Latin Food Recipe: Delicious Mexican Albondigas Soup (2024)

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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? 🙂

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 cookingfor 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 jalapeñopeppers, 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. 🙂

Latin Food Recipe: Delicious Mexican Albondigas Soup (3)

After you haveeverything 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 pepper

For 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 jalapeño 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, jalapeño 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! 🙂

Here’s the printable recipe:

Print

Mexican Albondigas Soup

Ingredients

    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 pepper
  • For 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 jalapeño 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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, jalapeño peppers, serrano pepper, salt, pepper, and potatoes to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat.
  3. While the soup is working on coming to a boil, lightly brown the meatballs (about 10 minutes).
  4. 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.
  5. Once the albondigas soup is finished cooking, remove the bay leaf, and serve with a splash of lime juice. Garnish with cilantro.

https://thesensiblemom.com/2019/11/latin-food-delicious-mexican-albondigas-soup-recipe/


I hope your family enjoys this soup as much as mine. 🙂

What’s your family’s favorite Mexican dish?

UPDATE: I created a YouTube video that features this recipe with a few variations that you can see here:

Latin Food Recipe: Delicious Mexican Albondigas Soup (2024)

FAQs

Why is my albondiga soup so greasy? ›

The most common reason for oily albondigas soup is due to not using lean ground beef for the meatballs. If the meat is fatty then all that fat is going to escape into the broth. So I always suggest using lean ground beef that has less than 15% fat, ground turkey, or ground chicken.

What are Mexican albondigas made of? ›

What Is Albondigas Soup? A simple soup base is made with sautéed onions, garlic, broth, and tomatoes. Into the bubbling soup you drop meatballs made with ground beef or ground turkey and rice. The meat creates its own additional broth.

Why are my albondigas tough? ›

Albondigas are usually hard or tough for two reasons. The first reason is that the meatball mixture was overmixed. Using your hands to mix the meat until just combined is the best way to avoid this. The second reason is that you are compacting the meatballs too much when you form them.

How to keep albondigas from falling apart? ›

Add a lightly beaten egg, but not too much. Egg acts as a binder for the ingredients, but you only need a small amount. One small egg will do for one pound of minced meat. Alternatively, if you're following an egg-free diet, you could soak fresh bread in milk, squeezing out any excess milk, to use as a binder.

What are restaurant meatballs made of? ›

What are Italian meatballs made of? Italian meatballs are made with 1/2 pork and 1/2 beef meat, bread, eggs, seasoned cheese, garlic, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, sometimes milk to make them soft.

What are wedding soup meatballs made of? ›

What are the meatballs made of in Italian wedding soup? The meatballs may just be the best part of this soup! They're made with a 50/50 mixture of ground beef and mild Italian sausage.

How do I know if my albondigas are cooked? ›

Mix together beef, bread crumbs, and milk in a bowl. Form into 1-inch meatballs and drop into broth. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until meatballs are no longer pink in the center and vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

Is milk or egg better for meatballs? ›

Add Milk for Moisture

A little bit of milk will add moisture to your meatballs. (Many people think it's the eggs that add the moisture, but their role is to bind the meat, breadcrumbs, cheese and herbs.)

Does Albondigas have protein? ›

Sopa de albondigas (meatball soup) (1 cup) contains 16g total carbs, 13.7g net carbs, 8.9g fat, 14.5g protein, and 201 calories.

How many carbs are in Mexican soup? ›

Chicken Vegetable Soup With Rice, Mexican Style (Sopa / Caldo De Pollo) (1 cup) contains 25g total carbs, 22.1g net carbs, 3.4g fat, 12.4g protein, and 182 calories.

How many carbs are in chicken albondigas? ›

Make Ahead and Storage
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
424Calories
21gFat
27gCarbs
31gProtein

How to fix soup that is too oily? ›

Refrigerate overnight to make the fat layer solid. By refrigerating the soup or broth overnight, the fat rises to the surface and solidifies, making it easier to remove. Prepare a bowl filled with ice to keep the metal ladle cold during skimming, preventing the fat from melting too quickly.

How do you fix greasy turkey soup? ›

Our Test Kitchen finds the easiest way to remove the fat from the broth is to chill the broth first. Cover and refrigerate the soup or broth 6 to 8 hours or until the fat solidifies on the surface. Then use a spoon to easily lift off the hardened fat.

Why does chicken noodle soup look oily? ›

It's totally natural and unavoidable. This comes from the fat from the meat, as well as the oil used to sauté the vegetables, and rises to the top of the pot as the soup cooks. Just remember to remove this layer before serving.

Why is my beef soup oily? ›

The recipe is directing you to drain the grease that has accumulated in the pot. The meat will render fat as it browns, which you want to get rid of. Extra grease will pool on the surface of the soup, making it greasy. Most people find that unappealing.

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