Albondigas (vegetable and meatball) Soup

By Celeste Drake
@GoonieGurl

My family loves this soup...whenever we get together in the winter time there is always bound to be a big pot of this delicious (and healthy!) soup. This recipe comes from my Tia (that's aunt in spanish)...who probably got it from her mother...everybody in the family adds something different...but this is the way Tia taught me so this is the way I'll tell you.

****side note**** this feeds A LOT of people...we usually make this in a huge electric turkey roaster pan...we feed anywhere from 15-50 people...to make a smaller batch reduce by half or fourths...there are always leftovers and it is always better the next day

Rating:

★★★★★ 2 votes

Comments:

16 Comments

Serves:

A LOT!!...with leftovers

Prep:

1 Hr

Cook:

2 Hr

Ingredients

4 large: onions, diced
4 large: carrots diced
4 large: stalks of celery, diced
2 large: anaheim chilies
1 large: can of whole stewed tomatoes or 2 medium cans of mexican style stewed diced tomatoes
6 medium: potatoes, medium sized dice
2 medium: zucchini, diced
1 pkg: frozen corn (small bag)
1/2 lb: fresh green beans, cut in half
1 large: can tomato sauce
1 small: can of el pato spicy tomato sauce
2 Tbsp: knorr chicken bouillon, or 4 chicken bouillon cubes *
2 tsp: black pepper *
2 tsp: oregano, dried *
4 clove: garlic, minced *
: water to fill pot
3 lb: ground beef
1 pkg: hi-ho or ritz crackers (1 sleeve not whole box)(crushed up)
3 large: eggs

How to Make Albondigas (vegetable and meatball) Soup

Step-by-Step

1Mix ground beef, crackers, eggs and about 1/3 of the small can of the El Pato spicy tomato sauce together in a large bowl. Cover and put in refrigerator.
2chop all veggies to have them ready when they need to go in to pot
3in a very large pot, put enough vegetable or olive oil to cover the bottom and sauté the onions, carrots, celery and Anaheim chilies until translucent.
4add stewed tomatoes and seasonings(marked with the *)
5add tomato sauce and remainder of El Pato spicy tomato sauce.
6add the rest of the veggies and then fill pot with water to cover everything. ( but remember u need enough room for your meatballs)
7bring to boil and let simmer for about an hour or until potatoes and carrots are cooked through.
8take meatball mix and pinch off about golf ball sized portions and drop into soup ( no need to roll meat...just pinch and drop)...do very minimal stirring after this step to avoid breaking up meatballs.
9bring to boil again and let cook until meatballs are done through.
10serve with tortillas and your favorite toppings... shredded cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro and salsa go very well.