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Food and family go together.
As they should, right?
For me, growing up with what could be considered a crazy-large extended Mexican family meant two wonderful things: I attended lots of parties and ate lots of authentic latin food throughout my childhood. Both good things, right? π
Albondigas Soup Recipe
One particularly memorable dish that I enjoyed as a kid was albondigas soup. Albondigas are meatballs that are infused with flavor, and albondigas soup is a savory dish that I love cooking for my own family.
And today, I’m going to share a step-by-step tutorial of just how I do it.
Let’s get started!
To begin, I went to the grocery store to pick up the items I needed for the soup. I wanted a very authentic mexican flavor in my soup, so I went to Cermak Fresh Market and purchased a few La Morena products to give the albondigas soup a wallop of flavor.
I use the La Morena brand jalapeΓ±o peppers, serrano peppers, and chipotle sauce to give the soup a delicious taste and aroma. And trust me, using a touch of heat in the soup gives it flavor. It doesn’t burn your face off. π
After you have everything you need from the grocery store, it’s time to gather the ingredients and start making albondigas soup!
Here’s what goes into this recipe:
For the Meatballs:
1.5 lbs. ground beef
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 cup long grain rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or chili powder – either spice is great)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepperFor the Soup:
2 (32 ounce) containers of vegetable broth
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle Sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon pickled jalapeΓ±o peppers, seeds removed and finely diced
1 pickled serrano pepper, seeds removed and finely diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
fresh lime juice
cilantro for garnish (optional)
Once you have the ingredients gathered and prepped, it’s time to make the meatballs that’ll go into the soup. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, cilantro, rice, cumin, oregano, egg, salt, and pepper.
Next, shape the meat mixture into individual meatballs. Go ahead and set the meatballs aside after you’ve finished rolling them. The meat mixture should yield approximately 20 meatballs about 2 tablespoons each in size.
Now, it’s time to start cooking!
In a large pot, add 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth, the sliced carrots, and onions. You may notice that my onions are left on the larger side. Feel free to chop your onions smaller. I cut the onion for our soup into large chunks, because there are some people in our family who don’t love onions. This makes it easier to avoid adding it to their bowl.
Me? I love onions.
Cook for about 7 minutes over medium-high heat.
Then add the remaining vegetable broth, chipotle sauce, bay leaf, jalapeΓ±o peppers, serrano pepper, salt, pepper, and potatoes to the pot. Bring these ingredients to a boil over high heat.
While the soup is working on coming to a boil, lightly brown the meatballs for about 10 minutes.
You’ll want to be near the stove pretty much the whole time for this step, so that you don’t accidentally overcook the meatballs.
The idea is to brown the outside a bit, but definitely do NOT cook the meatballs all the way through. They’ll cook the rest of the way in the boiling pot of soup.
Once the soup is boiling, carefully add in the meatballs.
Then reduce the heat on the stove to medium, cover the pot, and cook the albondigas soup until the potatoes are tender.
The soup should be ready in about 20 minutes.
Once the albondigas soup is finished cooking, remove the bay leaf, and serve in bowls with a splash of lime (or lemon) juice.
Cilantro is the perfect garnish for this dish. Hot corn tortillas and rice are great accompaniments. The rice would be for spooning right into your bowl of soup and the tortillas for dipping.
Enjoy! π
Here’s the printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. ground beef
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped finely
- 1/4 cup long grain rice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin (or chili powder - either spice is great)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 (32 ounce) containers of vegetable broth
- 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 medium-sized onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chipotle Sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon pickled jalapeΓ±o peppers, seeds removed and finely diced
- 1 pickled serrano pepper, seeds removed and finely diced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 3 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
- fresh lime juice
- cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, cilantro, rice, cumin, oregano, egg, salt, and pepper. Shape the meat mixture into individual meatballs and set aside. The meat mixture should yield approximately 20 meatballs about 2 tablespoons each in size.
- In a large pot, add 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth, carrots, and onions. Cook for about 7 minutes over medium-high heat. Then add remaining vegetable broth, chipotle sauce, bay leaf, jalapeΓ±o peppers, serrano pepper, salt, pepper, and potatoes to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- While the soup is working on coming to a boil, lightly brown the meatballs (about 10 minutes).
- Once the soup is boiling, carefully add in the meatballs. Then reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until potatoes are tender. This should take about 20 minutes.
- Once the albondigas soup is finished cooking, remove the bay leaf, and serve with a splash of lime juice. Garnish with cilantro.
I hope your family enjoys this soup as much as mine. π
What’s your family’s favorite Mexican dish?
This is a great dish for fall/winter season I will definitely try when it cool down in Cali #client
Thank you, Daily! π It is a great Fall and Winter soup!
This looks delicious Sandra! My grandmother used to put rice in her meatballs and I loved them so much! Of course, she didn’t use a recipe…it was all in her memory, so I can’t recreate that dish today.
Growing up in California, I was used to great Mexican food, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any good restaurants here in Maryland. I love enchiladas π
What a great memory of your grandmother, Erin! I can imagine that there are probably lots of great places to eat Mexican food in California. Now that you’re in Maryland, you’ll have to experiment more and create your own. π
Thank you for sharing this wonderful reciepe. This was my second attempt. I must say your version satisfied my craving. I can eat this all year around, soups are my fav.. Cali girl. βΊ
There is no great Mexican food outside Mexico and California with the possible exception of New Mexico which has its own style of Mexican food or our Mexican food made at home. : )
We have to make ours at home because we live in Texas and do not like Tex-Mex.
This soup sounds delicious. We eat lots of Mexican dishes. Our favorite is probably enchiladas. My husband loves tamales and I need to make some for him. I have a great recipe it’s just time consuming. i’m going to give your soup recipe a try. Thanks for sharing it.
I’d love to see your recipe for tamales someday, Shelly. π That’s one Mexican food that I haven’t got down yet, and I’m just afraid to try it again right now. Tamales are SO good. I love ’em with meat and the sweet ones are great, too!
I’d also recommend skimming the fat off the broth for a slightly less heavy caldo. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! And that’s a great suggestions, Flo! π Thanks for stopping by!
I just made this. It is very spicy hot… Any suggestions on get rid of some of the spicy hot?
Hi, Ella! You could add in water. And next time, maybe you could add in just the jalapeno and leave out the serrano. You could also leave out the chipotle sauce next time. When I made it the other day, I left out the serrano and only added the jalapeno because the serrano pepper from the grocery store wasn’t good on the inside. We’d bought the peppers fresh instead of pickled, and the serrano didn’t work out. You could also try that next time…using fresh peppers vs. the pickled ones in cans. I’m just sharing some suggestions and variations that we’ve used with good results. I made this soup twice in the last month, and I always use the recipe off my blog. I just adapt it to the ingredients we have. Thankfully, it’s a versatile soup that way. π Thanks for trying the recipe and stopping by!
Hi! I am making this soup now as we speak. I’m from San Antonio TX and we love authentic Mexican food down here. I have to say this is my first time making albΓ³ndigas so I will let you know what my family thinks! It’s boiling now and smells delicious. Hopefully it’s not too spicy…the only variation in made was that I used homemade pickled jalapeΓ±o and Serrano peppers that a friend gave me for Christmas, not store bought. π
Hi, Sara! Thanks so much for trying my albondigas recipe! I hope your family enjoys it. π
Im trying this albondigas right now i hope ot comes out good as ur pictures lol this is my first attempt
I hope your albondigas soup turned out delicious, Eva! Thanks for stopping by and trying my recipe! π
This looks delicious! Just a note on the onions. Whenever onions were detected in anything, it would elicit a huge yuck fest from me and my siblings. So, my mom started to grate the onions into everything. We’d get all the wonderful flavor and be none the wiser. Sneaky mom! π
Thank you for sharing that, Rebecca! π I would never have thought to grate the onions. LOL – I’m going to try that now, though! Love it!
How many servings does this make? Albondigas is my favorite and I will be making it this week!
Hi Sam! From experience, this recipe will feed my family of seven, but not allow for much in the way of “seconds” for them. π So when I make it now, I typically add in some extra carrots, potatoes, and even some extra meat. I actually just recently created a video that shows you how I make this exact recipe on my blog with some variations. You can find that video here: https://thesensiblemom.com/2016/01/mexican-albondigas-soup-recipe-meatball-soup-bella-ceramic-skillet/
Of course, if you’re feeding a smaller group, the recipe as is will work great. Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for responding. I am hosting family dinner Friday night so I will be doubling the recipe!
Making it now and it smells good, but my rice looks like worms coming out of meatballs. Did put too much rice in?
Hi, Katie! I don’t think you added too much rice. It’s normal to be able to see the rice sticking out of the meatballs. π I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
My daughter varies the amount of rice depending on what she has leftover from the night before (chinese). Itβs always just right. Also avoids the possibility of undercooked rice. Love the recipe
Your version of albondigas is more Tex-Mex. Traditional Mexican albondigas does not have hot spice or chiles in it as a rule. Hot peppers such as jalapeno is offered as a condiment for each individual to add as they like. Oregano is something else offered as a condiment because true Mexican oregano (not Greek) is very strong and should be used sparingly. Other condiments are wedges of lemon or lime and cilantro (fresh or dried). Citrus is essential for many in most soups like this and menudo in particular.
Not all Mexican food is hot and not all food with hot peppers or a tortilla can be classified as Mexican. : )
Just tried this recipe… it was delicious! Thank you
Made this last night! Family loved it! Iβve had this soup from many restaurants and others….and this one beat out majority of them! Thanks
Your recipe sounds very tasty especially with the cumin and oregano. I will have to try these seasonings next time. This is the first time a hear hot peppers added to the soup. I make my albondiga soup with ground chicken, chopped tomato, onion, mint, minced garlic, uncooked rice, bread crumbs, raw egg, salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of ground thyme and marjoram each. I mix everything by hand and form the meatballs. I prefer using ground chicken over ground beef. Meatballs come out more tender. For the broth I saute cut up carrots, potatoes, zuchinni, onion and 1-2 minced garlic cloves, tomato sauce, powdered chicken bouillon for taste and more chopped mint, and last I add the water. Once the broth and veggies come to a small boil I add the meatballs and cook for about 30-40 minutes. This is my grandma’s recipe.
Note: Fresh mint gives this soup a lot of flavor.
This sounds very close to my uncle’s recipe, which I’m having trouble finding (that’s why I’m searching online). Thank you!
Made this albondigas soup for a potluck at work tomorrow. Def has some heat but it’s so good I couldn’t stop tasting it. Hoping the team at work thinks the same.
Instead of the peppers you mentioned, could I use a can of green chiles or would it change the flavor too much? We like flavorful but at our advanced ages (in our 70’s) we tend to avoid spicy. Thanks
Yes, that would be fine. π Many times, instead of peppers, I’ll just add in one or two jalapenos that have been seeded and finely diced and they work great too. Green chiles are fine or you could try maybe adding in just one jalapeno that’s been seeded and diced. It’ll give it a good flavor and not much heat. Thanks for stopping by my site! I hope you enjoy the recipe! π
Made this with beyond meat and βflax eggβ. I also added celery, doubled the broth (with 3 dried bay leaves, only used 2 serranos, 2 tbsp of chipotle adobo, no jalapeΓ±o just so it wasnβt so spicy for others. I love spicy π) I was looking for a vegan recipe but couldnβt find anything good/interesting but Iβve made my version about 4 times already and Iβm never sick of it!
That’s fantastic! I’m so glad you adapted the soup to your tastes and made it vegan! π This is definitely a versatile soup and a classic family favorite. Thanks for your comment!
Hi, can I make this recipe with ground turkey instead of ground beef? My daughter canβt have beef. Thanks! π
Hello! I’ve never tried using ground turkey but I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t use that in place of ground beef. It should work out fine. π