Albondiga Soup is made with albondigas, or meatballs, and lots of vegetables. This traditional Mexican soup is full of flavor with just enough spice to warm up your soul!

White bowl filled with albondigas, or meatballs, vegetables, and lime wedge garnish.

This Albondiga Soup was a staple in our house, especially in the winter. My mami would make huge batch of this soup along with a batch of Mexican rice or fideo. Traditionally the albondigas, or meatballs, are made with rice mixed into the meat mixture which is then cooked while the soup simmers. I wanted to make this Whole30 compliant version by omitting the rice but keeping the rest of the delicious ingredients and flavors that makes this soup so nostalgic.

The best part of this soup is the amount of vegetables incorporated into it. To be honest, growing up I wasn’t the biggest fan of the amount of veggies in the soup. However, I grew up to love it and now it brings nothing but memories, vegetables and all. Let me tell you what makes this soup special and a little spicy…chipotle adobo. It truly makes a difference in this recipe. The smokiness and spiciness of the sauce is something you don’t want to miss out on. You can find my recipe for an easy chipotle adobo here.

Albondiga soup is perfect for meal prep to portion out and take to work for a few days. It reheats well and the flavors even intensify as they blend together throughout the days. This is also a good recipe to prep ahead by chopping up all the vegetables a day or two before to save some time. Here is a tip if you are prepping the veggies ahead of time: put the potatoes in a bowl with water so they do not brown.

My favorite thing about this albondiga soup is that it all gets thrown into a large pot and you kind of forget about it. You end up with the most delicious and comforting soup that is actually super healthy and flavorful. You can absolutely use any kind of ground meat you prefer and add in or substitute any veggies you’d like. The only thing I would strongly recommend you keep is that chipotle adobo. It makes this soup so special and gives you some serious flavor! Provecho!

Print Recipe

Albondiga Soup

Healthy and comforting soup with meatballs and lots of vegetables

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: albondigas, meatball soup, meatballs, soup, whole30

Ingredients

Albondigas (meatballs)

1 lb ground beef or meat of choice
¼ onion finely chopped
¼ cup cilantro stems removed and finely chopped
2 tsp salt

Soup

8 cups water
1 zucchini chopped
1 squash chopped
2 potatoes chopped
3 carrots chopped
1 tomato chopped
¼ onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
¼ cup cilantro stems removed, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp chipotle adobo *see note
½ tbsp salt adjust to taste

Instructions

To make albondigas

Place everything in a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. Don't over mix or the meatball will be tough.
Roll mixture into 12 meatballs using a large cookie scoop or by by hand. Each meatball should be about 1½ inches.

To make soup

Place large pot over medium high heat and add all soup ingredients plus meatballs.
Cover pot and cook until soup starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes. Add more salt if needed.

Notes

*Find my chipotle adobo recipe in this post here

*Start with 1 tbsp of chipotle adobo and add another tbsp if desired.