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Vietnamese Meatball and Watercress Soup (Canh)
Watercress adds a peppery note to the soup; look for “live” watercress, which is packaged with its roots attached. It stays fresher longer and is easier to clean. To prep it, trim off and discard the roots, rinse and drain the greens, then cut them into 1½-inch lengths, discarding any stems that are thick or tough. If you prefer, substitute an equal amount of baby spinach for the watercress, but roughly chop the leaves before using. We also liked this soup made with chicken bouillon paste instead of chicken broth; use 2 tablespoons of paste dissolved in 2 quarts of water.
4
Servings
Tip
Don't leave the meatballs at room temperature after shaping them. Chilling firms them so they hold together when added to the simmering broth.
40 minutes
Ingredients
-
1
pound ground pork
-
6
scallions, white parts finely chopped, green parts thinly sliced
Directions
-
01Line a rimmed baking sheet with kitchen parchment and mist with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine the pork, scallion whites, egg white, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of the ginger, ¾ teaspoons kosher salt and 1 teaspoon white pepper. Mix with your hands. Lightly moisten your hands with water and form into 20 balls, each about a generous tablespoon, and set on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate.
Reviews
June 14, 2026
Delicious! Can’t wait to make it again.
I followed the recipe. It’s easy to make and produces great flavor.
January 7, 2026
Antidote to a wintery night!
This had so much authentic flavor yet was very easy to make. . I used rich homemade chicken stock and added some mung bean vermicelli noodles to the soup and then topped it off with fresh cilantro and mint. The meatballs were so tender and light. Cant wait for leftovers tomorrow! Will make again and often.
October 24, 2025
Favorite soup
This is so addictively delicious. I start to crave it! The watercress in the dtore sometimes looks sad so i sub in another green like spinach or chinese broccoli
February 16, 2025
Very nice addition to my rotation
Excellent as written. Loved the flavors. So happy to have Watercress in a soup. Would recommend to anyone!
January 4, 2025
Incredible
Fantastic recipe! I added minced lemongrass to the meatballs and a hunk in the simmering stock. Added the chopped scallion greens and some cilantro at the end with the lime juice. I’ll definitely make this again.
I made the canh. It is good stuff! I will make it again. I picked up three bunches of watercress (@$1.29 each) just to be safe and have enough. I used two of them in the soup. I also got two lbs of ground pork.
I followed the directions in the recipe, more or less. I made the meatballs with exactly one lb (454 g) of the ground pork, and overall I used a bit more ginger than the recipe called for though not a lot. Seven scallions instead of six, seven garlic cloves instead of four, and so on.
Here are my calculations:
Vietnamese Chicken Watercress soup (Canh) 11/21/2020
Cals/g Ingredient used weight used g weight oz cals used
Stock
0.80 ginger 8 0.3 6.4
8.57 grapeseed oil 25 0.9 214.3
0.40 Onion 197 6.9 78.8
1.50 garlic 27 0.9 40.5
3.33 scallion greens 30 1.1 99.9
0.11 Watercress 243 8.5 26.4
0.02 chicken stock 1753 61.5 35.1
0.35 fish sauce 38 1.3 13.3
0.24 lime juice 32 1.1 7.7
Meatballs
2.63 ground pork 454 15.9 1193.3
0.52 egg white 36 1.3 18.7
0.38 scallion whites 54 1.9 20.5
0.80 ginger 17 0.6 13.6
0.35 fish sauce 17 0.6 6.0
0.00 salt 10 0.4 0.0
2.52 pepper 2 0.1 5.0
Ingredient weight 2914 102.2 1768.5 Total calories
final wt (H2O loss) 2506 87.9 0.71 calories/gram
20.11 calories/oz
All in all, this tasty soup is low calorie. I have enjoyed it as is, and with cooked rice added. One could substitute prepared frozen meatballs for the homemade and this soup would be even quicker indeed to make. A Vietnamese friend makes this with tofu vs meatballs. Maybe I will try it with tofu and using Tone's Chicken or Minor's Chicken base + water to make the stock.
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Good job Maynard!!! Just happened to have everything on hand... Love