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Mini Moroccan Meatball Couscous Soup starts with a flavorful broth, spiced meatballs, and pearl couscous. It can be made with ground lamb or beef . The pearl couscous pairs beautifully and makes this soup so rich and satisfying!
Mini Moroccan Meatball Couscous Soup.
Coziness simmered in broth.
It’s that time of the year when I want mini baby meatballs that are spiced to perfection and floating around in the spice-simmered broth. The flavors in the meatballs kind of mellow out in the chicken broth, and together they make the most warm-your-soul kind of soup.
It’s that time of the year when I want mini baby meatballs that are spiced to perfection and floating around in the spice-simmered broth. The flavors in the meatballs kind of mellow out in the chicken broth, and together they make the most warm-your-soul kind of soup.
It’s I’m-feeling-under-the-weather soup but want something that’s both nourishing and flavorful. I, for one, refuse to sip soup that tastes like melted cardboard. If I had to describe it briefly, I’d say it’s really just sunshine in a bowl. The curry powder, turmeric, and thyme make the broth so warm and comforting. It feels like a little ball of sunshine just touched your heart and warmed it up. Topped with fresh chopped mint to brighten it up further and served with homemade crusty bread to soak up all that lovely broth. This is giving Italian wedding soup meets beef and barley meets chicken noodle.
And I’m totally here for it.
Ingredients for Moroccan meatball soup
- Ground lamb: I love using lean ground lamb for this meatball couscous soup recipe. The spices pair beautifully with it and the delicate mint flavor elevates all the other ingredients in the soup. Feel free to swap for ground beef if you can’t find ground lamb in your area.
- Seasonings: This soup is heavy on seasonings, and it works! You’ll need ground coriander, ground cumin, dried thyme, curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt, and black pepper. We’ll load all of these into the meatballs and then make them up. When they simmer in that chicken broth, they’ll release all that aroma and goodness into the broth as it simmers. One on the curry powder – be sure to salt-free seasoning so that the Moroccan meatball soup doesn’t become overly salty!
- Tomato Paste: the tomato paste helps brighten all the seasonings and gives the meatballs a lovely color.
- Pearl Couscous: Pearl couscous is so readily available in most grocery stores these days. My grocery store keeps it in the same aisle as the rice. Sometimes pearl couscous is labeled as ‘Israeli couscous’. If you can’t find it, feel free to use acini de pepe or orzo. though, if you swap it for orzo or acini de pepe, you might want to boil it directly in the soup with an additional cup of water instead of boiling it separately.
- Olive Oil: You’ll need a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to start the soup. We’ll saute the shallots in the oil before adding the garlic and simmering the stock.
- Shallots: I use shallots in the recipe for their delicate flavor. You can also use onions if that’s what you have on hand.
- Garlic: Lots of minced garlic flavor in this soup! Mince it up finely, or use a garlic press to make things easier!
- Chicken Stock: Feel free to swap the chicken stock with beef stock, veil stock, or even vegetable broth. Whatever you prefer!
- Mint or parsley: You’ll need just a tablespoon or so to top the soup with! Don’t skip this, it adds tons of freshness and color!
How to make Moroccan couscous soup
- Start with the meatballs. Get the oven preheating. While that’s happening, stir together the spices in a bowl, when they’re combined, add the ground lamb and tomato paste and combine. You don’t want to overwork the meat but you do want to ensure that the mixture is thoroughly combined. Scoop out a teaspoon of the meatball mixture and form a ball in the palm of your hands. I use a melon baller or a mini cookie scoop to measure them out; it’s the perfect size! Then place the meatballs on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them until they cook through and brown.
- Make couscous. While the meatballs are baking, saute the couscous in a glug of oil, season with a pinch of salt and add water and bring to a boil. When the couscous is boiling, cover, lower the heat and allow the couscous to soak up all the water.
- Make Moroccan meatball soup. In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the shallots in the oil until they start to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until it’s nice and fragrant. Add the chicken broth with a couple of cups of water and bring it to a boil. When the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to low, add the cooked meatballs and the couscous and allow them to simmer in the soup for a few minutes so that the flavor meld together. Taste and adjust the soup with more seasonings. I usually like to add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder, but this is purely optional. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with chopped mint or parsley and serve warm with lots of crusty bread to soak up that broth!
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Winter Detox Sweet Potato Soup
- Comforting One-Pot Lasagna Soup
- Secret Ingredient Tomato Basil Soup
- Cajun Butternut Squash Soup
Mini Moroccan Meatball Couscous Soup
Ingredients
Moroccan Meatballs:
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon curry powder plus more
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- Kosher salt + black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ lbs. ground lamb or beef
Couscous Soup:
- 8 ounces pearl couscous
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more
- 3 shallots minced
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 ¾ cups water
- Chopped mint or parsley for topping
Instructions
- MAKE MEATBALLS: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the spices for the meatball, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Mix with a spoon, then add the tomato paste and ground meat and mix until *just* combined. Scoop about 1 teaspoon of the meatball mixture and form a ball, place on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake meatballs for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through.
- COUSCOUS: While the meatballs bake, heat a small drizzle of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the couscous and allow it to toast for 1-2 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when you smell it all toasty. Add a pinch of salt and 1 ¾ cups of water. Allow it to come to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 8-10 minutes or until it absorbs all the water.
- SOUP: In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes before adding the garlic and sautéing for another 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth along with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and add the meatballs and couscous; let simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust with seasonings as desired. I usually add another 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder Top with mint or parsley before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This sounds great! Moroccan food is so good. I might have to add some harissa.
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Mmm, this sounds delicious! I love a good soup recipe, and the Moroccan spices sound so unique. I can’t wait to try this recipe! Will definitely be making this soon.
This recipe has been on my list to make for quite some time. I loved the sound of all of it except the curry. For anyone who doesn’t like curry, this soup is still amazing. Add some allspice to round out the flavor and let it do it’s thing in the fridge for a night and it’s wonderful.
Delicious! I’m vegetarian so I used Beyond Beef to make the meatballs (which I’ve never done before), and they came out so tasty – so, very glad to have in my toolkit now! Normally when recipes call for broth I use Better than Bouillon, but was out of that, so I used miso paste. I had to use quite a bit to get a rich broth, but it was worth it – loved this soup!
I have made this soup several times and it is always in high demand with my family. Thanks for sharing!
Could this be made with ground turkey or ground chicken?
Holy moly!! This is possibly my favorite soup of all time…and I did a quick version! I’m sure the full thing is even better. I used frozen meatballs and just put the spices into the broth. Packed full of flavor, I’m already craving it again. I will def try this with homemade meatballs next time and I think lamb would be phenomenal!
This dish was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it.
What vegetable would you suggest to add to the soup ?
Allo are you adding 1 3/4 cups or 3/4 cups of broth.
It took more than 8-10 minutes to evaporate all the liquid. By then my couscous was over cooked.
This recipe is the perfect to welcome fall. I did exactly what you said and added more curry at the end. I also added spinach. Definite crowd pleaser. I was skeptical with the lack of broth ingredients, but after adding the meatballs, their spices melted into the soup. Delicious!
This recipe is a keeper! I smoked the meatballs on the Traeger before adding them to the soup, and added spinach as others have mentioned. It’s SO delicious!
This was a great soup, but due to time constraints I made a big modification. I did not make meatballs, I just massaged the spices and tomato paste into the meat and the browned it in a skillet, breaking it up. It saved a ton of time and it was still delicious!