterballs in this German chicken butterball soup intimidate you, they are actually very easy to make. I love soups with dumplings cause they are completely a full meal on their own and they are not only delicious and comforting but filling as well. This German inspired noodle soup (I didn’t add noodles but you are welcome to take it a step further) almost reminds me of this Matzo ball soup recipe, boy did I not struggle with making the matzo balls from scratch cause I thought I was “THAT GIRL”. Wit trial and error i ended up using store bought matzo ball mix. Hence I appreciate how easy it was to make the butterballs in this recipe.

Ingredients

Butterballs ingredients

• Breadcrumbs: Store bought brown breadcrumbs. If not he is how you can make your own at home. Toast bread that’s maybe stale and let it try for few days, that could be 2 to 4 days. Next you can use a food processor to break it down into crumbs or you can also use a zip lock bag with a roller to crush the toasted bread into breadcrumbs.
• Egg
• Melted butter
• Cream: You can use half and half in a place of cream if you like.
• Allspice: traditionally allspice is add but if you are someone who is cutting down on sodium you can skip it.

Chicken Soup

• Boneless chicken: I used chicken breasts but you are welcome to use any deboned cuts of a chicken.
• Chicken broth: You can use either broth or stock
• Carrots (shredded)
• Onion
• Garlic
• Seasoning: I’m not strict on seasoning, use whatever you like.

How to make Butterball Soup

Making butterballs

1. In a large bowl, add breadcrumbs and season with allspice.
2. In a separate bowl beat the egg and add it to the bowl of breadcrumbs.
3. Melt the butter and let it cool down. Once cooled add it to the bowl of breadcrumbs.
4. Add the cream to the bowl of breadcrumbs and mix everything to form a dough. Let the dough sit in a fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Once its out then you can start to form balls that are not too big but not too small either. Put them in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Making the chicken and butterball soup

6. Dice the onion and mince your garlic. In a large pot sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
7. Add the chicken and sauté for 5 minutes until the chicken changes its raw color. Then add the shredded carrots and allow to cook for 5 more minutes.

8. Add chicken broth and butterballs then cook until they sit and float above the broth. This could take 10 to 15 minutes. The chicken butterballs soup is ready to be served.

Tips and common mistakes to avoid for beginners

1. Don’t be tempted to cook the butterballs in water, these little guys are like sponges and they will absorb the liquid they have cooked in. So it makes sense to cook them in a broth so that you get flavors when you bite them.
2. You can scale up the ingredients of the butterballs and store some in the freezer for future use in you traditional noodles soup or any another soup that you think could use some dumplings.
3. Whenever you use store-bought broth and stock, do a taste test before you add any salt. They have high sodium content unless you use a low-sodium broth or a homemade broth where you have control over the salt.

How to store leftover chicken and butterball soup

First step let the butterball soup cool down to room temperature then transfer whatever is leftover into an airtight container. This soup will stay in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to store it for a longer period then put it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

I would also like to point out that it will be much better to store the butterballs in a separate container to avoid them becoming too mushy. Ideally don’t add all the butterballs in the soup, keep some in the freezer for next time when you make another soup and you want to add some dumplings in it.

How to reheat it

From the fridge, you can warm it in a microwave or on a top stove over medium heat in a saucepan. 

From the freezer, you need to let it thaw then warm it with one of the methods mentioned above. If the soup for some reason has too much liquid, just allow it to simmer as well on medium heat with the lid open for the water to evaporate.

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