Albóndigas (Mexican Meatballs)

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These are the most effective freaking Albóndigas in tomato sauce in the entire large world! Mexican Meatballs have a particular place in my coronary heart and as quickly as you strive these juicy blobs of heaven you’ll instantly know why.

My buddy Jessica is married to a Mexican and her husband’s household makes albóndigas on a regular basis. They have been form sufficient to share the recipe along with her, which she in flip shared with me. All people, please say: “Thanks, Jessica!”. A couple of 12 months in the past she made them for me for the primary time and similar to with my buddy Christelle’s Mauritian Rooster Curry I might solely describe them with one phrase: PHE-NO-ME-NAL!

It’s time to share this phenomenal Mexican Albóngias recipe with the entire world, so right here we go:

Components & Substitutions

Ingredients for albondigas laid out on a kitchen counter.

Floor meat – The unique recipe from my buddy Jessica calls for normal floor pork and common floor beef. I’ve examined the albóndigas recipe with all types of combos to make them extra “on model” for Inexperienced Wholesome Cooking. After many exams, I concluded that to realize each a more healthy however nonetheless tasty and juicy model the most effective combo is 50/50. 50% common floor pork and 50% lean floor bison of beef. All lean beef ends in very very dry meatballs, don’t do it! If you happen to don’t eat pork I like to recommend utilizing common floor turkey as an alternative of the pork however remember that it’ll merely be so much drier. The pork IS important for taste and juiciness.
Eggs – you want one as glue within the meat combine and 4 for hard-boiling. It’s tempting to skip hard-boiling the eggs however belief me, that’s the most effective a part of the recipe. Biting into certainly one of these Mexican Meatballs and discovering a bit of egg is solely magical. Price the additional minutes of cooking time.
Cilantro – you understand, if it doesn’t style like cleaning soap to you. Even when it tastes like cleaning soap to you, strive it with cilantro!! Cooked cilantro is far milder than contemporary. If you happen to actually actually reaaaaaaally can’t even fathom consuming it, change it with basil however know it might be a lethal sin in Mexico so don’t serve to a Mexican, hahaha.
Onion & Garlic – use both a yellow or purple onion. Each work nice right here. Garlic 100% use contemporary, not dried.
Mustard, Sea Salt, Pepper – I extremely advocate contemporary mustard however in a pinch you may additionally use dried, simply ensure you use much less as a result of it’s a lot stronger. Season the meat generously as no quantity of salt within the sauce later will be capable to treatment bland meatballs.
Yellow Potato – Jessica’s unique recipe requires bread crumbs however sadly, many breadcrumb manufacturers include MSG. I attempted all types of various replacements, even making breadcrumbs from scratch however nothing tasted good or labored as nicely till I attempted a yellow potato. A yellow potato has the correct quantity of starch to change into like mashed potatoes. It serves as the most effective clean-eating “glue” ingredient ever to interchange breadcrumbs in any meatball recipe.
Tomato passata & broth – I’ve tried utilizing diced tomatoes and due to their larger water content material the sauce doesn’t end up as silky clean and thick. Tomato passata is a lot better however diced “works” in fact. Rooster broth or beef broth work however hen broth is my favourite.

How To Make Mexican Albóndigas In Tomato Sauce

Albondigas in tomato sauce in a large white pan.

It’s a bit time-consuming however nicely price your time. Belief me!

Exhausting-boil 4 eggs. My favourite approach to hard-boil eggs is to convey water to a boil in a small saucepan and as soon as boiling fastidiously add fridge-cold eggs to the water with a tong. Set a timer for 8 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off take away the eggs and easily go away them in a bowl on the counter to chill down. This fashion you don’t have to arrange an ice tub, which I personally discover annoying. They end cooking whereas cooling down and about 10 minutes out of the water they’re cool sufficient to have the ability to peel them.
Chop your onion, garlic, and cilantro. Chop them tremendous finely so your albóndigas stick collectively correctly. If in case you have big chunks of onion in your meat combine it’s tremendous laborious to type uniform meatballs.
Add all of the components in your Mexican meatballs to the bowl of your stand mixer. when you have one. If not use a big bowl as an alternative. Solely upon getting all of the components within the bowl, peel the potato and grate it proper into the bowl. We don’t wish to peel or grate the potato forward of time as a result of it browns fairly shortly if not blended into one thing. Use the dough hood of your mixer to slowly combine the whole lot. Or if you’re utilizing a daily bowl, use your fingers to combine the whole lot.
Peel your hard-boiled eggs and minimize them into quarters attempting to chop in a method so every quarter has a little bit of yolk in it.
Add the tomato passata and hen broth to a big pan or pot for which you will have a lid. I like first pouring the tomato passata into the pan, then including hen broth to the jar so I can get all of the tomato out of there. Now convey this to a boil over medium-low warmth. You wish to obtain a constant low simmer. If the temperature is just too sizzling the bubbles burst and shoot tomato droplets out throughout your cooktop or your garments.
Now it’s time to type your albóndigas. I like utilizing a big ice cream scoop so I can type uniform meatballs. With the ice cream scoop all of them are about the identical dimension. You possibly can additionally use a 1/4 cup measuring cup.
Have a big plate readily available to place your completed meatballs on. Add the meat combine to the palm of your hand and press it flat, then add 1/4 egg within the heart and envelope the egg within the meat combine forming a ball. Be sure you don’t have any seams wherever. Take your time urgent and rolling in between your fingers till you will have a clean floor on the skin. If you happen to go away the seams they may burst open when you prepare dinner the meatballs. You’ll nonetheless find yourself with scrumptious however rather less fairly albóndigas.
When you completed forming all of your Mexican meatballs add them to your slow-bubbling tomato salsa. Placed on the lid, and allow them to simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

What To Serve Albóndigas With

Serve them over Instantaneous Pot Rice. Pour some Home made Salsa Roja over them or just a little bit of canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. If you happen to’re feeling formidable, prepare dinner some Pinto Beans in your Instantaneous Pot the day earlier than and add that to your albóndigas as nicely along with the rice. The combo of all of that is….once more….PHE-NO-ME-NAL!

The right way to Retailer & Freeze Mexican Meatballs

Merely put leftovers in an hermetic freezer-friendly container and retailer them within the fridge for as much as 4 days or freeze for as much as 3 months.

They’re nice for freezing. To defrost all it’s important to do is place them within the fridge for 12-24 hours earlier than reheating.

Different Mexican Recipes You Could Take pleasure in

Having married a Mexican, birthed two Mexicans, and lived in Mexico for 4 years it’s possible you’ll think about how near my coronary heart Mexican delicacies is. I’ve loads of genuine Mexican recipes like this albóndigas recipe on my web site and listed here are my very favorites: The Finest Mexican Recipes.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook dinner Time: 45 minutes

Complete Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 6 folks

These are the most effective freaking Albóndigas in tomato sauce in the entire large world! The juicy Mexican Meatballs have a particular place in my coronary heart.

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Directions

Exhausting-boil 4 eggs, then peel and quarter the eggs. (Ideas for this additional up within the weblog submit).
Peel and finely chop onion and garlic. The finer you chop it the better it’s to type the meatballs later. Chop off a great chunk of the ends of the cilantro, then finely chop the cilantro as nicely.
Add the bottom meat, chopped onion, chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, 1 uncooked egg, mustard, and salt and pepper to the bowl of your stand mixer or a daily massive bowl. Use the dough hook to combine all components, or use your fingers.
Add tomato passata and hen broth to a big lidded pan or pot and convey to a low boil over medium low warmth.
Within the meantime, type the albóndigas through the use of about 1/4 cup of the meat combine for every meatball. Press the meat combine into the palm of your fingers, add 1/4 hard-boiled egg into the middle, and envelope the egg forming a spherical ball. Keep away from seams so they do not burst open whereas cooking. Take your time to type uniform and clean balls.
When you shaped all of the meatballs, add them to the low-bubbling tomato sauce, cowl, and let simmer on low for 45-60 minutes.
Serve over rice and garnish with a couple of leaves of cilantro.