Mexican-Style Beef Albondigas Soup
with Meatballs, Zucchini, Potatoes & Carrots
- Wheat
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with this beefy Mexican-style meatball soup! The meatballs (albondigas) are seasoned with garlic and cumin, sizzled in a hot pan, then simmered in a hearty broth along with carrot, onion, oregano, zucchini, and potatoes. This delicious one-bowl meal just needs a final squeeze of lime juice for flavor perfection.
Ingredients
3 ounce
Carrot
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
1 ounce
Sun-Dried Tomato Paste
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Zucchini
1 teaspoon
Cumin
10 ounce
Ground Beef
2 unit
Beef Stock Concentrate
1 unit
Lime
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
1 teaspoon
Dried Oregano
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
5 unit
Potatoes
Not included in your delivery
11 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
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Wash and dry produce.
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Halve, peel, and dice onion into ½-inch pieces. Peel, trim, and quarter carrot lengthwise; cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick quarter-moons. Trim and quarter zucchini lengthwise; cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick quarter-moons. Halve and dice potatoes into ½-inch pieces. Quarter lime.
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In a large bowl, combine beef*, garlic powder, cumin, panko, half the beef stock concentrates, ¾ tsp salt (1¼ tsp for 4 servings), and pepper. Gently combine, then form into 8-10 two-inch meatballs (16-20 for 4).
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Heat a drizzle of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and zucchini; cook until veggies are golden and slightly softened, 3-4 minutes. Add oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds more.
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Add potatoes, tomato paste, 2 tsp salt (4 tsp for 4 servings), and pepper. Cook, stirring, until veggies are well coated, 1-2 minutes. Add veggie stock concentrate, remaining beef stock concentrate, and 3½ cups water (6 cups for 4); bring to a boil.
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Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 2-3 minutes (you may need to work in batches for 4 servings). Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate (they’ll finish cooking in the next step).
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Reduce heat under pot with soup to low and carefully add meatballs one at a time. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and meatballs are fully cooked, 10-15 minutes.
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Remove from heat; taste and season with salt and pepper. Using a spoon, skim any excess fat from the surface.
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Stir in juice from half the lime wedges.
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Divide soup between bowls and serve with remaining lime wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: The meatballs are well-seasoned and tender, but many found the broth too bland and watery 🍲; adding extra tomato paste, a beef bouillon cube, or more cumin and garlic powder to the broth made a big difference.
- Ease of prep: There's a fair amount of chopping and multiple steps, but the process is straightforward; plan for closer to 30 minutes of cook time rather than 15 for fully tender potatoes and vegetables.
- Suggestions: Reduce the salt — several reviewers found 2 tsp in the broth too much; add potatoes with the onions first since they take the longest, and add zucchini just before the broth to keep it from going mushy.
- Leftovers: This recipe makes a generous pot, and several reviewers noted the flavors deepened and improved the next day 🎉.
Reviews from our home cooks
Amazing soup! I love the broth in this soup. It is so rich and flavorful. The meatballs are a nice touch, instead of chopped up meats. And the potatoes and carrots are a perfect match. Delicious!
The meal was great, one of my favorites. The instructions say to cook the zucchini & carrots before the potatoes. The potatoes should go in first. I followed the instructions and they didn't cook all the way.
Worth all the prep. Excellent taste on the meatballs. Healthy soup. The lime adds fresh perfection to the soup as well. Loved it.
I enjoyed this meal very much, flavors were spot on. I do suggest cooking a little bit longer than noted on the recipe card because the carrots were too al dente.
I really like this soup however, I would've liked a better ratio of vegetables versus meat and potatoes. The zucchini and carrot portions were very small - so visibly small and laughable I had to weigh them - 2.9 oz zucchini and 2.0 oz carrot. Happily I already had carrots so I added more.
Delicious recipe. I added some green beans from another Hello Fresh recipe that I didn't use everything for. Also spiced it up with a dash of chili powder.
A one pot recipe (well, almost) is always nice. This was different, and I always like trying new things. Tasty to have on a cold winter night - and with a little bit of leftovers!
I have been making this my whole life. So, I think its pretty good but I would just modify the instructions. I think you should add both beef broths to the broth, than half the cumin, oregano and half the garlic. Than make the meatballs with the other half of the garlic, cumin and oregano. It might need a little more cumin because this soup is supposed to have big cumin taste. My family has always eat this soup with cooked corn tortilla. Of course a squeeze of lime, cilantro. You can add jalopenos for more heat.
This was really good, but was lacking a little depth. Added some coriander, turmeric and tamarind to the soup, let it simmer for 20 minutes and it was delicious. Would order this again
Such good flavors and love the amount of veggies! It might even be my favorite HelloFresh soup, please bring it back.
