Albóndigas Soup

Albondigas Soup, aka Mexican Meatball Soup or Sopa de Albóndigas is the perfect all-in-one meal that delivers BIG on both flavor and satisfaction. This soup features a delicious broth, lots of veggies, and tender pork meatballs with tons of flavor. Everyone at the table will love this one.

Albóndigas soup, aka Mexican meatball soup, is the ultimate Sunday night dinner. Three things we love about this soup recipe: requires little prep time, has BIG flavor, and is an all-in-one meal. A brief simmer infuses the broth with flavor, cooks the meatballs, and gets your appetite grumbling. 

The light tomatoey broth is flavored with onion, garlic, tomato paste, oregano and cumin. Then tender pork meatballs (albóndigas), featuring tons of fresh herbs, are cooked right in the simmering soup. Mixed with dry white rice, the albóndigas come out tender and moist. *chefs kiss, these are incredible!

What is Albóndigas Soup?

Albóndigas is the mexican work for meatballs. Most often, albóndigas refers to the popular Mexican and Spanish dish featuring spicy meatball in a tomato sauce. The meatballs often consist of a both beef and pork, and traditionally feature rice, which keeps them nice and tender. Some recipes use bread instead of rice, but I love the texture rice adds.

Albóndigas soup (sopade albóndigas or sopa de albóndigas) is a beef-broth soup featuring chopped vegetables and tender meatballs.

Albóndigas Soup Ingredients

Albóndigas (Meatball) Ingredients

• Ground pork: Depending on how fatty your pork is, you may need to skim some grease off the top of the soup before serving. We use 85% lean ground pork for this soup.
• Rice: dry long-grain rice is added to the meat mixture and is a traditional way to bind meatballs in the Mexican cuisine. The rice cooks and plumps up inside the meatballs, adding texture and helping to bind them together.
• Herbs: fresh mint and parsley add loads of fresh flavor while dried Mexican oregano adds floral herbiness. You can find Mexican oregano online or at your local Mexican market.
• Garlic: fresh is always best! You’ll need two large cloves.
• Egg: an egg is used to bind the pork meatball mixture together.

Soup Ingredients

• Olive Oil: used to sauté the vegetables! You can also use avocado oil or vegetable oil.
• Aromatics: white onion, garlic and carrot lay the foundational flavor for this soup.
• Tomato paste: some recipes use canned tomato sauce instead. You can add a small can of tomato sauce to this soup if you want it less brothy and more tomato-based.
• Dried oregano: preferably dried Mexican oregano, I get mine at my local Mexican market. If you don’t have Mexican oregano you can use marjoram or regular dried oregano.
• Cumin: ground cumin is the only spice you need for this recipe and is important for building a flavorful broth.
• Broth: low-sodium beef broth or chicken broth can be used. Beef is classic.
• Canned tomatoes: you’ll need one small can of diced tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and their juices.
• Zucchini: chunks of zucchini are added towards the end of cooking and bulk up the soup nicely.
• Cilantro: if you don’t like cilantro, you can substitute with parsley

How to Make Albóndigas Soup

1. Prep the meatballs by combining the pork, rice, herbs, garlic, and egg. Form into 1-inch meatballs and arrange on a baking sheet.

2. Move on to making the soup. Cook the onion in oil until it’s starting to soften. Add the tomato paste, garlic, oregano and cumin. 

3. Cook to bloom the spices and slightly caramelize the tomato paste.

4. Stir in the carrots.

5. Add the water, broth and tomatoes.

6. Add the meatballs and simmer, covered, until cooked through. 

7. Add the zucchini and simmer until tender. Off heat, stir in the cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make Ahead, Storage and Freezing

To make this soup ahead of time, follow the recipe instructions through step 4 then remove the soup from heat and allow it to cool completely before storing in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, bring the soup to a simmer, add the zucchini and follow the remaining recipe instructions.

Albóndigas soup can be made up to 2 day ahead of time.

Store leftover Albóndigas Soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. For longer storage, freeze the soup for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating and enjoying.

Substitutions & Variations

• Use lean ground beef or ground turkey in place of the pork. 
• Use a combination of ground beef, pork, and/or turkey.
• Add chorizo to the meatballs. 
• Add green beans or peas instead of (or in addition to) the zucchini.
• Use chopped green cabbage instead of the zucchini.
• For a more tomato-y broth, decrease the tomato paste and add some tomato sauce.
• Serve with toasted corn tortillas to tortilla chips.
• Make the meatballs without rice and use 2 pieces of sandwich bread instead.

More Mexican Soup Recipes to Try

Our Mexican Chicken Soup is steeped with flavor from chicken thighs, jalapeno, garlic and oregano. It’s a quick weeknight meal that taste anything but quick!

This Chicken Pozole Verde will blow your mind with its thick and silky broth, tender chicken and bites of hominy. It’s a must-make!

Carne en su Jugó literally translates to “beef in its own juices” and it’s one of those dishes that doesn’t look like much—but don’t underestimate this one! it’s ultra-savory and is a great alternative to classic chili.

Two other soups that are often underestimated are our Sopa de Fideo and Sopa de Pollo con Fideo. The cumin-infused tomato broth paired small thin strands of pasta is just divine.

Soups, Stews & Chilis

Mexican Chicken Soup (Stovetop or Slow Cooker)

Mexican-Inspired

Chicken Pozole Verde

Soups, Stews & Chilis

One Pot Carne en su Jugó

Soups, Stews & Chilis

Sopa de Fideo (Mexican Noodle Soup)

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