Funny name...fantastic taste!

Photo by Becky Luigart-Stayner

Albondigas soup (or Albadonkadonkas as my kids and husband call it) is a very rich and filling Mexican meatball soup.  I love the versatility of this soup, you can use hot, mild or green chile salsas, you can add more veggies or take them out or you can use your favorite type of ground meat.  Its easy to throw together and fun for the kids to help with as well.  I like to use a small cookie scoop to make the meatballs.  It allows you to get the perfect bite size meatball every time and you won't have to worry about over working the meat by rolling it too much.  Over handling causes compaction of the meat and that leads to a dry meatball! This soup is even better the next day and freezes well.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound lean ground beef

1/4 pound pork sausage

1 onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup cornmeal

6 (14 ounce) cans beef broth

1 (8 ounce) jar salsa (mild, hot or green chile)

1 onion, chopped

2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced

tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup white rice

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

Mix together beef broth, salsa, 1 onion, tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes.

Combine ground beef, sausage, 1 onion, egg, salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, garlic powder, milk, fresh basil, and cornmeal, and mix well. Form into tiny, bite-size meatballs.

Add meatballs and rice to broth. Simmer, covered, very slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan.