The center of every Jewish Seder—Passover meal—is a bowl of chicken broth with large matzah balls. The dish is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, and it is believed that it originated among the Ashkenazi Jews who invented it as an adaptation of Central European bread dumplings (knödels).

In Jewish tradition, the large balls are often referred to as kneydl, knaidel, kneidel, or knodel and are made with matzo meal—consisting of ground matzo bread—and rendered chicken fat. Nowadays, matzah ball soup is not exclusively associated with Passover and has become a year-round comfort food that is enjoyed in most Jewish communities.