How smug do you feel? (Answer: VERY!)
Mexican Meatballs
I probably shouldn’t admit this, given I run a recipe website and I feel like I’m expected to have a positive attitude to all things food. The truth is I don’t really have the patience for meatball rolling. I’ve previously whined that someone really needs to invent a meatball rolling device. I picture some tube-like thing into which meat is stuffed, then perfectly shaped meatballs come plopping out the other end. Not the best image, perhaps!! 😂 But imagine how fast it could be to make 100 meatballs using such a contraption!!! Anyway, in the absence of such a device, the point of sharing this musing is so you know that any meatball recipe you see on this website exists because I deem it totally worthy of the rolling effort! And today, such a recipe is Mexican Meatballs. Powered by classic Tex-Mex spices, these pork and beef beauties are everything you love about Mexican and everything you love about meatballs all in one, and all bathed in a smoky, chipotle-accented tomato sauce.
Ingredients in Mexican Meatballs
Here’s what goes into these Mexican Meatballs. There’s a few “secret ingredients”! The “secret ingredients” in these meatballs are:
Ingredients for sauce for Mexican Meatballs
And here’s what you need for the sauce: Also used in: Prawn/Shrimp Tacos, Chipotle Lime Roasted Cauliflower (this is so good!), Cowboy Bean Salad, Fish Tacos, Mexican Shredded Beef, Chicken Tacos, Cowboy Rice Salad. Chipotles in Adobo – Now available in the Mexican food section of large grocery stores in Australia (Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farms), this is the key flavouring element for the sauce. We don’t use loads – there’s enough flavour in the meatballs themselves, so we only add a subtle amount in the sauce. Chipotles are dried and smoked jalapeno peppers. In tinned formed, they usually come in a tangy and spicy red sauce called adobo, hence the name Chipotles in Adobo. You get smoky flavour and heat from the chipotle along with a good kick of spices, garlic and other flavourings from the adobo. In this recipe, we are using both the chipotle chilli as well as a bit of the sauce. Freeze leftover chipotles: Use a small ziplock bag, arranging chillies in one layer so it’s easy to break a bit off to use as needed. Use for Beef Barbacoa, Mexican Shredded Chicken, Mexican Corn.
How to make Mexican Meatballs
To make life easy and keep your meatballs nice and round, I like to par-bake them in the oven then finish them off in the sauce. Great flavour exchange – tasty juices from the meatballs leeches into the sauce, and the sauce keeps the meatballs nice and juicy!
What to serve with Mexican Meatballs
These meatballs are delicious served plain, straight out off the stove, served over a bowl of rice or with some warmed tortillas for stuffing/slopping (that’s a technical term!😂). However, as with all things Mexican, toppings are a bonus. Here are some options.
Topping options
Sour cream (or yogurt)Shredded cheese Avocado in any form – diced, sliced, smushed, or if you’re going for gold, GuacamoleYour favourite hot sauceJalapeno slicesCoriander/cilantro leaves
Rice options
Note: The Mexican Green Rice is buried in a Mexican Beef Ribs recipe. I will pull it out and add a video one of these days! Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
That time I burnt my hand grabbing the handle of a searing hot cast iron skillet. It was stinging so badly I had to keep it submerged in ice cold water, while I continued working with my other hand! No sympathy from Dozer. All he cared about was the one little treat left on the table!
