Vegetable Ragout with Chicken Meatballs

Welcome to a recipe that feels like a warm hug in a bowl! This Vegetable Ragout with Chicken Meatballs is the epitome of comfort food—hearty, nutritious, and bursting with flavor. Imagine a vibrant mix of fresh vegetables and beans, slowly simmered to perfection, creating a rich and savory base. Then, we add delicate, homemade chicken meatballs that cook right in the stew, becoming incredibly tender and juicy. It's a fantastic one-pot meal for a family dinner, easy to prepare, and wonderfully satisfying.

Vegetable Ragout with Chicken Meatballs

Cooking: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Quantity: 4 Servings

Per serving

Calories: 330 kcal

Proteins: 22.5 g

Fats: 16 g

Carbohydrates: 24 g

For the ragout:

• 170 g red kidney beans
• 90 g onion
• 80 g celery
• 110 g carrots
• 150 g tomatoes
• 120 g bell pepper
• 30 ml olive oil
• salt, pepper

For the meatballs:

• 300 g chicken fillet
• 70 g onion
• 30 ml heavy cream or milk
• salt

How to Make Vegetable Ragout with Chicken Meatballs

Making the meatballs

Mince the chicken fillet. You can easily turn chicken into ground meat with a sharp knife on a cutting board or by using a blender.

To the ground chicken, add the finely grated onion, cold cream, pepper, and table salt to taste.

Preparing the ground meat for the meatballs

Thoroughly mix the meatball mixture. With wet hands, form small balls and place them on a lightly oiled cutting board. Refrigerate the cutting board with the meatballs for 30 minutes.

Forming the chicken meatballs

Making the ragout

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, sliced into half-rings, and a pinch of salt. Sauté the onion until it becomes translucent and soft, then you can add the other vegetables one by one.

Sautéing the onion

Dice the celery stalks into small cubes and add them to the onion.

Adding chopped celery

Dice the carrots just like the celery and add them to the pot. Sauté the celery, onion, and carrots together for 10 minutes.

Adding chopped carrots to the pot

Cut the ripe red tomatoes in half and remove the stem. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and add them to the pot.

Adding chopped tomatoes

After the tomatoes, add the sweet bell pepper, cut into strips. Quickly sauté all the vegetables together over medium heat.

Adding chopped bell pepper to the pot

Now, add the pre-cooked red kidney beans to the pot.

To cook the beans quickly, soak them in cold water for 3-4 hours before boiling. It’s advisable to change the water a couple of times. Then, place the beans in a pot, add two liters of cold water, and cook on low heat for 1 hour after it starts boiling. Do not salt. Do not discard the cooking liquid; it will be useful later.

Adding pre-cooked red kidney beans

Salt everything to taste, add a couple of cups of the bean cooking liquid, cover tightly with a lid, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

Salting and simmering the vegetables on low heat for 20 minutes

About 7 minutes before it’s done, place the chicken meatballs on top of the vegetable ragout and cover the pot again.

Adding the chicken meatballs to the vegetables 7 minutes before it's done

Serve the vegetable ragout with chicken meatballs hot, sprinkled with fresh herbs. You can also season the vegetables with smetana (a type of sour cream) or yogurt.

Vegetable Ragout with Chicken Meatballs