You might be wondering what is an albondiga. Albondiga means meatball in spanish. For someone like me who loves Italian and Mexican food, this albondigas soup recipe is a flavorful soup that combines meatballs with a Spanish flare. In the traditional albondigas soup recipe, it is a tomato based broth simmered with vegetables and meatballs.
I decided to make this soup in a crockpot for those days when I have too much going on and still desire a healthy dinner at the end of a work day. It is a great way to get plenty of vegetables alongside with protein. Did I mention it’s an easy crockpot soup recipe, too? Win win!
How to make Albondigas soup
Let’s start with the meatballs! You can use either ground beef or ground turkey. The traditional recipe calls for ground beef, but you will find a majority of my recipes using ground turkey because it contains less saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories than ground beef. It also is an excellent choice if you are wanting a lean protein.
Note: If you make it with ground beef, you will see a heavier layer of fat rise to the surface, so be sure to scoop it out of your soup at the end or the taste with be very greasy. You won’t run into this issue if you use ground turkey.
One of the secret ingredients in these meatballs is to use white rice instead of bread crumbs-this is a game changer! Your meatballs will be so soft, juicy, and flavorful. Be sure to cook your white rice before you mix it into the raw ground turkey.
Once you have mixed the rice, ground turkey, egg, and seasonings, form them into meatball shapes.
Note: I recommend browning the meatballs on a stovetop before setting them into the crockpot.
If you want to omit this extra step you can certainly just add the raw meatballs to the crockpot, but browning the meatballs will keep in the juice and make them extra tender. It also adds a firmer coating to the meatball which I found helpful so they don’t break apart while cooking in the crockpot.
Now for the fun part- the vegetables! I don’t know about you, but I love my vegetables. Feel free to add more of a certain vegetable that you like, or add less of a vegetable that you may not be a fan of. Once you have cut up the vegetables, you can add them to your crockpot.
After the vegetables are placed in the crockpot, you can pour the chicken broth and diced tomatoes on top, followed by the meatballs.
Albondigas soup traditionally has a hint of tomato in its broth. I personally am not a huge tomato lover, so I add only half a can of diced tomatoes. If you like tomatoes, feel free to add the whole can! The great thing about this soup is that you can customize it to your liking!
Simmer on low for 6 hours. Before you know it, your house will smell like a chef’s casita brewing up a filling, healthy, and flavorful soup!
If you are looking for another traditional Mexican dish, you will love these chicken tinga tostadas– especially perfect for taco tuesday!
Albondigas soup
Equipment
- Crockpot
Ingredients
Broth
- 1/2 onion
- 1 large potato
- 1 zucchini squash
- 3 large carrots
- 3 celery stalks
- 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water
Meatball
- 1/2 cup white rice cooked
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
Garnish
- Cilantro
- Jalapeno
- Avocado
- Lime
Instructions
- Cook white rice according to rice instructions. Set aside.
- Peel potato and carrots. Dice. Add to bottom of crockpot.
- Cut celery, onion, and squash. Add to crockpot.
- Add can of diced tomatoes, broth, and water to crockpot.
- Add meatball ingredients into a bowl and mix. Add cooked rice and mix. Shape raw meat mixture into a meatball shape.
- Add some oil to a pan and heat over the stove. Brown the meatball by adding it to the hot pan. Brown all sides.
- Once meatballs are browned, add on top of the vegetables and broth. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours of cooking in the crockpot, pour yourself a big ladle of soup. Top with desired garnish. Enjoy!
Notes
- You may substitute ground beef for ground turkey. I prefer ground turkey because it contains less saturated fat and less cholesterol than ground beef. The traditional albondigas recipe does use ground beef.
- If you are in a time crunch, you can omit browning the meatballs on the stovetop and just add the raw meatballs to the crockpot. They will still cook in the soup. Browning the meatballs will keep in the juice and make them extra tender.
- Albondigas soup traditionally has a hint of tomato in its broth. I personally am not a huge tomato lover, so I add only half a can of diced tomatoes. If you like tomatoes, feel free to add the whole can!
2 Comments
Gotta try this! Thank you!
I am glad to hear this recipe looks delicious to you! Perfect for those cold, gloomy days!