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Albondigas Soup is made with beef and rice meatballs, carrots, potatoes, and zucchini in a rich tomato broth. Packed with flavor, this simple Mexican Meatball Soup recipe that is both comforting and satisfying, and will quickly become a family favorite.
Some of our other favorite Mexican soups include Caldo de Pollo (Mexican Chicken Soup), Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup.
Albondigas Soup Recipe Highlights
My Albondigas Soup recipe is similar to an Italian Wedding Soup, where the meatballs and broth are cooked together to make the meat super tender. The potatoes are starchy and thicken the soup just slightly, while the veggies add bulk.
You can serve it as an appetizer course before another traditional Mexican dish like Chicken with Mole Sauce or Green Chicken Tamales. Or serve it as the main dish with Mexican Rice and Homemade Flour Tortillas on the side.
visual walk-through of the recipe
Ingredient Notes
- Lean ground beef – You don’t want a lot of grease seeping into your soup, so stick with the leaner 90% ground beef.
- Egg – to moisten and help hold the meatballs together.
- Long grain white rice – This acts as the binder (similar to breadcrumbs in Italian meatballs), and it cooks within the meatball.
- Spices and herbs – ground cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, dried oregano.
- Low-sodium chicken broth – I always choose low sodium so I can have better control of the salt content.
How To Make Albondigas Soup
See the recipe card below for full, detailed instructions
There are two parts to this recipe – the meatballs and the broth.
Mexican Meatballs
The meatballs are formed from ground beef, raw rice, egg, onion, garlic, and spices, then simmered in the soup broth over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Feel free to add fresh herbs if you have them on hand.
The rice is added raw and will cook with the meatballs as they are simmered.
You can make the meatballs large or small, but they are traditionally fairly large. Aim to make similarly sized meatballs for even cooking.
Broth
The broth is made with chicken broth or beef broth, crushed tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and zucchini. You can add minced cilantro to the soup if you like, and lime to brighten the flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are worried about your meatballs falling apart, using cooked rice will help. As the raw rice cooks, it expands, which can cause the meatballs to break apart. It doesn’t happen to me all the time, but it has happened. Instead of ¼ cup of raw rice, use ½ cup of cooked rice.
This soup has tender meatballs made with ground beef, rice, onions, garlic, an egg, cumin, and oregano. The broth is simple and made with chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and zucchini. Sometimes carrots or celery are added, and occasionally you’ll find some jalapeno added for heat. Cilantro or lime juice are usually added at the end.
You can! Just add all of the ingredients to your crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper at the end. Important note – Make sure the meatballs are fully cooked by testing with a meat thermometer. For more information on meat safety, read my Meat Temperature Chart.
Serving Suggestions
This hearty soup can be served in smaller portions as a starter or appetizer. Or, you can serve it as a complete meat with flour or corn tortillas on the side.
This soup is actually quite beautiful on its own, with the rich broth and colorful veggies. To dress up the soup before serving, sprinkle on some chopped cilantro or parsley.
Variations
Using a different meat. You can use basically any ground meat – ground turkey, ground pork veal, chicken etc.
Make it spicy. Add a slice jalapeno to the broth or some red chile flakes or a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Store bought meatballs? I don’t recommend store bought meatballs. This recipe is all about fresh, homemade meatballs and you just won’t get the same flavor with store bought frozen meatballs. It will just be plain meatball soup, which is fine, but it won’t have the traditional Mexican flavors and spices.
Storage Tips
Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
Make Ahead: You can make this soup a couple of days in advance, and store it, tightly covered (or even in the soup pot), in the refrigerator. To serve, bring to a simmer on the stovetop until everything is warmed through.
Storage: Cool soup completely, then store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheating on the stovetop is recommended, but you can also use the microwave.
Freezing: Cool completely, then store in airtight, freezer-safe containers or freezer bags for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then reheat on the stovetop (recommended) or in the microwave.
Recipe Tips
- Combine the meat mixture with your hands, to avoid overmixing.
- Squeeze some fresh lime into your bowl for a burst of freshness.
- Feel free to adapt this recipe, using fresh herbs, different veggies like green beans or use tomato sauce instead of the crushed tomatoes.
- To add heat, toss in some sliced jalapenos.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes
- Mexican Sopes Recipe
- Pozole Rojo with Chicken
- Carne Asada Fries
- How to Make Homemade Taquitos
- Salsa Verde Chicken
- Best Guacamole Recipe
Albondigas Soup
Ingredients
Albondigas (Meatballs)
- 1 pound Lean ground beef
- 1 Large egg
- ½ cup White onion finely diced
- ¼ cup Long grain white rice uncooked
- 3 Garlic cloves finely minced
- 2 teaspoons Salt plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Dried oregano
Soup
- 48 ounces Low-sodium chicken broth
- 15 ounce Can crushed tomatoes undrained
- 3 Large carrots peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 3-4 Large russet potatoes about 1 pound, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 2 Zucchini squash about 12 ounces once chopped, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Optional: freshly chopped cilantro and lime wedges
Instructions
- Add the ground beef, egg, onion, rice, garlic, salt, cumin, garlic powder, pepper, and oregano to a large bowl and stir by hand or with a spoon just until combined.
- Form 2-inch balls from the mixture and set the balls on a plate for later.
- Add the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes to a large soup pot or Dutch oven and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Gently add the meatballs to the broth and let them cook for 10 minutes then add the carrots, potatoes and zucchini to the pot and let them boil for another 5 minutes then reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Add 2-3 more cups of water if needed and let it simmer for 10-15 more minutes, or until the vegetables are fork tender.
- Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes before serving with freshly chopped cilantro and lime wedges.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Kristin, I made soup yesterday and my husband loved it, he said it was the best broth he ever tasted, and I agreed.
Thank you so much
You are so welcome Isabel! Awesome feedback, thanks for stopping by.
I liked all the vegetables. I usually don’t add chicken stock it was ok but we like to let the meat balls make their own broth. The spices were ok but don’t usually use oregano, tried it in this recipe but next time will leave it out. Thought I’d try the recipe because the meat balls were cooked in the broth. I usually brown them in a frying pan then use the dripping for broth. I think I will still do that the flavor I was looking for was not here. I was good as soup but not what we like for albondigas. Thanks for sharing. Good soup.
You are so welcome Shirley! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
Great recipe. I followed it closely, only modifying sautéing the onions and carrots prior to making the stock as I do not care for any crunch to much onions. It was delicious. It’s easy to add your favorites (like baby corn pieces and lime that give the broth that extra umph). I think next time I’ll change from finely diced onions to the powder, but the change is inconsequential to me, just a preference really. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
You are so welcome Jamie! Awesome feedback, thanks for stopping by.
The meatballs have great flavor. However, the broth is very plain. I would recommend adding herbs and sauteeing some onions, celery, garlic, and celery to start the soup base
Thank you for your feedback Shayne.
I made this soup yesterday and it was delicious the key is to cook the rice cool then add to the meat mixture. I will make again, thanks for such a simple recipe.
You are so welcome Jacqueline! Thanks for stopping by.
I followed step-by-step. Delicious! First time making it and it was a hit, especially for these cold days. Thank you for the easy recipe.
You are so welcome Nancy! Thanks for stopping by.
What can I use to replace egg? We have egg allergies.
Hi Christina, You can use milk or ricotta cheese. The egg adds liquid which helps to create a binding. Please keep in mind that the result may vary if you don’t follow the recipe exactly. But milk or ricotta should work well.
I really liked this soup. The only thing I changed was to add a little beef broth. Next time I make it, I will cut back on the amount of cumin. Thanks for the recipe.
You are so welcome Ruth! Awesome feedback, thanks for stopping by.
I am so inspired to try this recipe. I have never eaten this soup before so I will be making it, At first I was wondering if the meatballs would cook through in this method but after reading the instruction I believe I will make small meatballs and cook long enough, and the tip to cook the rice before adding also makes sense! I will make a large enough batch to freeze a coupe of portions for those days when I just don’t have the time to whip up a nice meal.I do that ofter with other soup and it is such a great idea.
Question Kristin, so I add the rice uncooked to the meat mixture?
Correct, the rice is uncooked.
I had to write a review while am eating and enjoying it!. This recipe is so simple and it came out delicious!!!! Glad I came across it.
Nice! Thanks for stopping by Mimi.
Looks like really esst recipes.
Delicious. Better than any restaurant Albondigas soup I have ever tried. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!
Thank you S. Perez! Love the feedback, thanks for stopping by to share.
Thanks for sharing this recipe, my husband is a chef, he makes the best Mexican food. My husband lives albóndigas Mexican soup, he had to go out of town for a couple of weeks so I had to cook this time. Today I made the Mexican albóndigas soup it came out so good even my kids loved it. I am from Central America, and my favorite food is the pupusa, it’s a traditional Salvadorian food.
You are so welcome Rosa! Love the comment, thanks for stopping by.
I don’t see where it says to add the potatoes. Great recipe regardless
I absolutely loved this recipe. Abondigas soup is one of my very favorite soups and I have never made it myself. You can save so much money by making it yourself and my entire family loved it! My husband could not stop raving about it, which just warmed my heart. Thank you Kristen for this yummy recipe.
You are so welcome Dee! Thanks for stopping by to share such an awesome comment.
This was a great albondigas recipe! My meatballs came out a bit more salty than expected, so I definitely would reduce the amount of salt in that mixture next time.
Love the feedback Nikki! Thanks for stopping by.
Nothing could ever be just like my moms but this is so darn close! I added cilantro to the meatball mix, I used tomato sauce rather than the canned tomatoes because she would as well, and next time I would just do a tad less on the cumin – 3/4 teaspoon. I can’t believe how good it came out. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome Yanet! Thank you for the awesome feedback.
really good!! i made my meatballs smaller and they were firm to cut, but still tender when eating! would try again!!
Thank you Janet! Love the feedback, thanks for stopping by.
January, 2023 OUTSTANDING.
We all loved this soup. I followed the recipe and also added more carrots and used Mexican squash. Since I LOVE corn, I added fresh corn cut into “niblets.” I added mint to the meatballs because, well this is Albondigas! A must. I sautéed the onions before adding them to the meatballs and used the rest for the soup. I also added one sliced jalapeño for heat. I topped with cojita, avocado, green onion, cilantro, a lot of lime and a dash of crema. I have shared this recipe with everyone I know! I am looking forward to making sopas and carne asada!
Fantastic feedback Marla! Thanks for stopping by to share.
LOVE this soup! I tweeked it a bit. I used beef broth instead of chicken and added some fresh green beans. Put the fresh cilantro and lime to finish off each bowl! Oh, and I used cooked rice instead of uncooked. Yummy!
Love the feedback MaryAnn! Thanks for stopping by.