Spicy Albondigas

I grew up eating this soup and after trying dozens of recipes I have combined them to come up with this dish. The flavors are rich, the meatballs are tender and the broth is good enough to drink by itself. Serve with warm flour tortillas.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 20 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 50 mins
• Calories: 289 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 10 cups chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 pounds ground beef
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• ½ cup uncooked white rice
• ½ large onion, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®)
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Combine ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, rice, cumin, garlic powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.

Step 2

Bring chicken broth to a boil over medium heat in a large kettle.

Step 3

Form the beef mixture into 1 inch meatballs, using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of meat for each. Turn the heat down under the chicken broth to a simmer and drop the meatballs into the broth. Simmer the meatballs in the broth for 20 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through.

Step 4

Stir in the carrots, onion, celery, canned diced tomatoes with green chiles, tomato sauce, canned chiles, cilantro, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin. Simmer the soup for 1 hour to cook the vegetables and blend the flavors.