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Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs)
A clear beef broth simmered from shank and marrow bones, filled with finely cut soup vegetables, tiny nutmeg-scented meatballs and vermicelli, the Dutch starter of birthdays and Sundays.
Dutch · medium · serves 8
prep 30 min · cook 180 min
~302 cal · 28g protein · 9g carbs · 16g fat · 1g fiber · 1g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Groentesoep met balletjes is the soup of the Dutch family table: a clear beef broth, full of finely cut vegetables, with tiny meatballs and short strands of . It is served as the starter at Sunday dinners, birthdays and Christmas, and many Dutch people remember their grandmother's pan of it on the stove all day.
The old-fashioned way begins hours ahead. Beef shank and marrow bones gently with bay leaves, peppercorns and mace, the traditional Dutch soup spice, until the broth is rich and golden. The vegetables go in near the end, finely cut: carrot, leek, celeriac, cauliflower and celery leaf, often bought ready-cut as soepgroente. The balletjes are small, marble-sized balls of minced meat bound with egg or soaked bread, seasoned with nutmeg, and poached right in the soup.
The , Dutch cooks will tell you, belongs in a traditional soup, and the shredded shank meat usually goes back in the pan too.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 500 g beef shank (soepvlees)
- 2 marrow bones
- 2.5 litres water
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 1 blade of mace
- to taste salt
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 1/4 celeriac, finely diced
- 1/2 head small cauliflower florets
- 1 handful celery leaf, chopped
- 300 g minced beef
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp fine dry breadcrumbs
- a good pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
- 75 g , broken into short lengths
Instructions
- 1Put the beef shank and marrow bones in a large pot with the water, bay leaves, peppercorns and mace. Bring slowly to the boil, skimming off the foam, then simmer very gently with the lid ajar for 2 1/2 hours.✎ Chef’s noteKeep it barely trembling. A rolling boil makes the broth cloudy.
- 2Meanwhile mix the minced beef with the egg, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Roll into small balls the size of a marble and keep them cold.
- 3Lift out the meat and bones and strain the broth into a clean pan. Shred the meat and scoop out any marrow, and return both to the broth. Season with salt.
- 4Bring the broth back to a simmer and add the carrot, celeriac and cauliflower. After 5 minutes add the leek and the meatballs and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.
- 5Add the vermicelli and simmer for 5 more minutes, until tender. Stir in the celery leaf, check the seasoning and serve hot as a starter.
Dutch home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Gelderland. Two dishes barely leave the province. Kruudmoes is a Veluwe porridge of barley and buttermilk cooked with herbs, and the Achterhoek has pot deur mekare, everything through each other, served with nagelholt, beef cured with cloves. Stamppot by contrast is national and appears in Dutch cookbooks by 1661.
🗺️
Netherlands. Rijsttafel is a Dutch invention rather than an Indonesian one: a colonial-era banquet that put a dozen or more Indonesian dishes on one table at once so that a European household could survey the whole of a cuisine in a single sitting. Naming it accurately is more interesting than calling it Indonesian, because the staging is the point.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Netherlands
Stamppot BoerenkoolKale mashed straight into potatoes with a well of gravy and smoked sausage, the Netherlands’ winter engine.
WentelteefjesStale bread turned in cinnamon-sugar custard and fried in butter until golden, the classic Dutch way to use up an old loaf.
UitsmijterFried eggs over ham and cheese on buttered bread, the Dutch open-faced lunch plate served any time of day.
Browse all Netherlands recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Rolling pin.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Netherlands meal
Advocaat (Dutch Egg Liqueur)Drink
PoffertjesDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs)?
A clear beef broth simmered from shank and marrow bones, filled with finely cut soup vegetables, tiny nutmeg-scented meatballs and vermicelli, the Dutch starter of birthdays and Sundays.
Where does Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) come from?
Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) is a Dutch dish from Gelderland, Netherlands.
Can Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Groentesoep met Balletjes (Dutch Vegetable Soup with Meatballs) take to make?
About 210 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 180 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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