Albondigas Soup (Mexican Meatball Soup)
on Jan 27, 2020, Updated Jan 14, 2025
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This albondigas soup recipe (Mexican meatball soup), is a hearty, stick to your bones soup that’s perfect for a cold night. Loaded with flavorful meatballs, tender vegetables and a robust tomato and chile broth!
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love Albondigas Soup
- What is Albondigas Soup?
- Ingredients
- How to Make Mexican Meatball Soup
- Substitution and Variations
- Do I Need to Cook the Meatballs Before Adding Them to the Soup?
- Can I Use Chicken Broth Instead of Beef Broth?
- Tips to Ensure Your Vegetables Don’t Overcook
- Storing Leftovers
- Reheating
- More Mexican Recipes You’ll Love
- Mexican Meatball Soup (Albondigas) Recipe
Why You’ll Love Albondigas Soup
Rich flavorful broth – The tomato based broth for this meatball soup is flavored with chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, garlic, onion, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. You’ll love the rich, slightly spicy, chile flavors!
Healthy and hearty soup – This albondigas soup recipe is a broth based soup, which tends to be lighter than cream based soups. However, thanks to the meatballs and veggies it’s also a hearty soup that won’t leave you feeling hungry.
What is Albondigas Soup?
Mexican Meatball Soup is a classic Mexican soup often referred to as albondigas soup. Albondigas means meatballs in Spanish. The tomatoey broth based soup has a bold chile flavor and often includes vegetables such as carrots, onion, potatoes, zucchini and celery. For my version I went with onion, zucchini and carrots.
Ingredients
- Corn tortillas – Used to bind together the meatballs and thicken the soup.
- Ground turkey or beef – Use lean turkey or beef so the soup doesn’t get greasy.
- Egg – Binder for the meatballs.
- Onion and garlic – Aromatics that give the broth lots of flavor.
- Chili powder, ground cumin, oregano – Dried spices enhance the flavor of both the broth and meatballs.
- Cilantro – Fresh, lightly citrusy herb.
- Fire roasted tomatoes – Fire roasted tomatoes give the soup a slightly smoky flavor.
- Chipotle chile in adobo sauce – Spicy, smoky, and a little tangy from the adobo sauce.
- Jalapeño, Zucchini, Carrots – The vegetables for the soup.
- Beef broth – Use low sodium to prevent the soup from getting too salty.
- Limes – A squeeze of lime juice brightens up all the flavors of the soup.
How to Make Mexican Meatball Soup
Making the soup requires a few steps, but I assure you they are worth it and necessary to get the most flavor.
Pulse the corn tortillas in a food processor until they turn to crumbs. Set aside half of the tortilla crumbs and put the remaining into a mixing bowl. Add the ground turkey (or beef), dried spices, egg, garlic, and fresh cilantro to the mixing bowl.
Combine the meat mixture with your hands and then use a tablespoon to scoop out the meat and form it into meatballs. Put the meatballs on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate them until it’s time to add them to the soup.
Add the fire roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, chipotle, spices, salt and pepper to the food processor and puree until the mixture is smooth.
Heat oil in a pot and pour in the pureed tomato sauce. Cook the sauce until it’s dark in color and starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.
Stir in the beef broth, carrots, zucchini and corn tortilla crumbs. Add the meatballs into the soup and bring it to a boil. Simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the vegetables are tender.
Serve the soup topped with fresh herbs such as chopped fresh cilantro or oregano. Avocado slices and a squeeze of fresh lime juice are a must!
Substitution and Variations
- Instead of using corn tortilla crumbs in the meatballs, substitute with a 1/2 cup of uncooked long grain white rice. The rice will cook as the meatballs simmer and cook in the broth.
- Use different veggies. Green beans, bell peppers, and celery are good alternatives.
- If you don’t like cilantro, use a combination of fresh mint and flat leaf parsley in the meatballs.
Do I Need to Cook the Meatballs Before Adding Them to the Soup?
No. Once you form the meatballs keep them in the fridge until you’ve made the broth. Once the broth is ready, you’ll add in the vegetables, remaining corn tortilla crumbs and drop in the raw meatballs. The meatballs won’t fall apart because you’ve bind them together with the tortilla crumbs and egg. They’ll cook in the broth for about 15 minutes and be perfectly tender when it’s time to serve the soup.
Can I Use Chicken Broth Instead of Beef Broth?
If you don’t eat red meat or only have chicken broth in your pantry, you can absolutely substitute with chicken broth.
Tips to Ensure Your Vegetables Don’t Overcook
- Cut the carrots and zucchini into larger chunks similar to what you find in stew. I cut the carrots into approximately 1/2 inch pieces and the zucchini into half moons that were slightly thicker.
- Make sure they are all cut as close to the same size as possible.
- The vegetables will be added to the soup during the last 15 minutes of cooking. If you add them sooner you’ll run the risk of them being mushy.
Storing Leftovers
The leftover albondigas soup will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheating
To heat the leftover soup, you can microwave it for 60 seconds or until it’s warm. You can also reheat it in a saucepan or pot on the stove over medium heat until warmed through.
More Mexican Recipes You’ll Love
If you love Mexican street corn or even if you’ve never had it, you need to make this Mexican Street Corn Soup. My Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad is great for summer and taking to barbecues.
If you’re looking for a hearty, vegetarian, one pan meal that’s packed with fiber and protein, try this One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans, and Rice.
Cold nights call for a cozy soup and this Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup and Chicken Enchilada Soup hit the spot!
Did you make this Mexican meatball soup? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
Mexican Meatball Soup (Albondigas)
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 4 corn tortillas torn up
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 egg
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pound lean ground turkey or beef
Soup
- 14.5 ounces fire roasted tomatoes
- 1/2 of a yellow onion cut into large chunks
- 1 jalapeño seeds and vein removed and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 7 cups low sodium beef broth
- 2 cups chopped carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups chopped zucchini cut into at least 1/2 inch pieces or slightly larger
- Lime wedges chopped cilantro and avocado slices for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor add the torn up corn tortillas and pulse until they’re the size of crumbs. Set aside a 1/2 cup of the crumbs for the soup and pour the remaining into a large bowl.
- Add the remaining meatball ingredients to the bowl and gently mix together with your hands being careful not to over-mix. Use a tablespoon or tablespoon size cookie scoop to scoop out the meat mixture. Roll into balls and transfer to a plate. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Wipe out the bowl of the food processor and add in the fire roasted tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic, chipotle, spices, salt and pepper. Process until the mixture is smooth.
- Heat the tablespoon of oil in a dutch oven or large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Pour the tomato mixture into the pot and cook for 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally. The mixture will get darker in color and be starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in the beef broth, carrots, zucchini and remaining corn tortilla crumbs. Gently drop in the meatballs and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to medium and simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Serve the soup topped with chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice and sliced avocado if desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The soup looks delicious! Not a big fan of meat broth so gonna try to chicken broth.
Chicken broth is a great alternative to the beef broth. Enjoy!