Authentic Mexican Meatballs
Mexican meatballs are a hot, hearty meal easy enough to pull together on any day of the week. Albondigas, which is the Spanish word for meatballs, are the stars of this dish, bathed in a thick, smoky chipotle salsa that will have everyone coming back for seconds.
How Is This Recipe Different from Mexican Meatball Soup?
While there are many albondigas soup recipes out there, our Mexican meatballs are meant to be eaten as an entrée, alongside rice, vegetables or other side dishes of your choice. That’s because the sauce is thicker than a typical soup broth.
What to Expect from This Recipe
For this recipe, you’ll pan roast and blend a few veggies, then cook the salsa to a smoky perfection. Next, mix up and roll the meatballs. Finally, you’ll cook the meatballs in the sauce, serve with your favorite side dish, spoon on some extra sauce and dig in. The flavors of the roasted vegetables, chipotle and cilantro will take you directly to the streets of Mexico!
A Surprise Inside!
We add a surprise inside our meatballs for extra flavor and protein—hard boiled egg! Note that we don’t include rice inside our meatballs because it tends to soak up too much of the salsa, giving the meatballs a sticky texture.
How the Recipe Is Structured
The recipe is broken down into three simple sections:
- Preparing the Salsa
- Making the Meatballs
- Serving and Savoring
Let’s make a batch of albondigas!
Recipe Video
Learn How to Make Albondigas
Ingredients
For the Salsa
- 5 tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, skin removed
- 4 cups beef broth (or chicken broth)
- ¼ white onion
- 1 chipotle chili (from a can of chipotle chilis)
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
For the Meatballs
- 1 ¾ lbs. ground beef
- 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- ¼ white onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Prepare the Salsa
Roast the Vegetables
First, we’ll roast the vegetables. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the tomatoes, onions and garlic.
Roast the vegetables for 10 minutes, turning so that each side is evenly roasted. Be sure to only roast the garlic for two minutes. Any longer and it will taste bitter. Once each side has blackened and the skin on the tomatoes has blistered, remove from the heat.
Blend the Salsa
Place the veggies into your blender, along with ¼ cup of water and one chili from a can of chipotle chilies.
Blend for 30 seconds or until very smooth. You shouldn’t be able to see any pieces of tomato skin. Important: Cover the top of the blender with a kitchen towel and hold the top in place as you blend. Because the vegetables are hot, the pressure could cause the top to pop off and splash the hot ingredients.
Cook the Salsa
Pour ¼ cup of vegetable oil into a large pot heated over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is very hot, slowly pour the blended salsa into the pot. The salsa might splatter as you’re pouring, so work carefully.
Next, pour in the beef broth (or chicken broth).
Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and simmer until the tomato sauce darkens but doesn’t reduce. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
Make the Meatballs
Make the Mixture
Dice ¼ onion and finely chop the cilantro. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, large raw egg, diced onions, breadcrumbs, cilantro, salt and pepper.
Mix all ingredients using a wooden spoon or combine with your hands. Don’t overmix, as this will make the meatballs tough.
Roll the Meatballs
Break off a chunk of ground beef and roll into a rough ball.
Make a well with your finger in the meat.
Place a chunk of hard-boiled egg in the well.
Close the well and roll into a ball.
Repeat until you’ve rolled all the ground beef into balls. These are ready to cook!
Cook the Meatballs
Using kitchen tongs, place the raw meatballs into the hot salsa.
Cook for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through so the meatballs are evenly cooked.
Now you’re ready to eat!
Serve and Savor!
Place your meatballs on a plate and spoon over the salsa.
Serve with a side of rice, bread or tortillas. So tasty!
Authentic Albondigas Recipe (Mexican Meatballs)
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Kitchen knife
- Blender
- Large frying pan or skillet
- Large pot
- Mixing Bowls
- Prep Bowls
- Wooden spoon
- Kitchen Tongs
Ingredients
For the Salsa
- 5 Tomatoes
- 2 Garlic cloves skin removed
- 4 cups Beef broth or chicken broth
- ¼ White onion
- 1 Chipotle chili from a can of chipotle chilis
- ¼ cup Vegetable oil
- ¼ cup Water
For the Meatballs
- 1 ¾ lbs. Ground beef
- 3 Hardboiled eggs chopped into ¼-inch pieces
- 1 Large egg
- ¼ cup Breadcrumbs
- ¼ White onion finely chopped
- ½ cup Cilantro finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the Salsa
Roast the Veggies
- Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the tomatoes, onions and garlic.
- Roast for 10 minutes, turning so that each side is evenly roasted. Be sure to only roast the garlic for two minutes. Any longer and it will taste bitter.
- Once each side has blackened and the skin on the tomatoes has blistered, remove from the heat.
Blend the Salsa
- Place the veggies into your blender, along with ¼ cup of water and one chili from a can of chipotle chilies.
- Blend for 30 seconds or until very smooth. You shouldn’t be able to see any pieces of tomato skin. Important: Cover the top of the blender with a kitchen towel and hold the top in place as you blend. Because the vegetables are hot, the pressure could cause the top to pop off and splash the hot ingredients.
Cook the Salsa
- Pour ¼ cup vegetable oil into a large pot heated over medium-high heat.
- Once the oil is very hot, slowly pour the blended salsa into the pot. The salsa might splatter as you’re pouring, so work carefully.
- Next, pour in the beef broth (or chicken broth).
- Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and simmer until the tomato sauce darkens but doesn’t reduce. Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
Make the Meatballs
- Dice the ¼ onion and finely chop the cilantro.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, large raw egg, diced onions, breadcrumbs, cilantro, salt and pepper.
- Mix all ingredients using a wooden spoon or combine with your hands.
Roll the Meatballs
- Break off a chunk of ground beef and roll into a rough ball.
- Make a well with your finger in the meat and place a chunk of hard boiled egg in the well.
- Close the well and roll into a ball. Repeat until you’ve rolled all the ground beef into balls.
Cook the Meatballs
- Using kitchen tongs, place the raw meatballs into the hot salsa.
- Cook for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through so the meatballs are evenly cooked.
Serve and Savor!
- Place your meatballs on a plate and spoon over the salsa.
- Serve with a side of rice, bread or tortillas.
Notes
- Place any leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to four days.
- Freeze the meatballs and salsa together in a Ziploc bag for up to three months. Let thaw in the refrigerator and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
More Yummy Mexican Ground Beef Recipes from the Blog
Stu says
I’ll make these soon. They look delicious. One change I will make is to fry the salsa in lard rather than vegetable oil. There is so much evidence that vegetable oils are terrible for your health.
Sylvia Escobedo says
Very authentic! Well presented!
I have not added the hard boiled egg before..I’ll do next time.
Erin says
Turned out delicious!
Barbara mendzer says
I am from Guanajuato, I am aware that there are two methods for albondigas, the ones that I make are albondigones which are larger and have mint for flavor, along with , rice is added to mixture, thyme,garlic,onion, egg,salt, pepper and chicken broth, plus vegetables. we don’t serve with rice. The serving consist of meat and vegetables, of course hot tortillas are served when dished up.
Kimberly B says
They were delicious. I did add the boiled eggs and that made everyone love the dish. I served with rice.
Laura says
These were good. I added some garlic powder to the meat mixture because it’s impossible to have too much garlic. When I make this again, I think I would bake the meatballs instead of cooking them in the tomato sauce. That way I could drain off any excess grease from the ground beef.
The tomato sauce is good and if you have an abundance of late season tomatoes, can be made in a large quantity and frozen. It’s good on lots of things, egg, enchiladas, etc.
Diane Villegas says
Here in Arizona, along the border with Mexico, albondigas is a caldo (soup) with the meatballs, vegetables, in a broth. I have never heard of adding hard boiled eggs!
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