Given how many meatballs I eat, it was inevitable that I would come up with a good albondigas recipe. What can I say? I love meatballs. Anyone who doesn’t lacks some critical gene required to be a good human, I suspect.
Every culture in the world makes some kind of meatball, and those cultures that are vegetarian make meatless meatball-like orbs. Meatballs are universal. They are little balls of comfort.
I’ve made this particular albondigas recipe with venison, duck, and wild pork. Any meat will do. Bear? Sure. Beef or pork? Of course. Skip the muskrat, though. This recipe comes together in an hour or so, making it easy enough to do on a work night. Kids love making meatballs, too, so shanghai them into it.
I mostly like eating these with rice while watching football or nature shows, but chipotle meatballs make a damn good party appetizer. I’d like to see a duel between chipotle meatballs and Swedish meatballs. Both awesome, both classic party fare, just very different.
OK, I am rambling. Make these meatballs! Seriously. Make them.
One good tip is to double the batch and, before you sauce your meatballs but after you’ve browned them, set them on a baking sheet or plate in the freezer until they are solid, then keep your albondigas in a freezer bag. That way you can pull out meatballs whenever the mood strikes you. Just reheat in the sauce of your choice, ideally this chipotle sauce.
Note that there is one other common way to eat albondigas, which is as a soup. Those meatballs are much smaller.
Mexican Albondigas en Chipotle
Ingredients
MEATBALLS
- 2 pounds ground venison, duck, or other meat
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 to 2 tablespoons dried mint
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- Bacon fat, lard, or oil for frying
SAUCE
- 2 tablespoons lard, bacon fat or oil
- 1 onion, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 2 cups broth, chicken, duck, venison, whatever
- 3 to 6 chipotles in adobo, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Put all the meatball ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix with your very clean hands until the mixture comes together. Don't overwork the mix or the meatballs will get tough. Roll into meatballs of whatever size you want. I like to make them by the tablespoon. If you have the time, let the meatballs sit in the fridge for up to an hour; this helps them stay together.
- Brown the meatballs in the bacon fat, lard, or oil. Set aside once browned.
- If you browned the meatballs in a large enough pan to hold all of them, drain all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat and keep using that pan. Otherwise, get a pot or pan large enough to hold all the meatballs and heat 2 tablespoons of fat in it. Cook the onions in this until soft and browned at the edges, about 10 minutes. Stir from time to time. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Add the spices, chipotles, broth and tomato and mix well. Nestle the meatballs into the sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Eat with rice or by themselves as an appetizer.
What meat to fat ratio would you suggest for this recipe? I see that you usually go 3:1 down to 4:1 with your other meatballs. Wasn’t sure if there was one that would be better suited or more appropriate for this style, or if it is a “universal truth” sort of situation.
CAN I USE SNAPPING TURTLE AND DEEP FRY THE MEATBALLS?
Jack: Sure.
My family and I love this recipe. We usually go to the lower end with the volume of the chipotles in adobo due to my young children not being able to tolerate the spice. We have this with rice multiple times every winter.
I made these once and instantly they’ve become a staple in our home. Absolutely delicious. One thing I do is to cook the meatballs in a 425 oven for 25 mins then simmer them because I make extra meatballs and they’ve always turned out amazing.
Made these tonight to sample first and determine how gamey they would be before making them for a party. Made a combination of wild goat/wild pig/domestic pig fat and then venison/wild pig/domestic pig fat. Tasted amazing and my other half who is very sensitive to gaminess enjoyed them very much!
Made these for a progressive holiday dinner party, and they were a big hit. Will definitely be making these again!
Another winning recipe. Everyone at the party tonight enjoyed as far as I could tell. There is a LOT of cumin and garlic in here, but the flavours are still harmonious. I used my gamey-er ground mule, and I couldn’t taste anything unpleasant. I really enjoy your fine-tuned recipes because they mask “gamey” so well. I might not make this again, but that would only be due to a personal preference, a lack of fondness for cumin, so I will still give it 5 well deserved stars!
Hi Hank,
I’ve made these meatballs several times with ground deer. Absolutely delicious! Made some into Mexican meatball soup – wonderful flavours.
You should write a cookbook dedicated to meatballs, we just love them.
Christine
I made a double batch, it’s going to take forever to fry them. Can I bake them off on a sheet pan?
Jared: You can. But they’re better fried in lard. 😉
My wife and I gave this a whirl for a pot-luck. I used some of the ground elk I harvested during the Sept 2014 rut (in Alberta). AMAZING flavours! There were a number of non-hunters at the pot luck who had never tried wild game and loved these. After browning the balls I simmered them in a crock-pot which helped with transport and re-heating once at the party…worked really well. All of the your recipes that we have tried have been winners. Please keep doing your thing!
Question: I’ve never used ground duck before. Have you ever combined the duck with the venison? What was the result? Thanks!
Julie: It’ll work fine. Go for it!
I made my own tomato puree yesterday and then made these with ground venison. It was superb! Thank you!
I plan to make these soon with axis burger (ground with smoked bacon!). Thanks for the good recipes.
I love albóndigas. You can use rice instead of bread crumbs (for the gluten intolerant out there). That’s how my mother does it anyway.
I enjoy cooking all types of food and I usually take liberties with the recipes I try, but I stuck with the recipe on this one even when I wasn’t so sure about the mint. We were pleasantly surprised with the results. So good – Thank you!
Made these for supper this evening, however with mix of roughly 45% venison / 45% cooking chorizo / 10% smoked streaky bacon, all through the mincer together to combine. As chipotles in adobo aren’t easy to find here in the UK I used dried chipotle that I’d soaked in water, and used the soaking water in place of half the stock. Was very pleased with the results, thanks for the inspiration Hank!
I make these often but usually half beef and pork. Instead of bread crumbs I use crushed corn chips. One other great binder for lean ground meat is buckwheat groats.
Panade, I like it, sounds French.
I always learn something from you.
Sara: Skip the eggs and use about 4 or 5 slices of bread (crusts removed), torn to pieces and soaked in milk. This is a panade and will keep the meatballs together.
I pretty much avoid meatballs because I can’t eat eggs. So any suggestions as to what I can use in place of the eggs?