Beetball Soup | Vegan “Meatball” Soup

This vegan beetball soup is a plant-based take on the classic meatball soup (ciorba de perisoare), built around tender red-lentil-and-beetroot “beetballs” simmered in a tangy vegetable broth. It delivers the same comforting taste and texture as the original, with no animal products. Make it when you want a hearty, sour-and-savory bowl that tastes like the soup you grew up with.

Remember my beetballs with garlic-basil tomato sauce recipe? When I made that recipe I also made this beetball soup, and it was just the perfect lunch for a perfect day. It reminded me a lot of the recipes I used to eat when I was little. I managed to get the exact taste and texture right, and this soup just made my day. Changing my diet was the best choice I’ve made so far, and bowls like this one are exactly why.

What makes these beetballs work

The beetballs are the heart of this soup, and they come together from a short list of pantry staples. Red lentils are the base: boiled for 15 minutes, drained, and blended smooth with no added water so the paste stays thick and sticky. Grated beetroot gives them their color and a subtle earthy-sweet note, while diced onion, thyme, ground coriander, smoked and sweet paprika, and garlic powder build the savory, slightly smoky flavor that reads as “meatball.”

Two ingredients hold everything together. Flour adds structure (I used Schar gluten-free flour, but regular flour works too), and psyllium husks act as the binder that lets you shape the mixture without eggs. If you are not avoiding eggs, two beaten eggs can stand in for the psyllium, though that swap makes the recipe vegetarian rather than vegan.

Why the lentil paste binds without eggs

The trick is to blend the cooked lentils dry and then let the mixture rest. Skipping the water keeps the lentil paste concentrated and starchy, while the psyllium husks absorb the moisture already in the mix and swell into a gel as the composition sits for 5 minutes. That gel is what makes the dough sticky enough to roll into balls that hold their shape through steaming. If your mixture still feels loose after resting, give it a few more minutes before shaping rather than adding more flour.

Steaming vs. baking the beetballs

Once shaped, the beetballs need to set before they go anywhere near the soup. You have two easy options. If you own a steamer, arrange them on the steamer plate and steam for 15 to 20 minutes until firm. No steamer? Recreate the effect in the oven: place a small pot of water on the bottom of a preheated oven to add humidity, set the beetballs on a baking-sheet-lined tray, and bake at 200C for about 20 minutes. The steam keeps them moist while the heat sets the binder, so they stay tender instead of drying out. Cook them separately and add them to the pot at the very end so they keep their round shape and do not fall apart in the broth.

Building the sour vegetable broth

The broth is a classic Romanian sour soup base. While the beetballs cook, fill a large pot with about 3 liters of water and add chopped onion, carrot, parsnip, grated celeriac, and peeled chopped tomatoes, plus tomato paste for depth. Season with salt and pepper and let everything boil for 15 minutes so the root vegetables soften and sweeten the broth.

The sour note is what makes this soup taste authentic. I use vinegar straight from the pickle jar, which is milder and sweeter than plain vinegar, so taste as you go. If you prefer, you can sour the soup with lemon juice or borscht (fermented wheat bran liquid) instead, adjusting to taste. Add your souring agent and let the soup boil for another 10 minutes, then take it off the heat before stirring in the cooked beetballs and a handful of chopped lovage, celery, or parsley leaves.

Tips for getting it right

• Blend the lentils with no water at all; even a splash makes the paste too wet to shape.
• Taste the broth before and after adding vinegar. Pickle-jar vinegar varies in strength, so the right amount of sour is something you adjust by tasting, not by measuring.
• Always add the beetballs off the heat. Boiling them in the soup is the quickest way to break them apart.
• If the soup tastes too rich or thick from all the vegetables, loosen it with a little more water until it reaches the consistency you like.

Make-ahead and storage

These beetballs are so versatile. I usually make more each time and freeze them, then add them into any recipe I want, just like you would use regular meatballs (and when I say “any,” I mean it). Freeze the steamed beetballs on a tray first, then transfer them to a bag so they do not stick together. The soup itself keeps well in the fridge for 3 to 4 days and the flavor deepens overnight, which makes it a great make-ahead lunch. Store the beetballs separately from the broth if you can, so they stay firm, and warm everything together gently when you are ready to eat. If you love this kind of cozy bowl, my vegan red lentil soup and vegan beetroot borscht use the same humble ingredients in a different shape.

What to serve with beetball soup

This soup is hearty enough to be a meal on its own, but a slice of crusty bread or a swirl of plant-based sour cream rounds it out beautifully. If you are feeding a crowd and want a soup spread, set it next to my veggie soup with semolina dumplings or a big pot of hearty veggie soup for cold winter days. And since the beetballs reheat so well, leftovers make a lovely light dinner the next day.

If you make this beetball soup, I would love to know if it took you back the way it did me. Rate the recipe below and leave a comment telling me whether you went the pickle-vinegar or lemon-juice route, and how your beetballs held up in the pot.

Beetball Soup | Vegan “Meatball” Soup

This hearty beetball soup tastes just like the classic meatball soup you grew up with, but it’s made entirely from lentils and beets. A tangy, comforting vegan bowl that’s ready in about an hour.

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Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Choose Serving Size 8

Ingredients 

Beetballs:

• 150 g red lentils
• 1 beetroot small, fist-size, grated
• 1 onion diced
• 3 tablespoons flour I used Schar GF flour, or you can use regular flour as well
• 4 tablespoons psyllium husks or 2 eggs, beaten (non-vegan alternative)
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Soup:

• 1 carrot chopped or grated
• 1 parsnip chopped or grated
• ¼ celeriac small celeriac, grated
• 1 onion chopped
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tomatoes peeled and chopped
• 3 L water or more, if the soup seems too rich in veggies
• 2 cups vinegar from the pickles jar Important! Vinegar from pickles is sweeter than regular, plain vinegar. If you don’t want to use this, you can also make the soup sour by adding lemon juice or borscht, to taste.
• sea salt and ground pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons lovage celery or parsley leaves, chopped

Instructions

Beetballs:

• Boil the red lentils for 15 minutes. (While the lentils boil, you can start the soup using the instructions below.)
• Drain the lentils, add them to the food processor and blend until smooth. Do not add any water!
• Move the lentil paste into a large bowl. Add all the other beetball ingredients and mix. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
• By now the mixture should be sticky enough to shape. Form the beetballs and set them aside.
• You can either steam the beetballs (if you have a steamer) or “steam/bake” them in the oven.
• Using a steamer:
• Place the beetballs on the steamer plate and steam them for 15-20 minutes.
• Using an oven:
• Add a small pot filled with water into the preheated oven.
• Put the beetballs on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
• Let them steam/bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200C.

Soup:

• Add the water to a large pot.
• Add the chopped onion, carrot, parsnip, celeriac and tomatoes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Let them boil for 15 minutes.
• Add the vinegar from the pickles jar and let the soup boil for another 10 minutes.
• Remove from the heat.
• Add the beetballs and chopped herbs.

Notes

Add the beetballs to the soup off the heat so they hold their shape. Pickle-jar vinegar is sweeter than plain vinegar, so taste as you go and adjust the sourness with lemon juice or borscht if needed. The psyllium binder keeps this fully vegan; the beaten eggs are only an optional non-vegan alternative. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.

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