Sopa de Albóndigas (Mexican Meatball Soup) Recipe (2024)

My Mom’s albóndigas we’re ethereal. Combined with frijoles a la charra, avocado slices and corn tortillas and you were in heaven. One key is the tomato base sauce—-it needs to simmer at least 30-45 minutes. Then add the albóndigas. Best to repent now because you won’t get them in any place but heaven.

In Guadalajara people chop a green zucchini in tiny pieces, and mix it along the mint, one egg, rice, and meat, and add water not chicken stock, the meat makes a great broth.

I'm always looking for a vegetarian spin on delicious recipes. This one works well with gardein meatless meatballs and vegetable stock, or if you can find it, no chicken base by better than bouillon. The veggie meatballs need less time: only 15-20 minutes, instead of 40 like the original recipe suggests. I find it's enough to have the rice cook through as well, so the soup is done quicker.

In Mexico albóndigas are usually not a soup but a main entree. Usually served with a side of rice. (Beans optional). We use fresh tomatoes to make the sauce and add a little chipotle chile so it’s a bit hot.

Undercooked rice? Cover rice in boiling water and let stand for 45 minutes. Then drain before adding to meat mixture. Also, 40 minutes is a bit on the short side, especially for such large albóndigas. 1:15 or even 1:30 would be ok. Finally, Keep pot covered while simmering. For more info see: The Cuisines of Mexico by Diane Kennedy.

In the extraordinary kitchen that Mom ran, albondigas was my favorite meal as a child. Mom’s Mexican rice, chopped onion, chile, and oregano on the side were always served along side the delicious brew. Now, I use ground turkey instead of beef and pork, and I experiment with vegetables and spices. Never the same twice. Salud!

This was absolutely delicious, even without a night in the refrigerator, which I find always improves the flavor of soups and stews. It was more of the latter....huge, tender, flavorful meatballs with a gravy. Perfect over rice or mashed potatoes.

WOW! I am seriously a novice chef and I followed this recipe to make one of the best recipes I have ever tasted. It was super delicious and even my two young children loved it. I highly recommend this soup, so tasty!!!

Love the rice in the meatballs, chicken stock kept the broth lighter... a margarita while the sopa is cooking is recommended.

Soup is tasty but I wish I had baked the meatballs instead of poaching them in the soup. The soup ended up heavy and greasy. Removed this recipe from my box.

I used premade spicy Italian meatballs and it turned out great!

Six degrees (C) in San Miguel de Allende this morning. This recipe was just what the doctor ordered. I did add a dried chili to simmer with the broth. Looks fabulous. Thank you so much.

This absolutely kills every time we make it - deeply emo toddlers included. Would suggest halving if there are only 3-4 of you.

I used cilantro in the meatballs instead of mint and one 16 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes instead of the 8 ounce can tomato sauce. The soup was delicious and I would give it 5 stars

Loved this soup, I would cut down on the ingredients for the meatballs and make them bite size. Other than that the flavor were spot on.

The favorite soup in my household. It feels luscious and heartwarming and healthy at the same time. Long to cook so this is a week end meal for us but the leftovers are also amazing so definitely worth it.

DELICIOUS. Run don't walk to your stove to make this! This soup is really satisfying and magically not as heavy as it might read. Follow the recipe, it is well-written and it works! We had the privilege of enjoying a bowl of this at Wes Avila's Angry Egret Diner before it closed, and we're so glad we have the recipe to carry that happy meal forward. It halves really well too!

Delicious. Finally found a great albondigas soup recipe. Followed recipe, except I baked the turkey meatballs. I used cooled cooked rice with turkey meat, baked meatballs on parchment paper at 350 degrees for 15 min. Added cooked meatballs, to soup after step where broth is first brought to a boil. Then simmered soup with cooked meatballs for 20-30 min.

I followed the recipe to the letter (just halved everything, we're only two at home), and it was absolutely amazing! I'm of Turkish origin, and believe it or not, the soup reminded me of my childhood. My mother used to make a dish like this when we were kids and we all asked for seconds. Her meatballs were smaller but that was the only difference really. All this to say, I recommend this recipe wholeheartedly. It's a complete meal and it's delicious. Have it with a glass of red wine (or two).

I liked the recipe just as it was but would halve the meat for next time. Used lean ground beef and ground pork so excess fat was not a problem at all. Rice came out done. Used all of the toppings but added chopped fresh kale to the bottom of the bowl before adding soup. The recipe is a keeper.

Was delicious! I upped the spices and soaked the rice as per below. I added zucchini as well.

Absolutely delicious! Made as directed, rice was perfect. I did cover the pot and only uncovered after 20 min for a brief stir. I might add a dried chili to the broth next time since we like a little heat, but it was so good and so well-balanced, I might not, after all. Served with flour tortillas that my Venezuelan partner toasted over the gas burner just before serving.

This was great! I would make two changes next time. There were a LOT of meatballs to the amount of broth. Next time, I’ll freeze half of the meatballs and save them for another batch of soup. It was time consuming to skim the large amount of fat off the top while it cooked, so next time I’m going to brown the meatballs first to get some of the fat off. I used many of the toppings and I think they’re necessary to get the full picture of just how amazing this soup was!

My mother would make a couple of hard boiled eggs, cut them into large chunks and place one inside each meatball. Also, she would build her sauce using fresh tomatoes, then add water. The meat adds plenty of flavor.

This tastes a bit bland until you do the garnishes. No worries it really comes together. I also added diced white onion to my garnishes

I was looking for a Mexican flavored broth to use up my rotisserie chicken. So I just made the broth, not the meatballs. Broth is fantastic. I did add some leftover refrigerated salsa from Costco, and a bag of roasted corn.

Excellent! We are vegetarian so we used a ground meatless alternative and vegetable broth. We had no issues with greasiness. Fresh Serrano peppers were a great condiment to spice it up. A keeper in our recipe box.

This is the third time making this recipe and it’s perfect as is. This is one of my favorite soups. We’re California transplants in the Midwest and we make Mexican food often because we can’t go down the street and pick from multitudes of excellent restaurants anymore. I’m trying to perfect the home wet burrito, but for now at least I have my albóndigas! Now if we could just grow limes in a greenhouse…

I found it a bit bland both the meatballs and broth. I think it needs some heat in the broth and a tad bit more salt. Hoping the garnishes do the trick.

I’m not sure what I did wrong—The soup was unpleasantly greasy and the meatballs didn’t taste very well seasoned. I could barely pick up on the mint or spices. I followed the recipe to the letter except that I was out of potatoes and subbed a little cooked rice in the broth.