31 March 2026
Share
Katz’s, the New York City temple of Jewish eating, has been making matzo balls the same way since stickball reigned in the streets of the Lower East Side. Theirs is a jumbo one, about the size of an orange, with an ideal sponginess achieved through simple ingredients and time-worn technique.
“These are definitely floaters,” says Jake Dell, the owner of the storied deli, drawing on familiar imagery for anyone who’s ever found a dense matzo ball at the bottom of their soup. “They’re light and fluffy but also still hearty enough to actually have some real solid flavor.”
Come Passover, the Jewish holiday marked in spring, matzo balls and the salty, homey broth they’re served in steal the spotlight on the Katz’s menu and in home kitchens across the world.
For observant Jews over Passover’s eight days, leavened bread — to include a wide swath of food like bread and pastas made from grain that’s been fermented — is forbidden from meals. Matzo, the saltine-like flatbread, takes its place.
At Katz’s, where a regular icy winter sees a sale of 1,000 matzo balls a day, over the holiday, the chefs go into turbodrive. “We have multiple people all day, all night over the pot, constantly dropping new ones and pulling old ones,” Dell says.
Katz’s recipe is fairly traditional: matzo meal (matzo that’s been ground down like a breadcrumb), a little parsley and seltzer water — an age-old trick for getting airy balls — are bound together with egg. Rolled into shape, the balls are set to rest for a few hours or overnight — key to achieving a fluffy texture, Dell says. The balls are then boiled before being plopped into a classic chicken broth with carrots and celery.
“We don't go too crazy with the actual ingredients, simple is better. We like to do it the old-fashioned way,” Dell says.
Katz’s, with its iconic neon storefront lettering and sky-high pastrami on ryes, traces its origins back to 1888, when the Iceland brothers started a namesake deli in downtown Manhattan. Willy Katz joined in 1903 and added his name to the marquee. In 1988, with the sole owning Katz family now out of descendants who could take over the business, they brought in Martin Dell, Jake’s grandfather, to help run the show.
Matzo ball soup has been a staple as far back as the records go, Dell says, with menus from the 1950s listing it alongside the sandwiches.
Today, the restaurant also ships out soup by the quart, with two frozen matzo balls stacked in each batch. Year-round, it's a Jewish mother’s go-to for any kind of ailment – the “Jewish penicillin," as the saying goes.
“Everyone has a family recipe, it's wonderful. I always say I'm happy to be the second best matzo ball soup you've ever had,” Dell says.
For more matzo ball soup across the U.S., head to Famous 4th Street Delicatessen in Philadelphia, The General Muir in Atlanta and Langer’s in Los Angeles.
More in New York:
Hero image: Matzoh Ball Soup at Katz's Deli. © Katz’s Deli
