Soup’s On – Sopa de Albondigas

Some think of soup as a cool or cold weather food. But we drink hot coffee and tea in all four seasons and eat ice cream all year round as well, so why not eat soup in all seasons…especially if it is one as yummy as this one is? And this is a gluten free soup too!!!

Sopa de Albondigas literally translates to Meatball Soup and is a delicious Mexican treat. Nearly every Mexican restaurant you will ever eat at will serve their version of this soup. Basically, it is a vegetable soup with meatballs as a very tasty addition. And the meatballs MAKE the soup in this case. Easy to make but so FULL of flavor, they are the star of this show.

We started with a recipe we found on Food.com but modified it slightly and are very, very pleased with the outcome. To say this was a hit doesn’t begin to tell the story. My husband, Randy liked it so much he had it for dinner Monday night, breakfast Tuesday morning, dinner again Tuesday night and then asked if there was enough for him to have it again this morning!

Give it a try…we think you’ll be really glad you did 🙂

Sopa de Albondigas
About 8 servings

Meatballs
3/4 lb ground beef (we like an 80%/20% mix)
3/4 lb chorizo sausage (uncooked with casing removed)
1 carrot, minced
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup bread crumbs (we used gluten free bread crumbs – if you don’t have those and want to keep your soup gluten free, you can use 3/4 of cooked rice instead)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 heaping teaspoon ground cumin

Soup
8 cups chicken broth
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
5 stalks celery, cut into chunks
1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 large or 3 medium zucchini, (slice in half lengthwise then into 1/4″ slices)

Make the meat balls by using your best kitchen tool, your hands. Mix everything together with your fingers. Then use a small ice-cream or cookie scoop or tablespoon and scoop meatball mixture into your palms then roll between your palms to make evenly sized round meatballs. This mixture will make about 32-36 golf ball sized meatballs.

Now make the soup. Combine the chicken broth, celery, onion, tomatoes (including the liquid), oregano, cilantro, and cumin. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes increase heat to bring the soup back to a slow boil. Next, carefully drop the meatballs one at a time into the broth mixture.

Return to a simmer and cook another 10 minutes. Add zucchini and cook 10 minutes more. Serve garnished with a sprinkling of cilantro leaves. YUM!