Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Mexican Meatballs Recipe
Everyone else is making Spaghetti Bolognese with their weekly beef mince buy but once more. However you? You’re making plump Mexican Meatballs, smothered in a chipotle tomato sauce and served over rice, with a dollop of guacamole and bitter cream.
How smug do you are feeling? (Reply: VERY!)
I most likely shouldn’t admit this, given I run a recipe web site and I really feel like I’m anticipated to have a constructive angle to all issues meals. The reality is I don’t actually have the persistence for meatball rolling. I’ve beforehand whined that somebody actually must invent a meatball rolling machine. I image some tube-like factor into which meat is stuffed, then completely formed meatballs come plopping out the opposite finish.
Not the most effective picture, maybe!! 😂 However think about how briskly it might be to make 100 meatballs utilizing such a contraption!!!
Anyway, within the absence of such a tool, the purpose of sharing this musing is so you understand that any meatball recipe you see on this web site exists as a result of I deem it completely worthy of the rolling effort! And at this time, such a recipe is Mexican Meatballs.
Powered by basic Tex-Mex spices, these pork and beef beauties are every thing you’re keen on about Mexican and every thing you’re keen on about meatballs multi functional, and all bathed in a smoky, chipotle-accented tomato sauce.
Right here’s what goes into these Mexican Meatballs. There’s a couple of “secret substances”!
The “secret substances” in these meatballs are:
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Corn chips which might be used rather than the standard breadcrumbs! They add additional flavour into the meatballs, that distinct corn flavour, in addition to salt. Substitute with breadcrumbs;
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Beef AND pork mince (floor meat) – For the most effective flavour and beautiful tender meatballs. Be happy to only use all beef. Tremendous tasty, simply that they aren’t fairly as tender. And should you use all pork, the meatballs will style, properly, porkier; and
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Chipotle powder – That is smoked, dried and floor jalapeño chilli that has a little bit of a spicy kick to it in addition to being fantastically smoky. Sadly it’s not but extensively obtainable in Australia however yow will discover it in Harris Farms (Sydney) and anyplace that shares number of spices. Substitute with extra smoked paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper or pure chilli.
Additionally utilized in: Prawn/Shrimp Tacos, Chipotle Lime Roasted Cauliflower (that is so good!), Cowboy Bean Salad, Fish Tacos, Mexican Shredded Beef, Chicken Tacos, Cowboy Rice Salad.
And right here’s what you want for the sauce:
Chipotles in Adobo – Now obtainable within the Mexican meals part of enormous grocery shops in Australia (Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farms), that is the important thing flavouring factor for the sauce. We don’t use hundreds – there’s sufficient flavour within the meatballs themselves, so we solely add a delicate quantity within the sauce.
Chipotles are dried and smoked jalapeno peppers. In tinned fashioned, they often are available in a tangy and spicy pink sauce referred to as adobo, therefore the identify Chipotles in Adobo. You get smoky flavour and warmth from the chipotle together with kick of spices, garlic and different flavourings from the adobo.
On this recipe, we’re utilizing each the chipotle chilli in addition to a little bit of the sauce.
Freeze leftover chipotles: Use a small ziplock bag, arranging chillies in a single layer so it’s straightforward to interrupt a bit off to make use of as wanted. Use for Beef Barbacoa, Mexican Shredded Chicken, Mexican Corn.
To make life straightforward and hold your meatballs good and spherical, I prefer to par-bake them within the oven then end them off within the sauce. Nice flavour trade – tasty juices from the meatballs leeches into the sauce, and the sauce retains the meatballs good and juicy!
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Blitz corn chips till they turn out to be wonderful crumbs. Clearly skip this should you’re utilizing breadcrumbs as an alternative!
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Combine with all the opposite meatball substances. Use your palms for pace and ease, else use a picket spoon;
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Portion the combination utilizing an ice cream scoop. The proper meatball scooping machine for even portioning and making them semi-round! I take advantage of my 3 tablespoon ice cream scoop and filling it about 3/4 full. This makes 20 meatballs;
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Roll into meatballs then place onto a rack set over a tray. Why a rack? Retains the balls spherical and permits sizzling air to flow into beneath the meatballs in order that they brown properly beneath too. And not using a rack, the underside doesn’t go brown;
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Spray generously with oil then bake for simply 10 minutes to get some color on the surface. They may nonetheless be uncooked inside which is what we would like as a result of we are going to end cooking them within the sauce;
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Make sauce whereas the meatballs are within the oven. We solely simmer for five minutes to begin with;
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Simmer meatballs in sauce: Then as soon as the meatballs come out of the oven, switch them into the sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, rolling them often, to complete cooking the meatballs and to thicken the sauce; and
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Sprinkle with contemporary coriander/cilantro to complete them off simply earlier than serving!
These meatballs are scrumptious served plain, straight out off the range, served over a bowl of rice or with some warmed tortillas for stuffing/slopping (that’s a technical time period!😂). Nonetheless, as with all issues Mexican, toppings are a bonus. Listed below are some choices.
Topping choices
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Bitter cream (or yogurt)
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Shredded cheese
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Avocado in any kind – diced, sliced, smushed, or should you’re going for gold, Guacamole
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Your favorite sizzling sauce
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Jalapeno slices
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Coriander/cilantro leaves
Rice choices
Get pleasure from! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 250g / 8oz beef mince (ground beef)
- 250g / 8oz pork mince (ground pork), or more beef (Note 1)
- 1/2 red onion , grated using a standard box grater
- 50g / 1.75 oz plain corn chips , sub breadcrumbs + 1/4 tsp salt (Note 2)
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp coriander/cilantro , finely chopped (sub chives or parsley)
- 3 tbsp parsley , finely chopped (optional)
- 2 tsp fresh jalapeño , seeds removed and finely minced (reduce/omit for not spicy)
- Oil spray (preferably olive oil)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chipotle powder , sub more smoked paprika, reduce for less spicy (Note 3)
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder (sub 1/2 fresh garlic clove, finely grated)
- 1/2 tsp paprika , hot for spicy or sweet for not (or sub more Chipotle powder)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic , finely minced
- 1 chipotle from a can of Chipotle in Adobo , finely chopped – add another for extra flavour! (Note 4)
- 1 tsp Adobo Sauce from a can of Chipotle in Adobo (Note 4)
- 800g / 24 oz crushed tomato
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp coriander/cilantro , roughly chopped
- Coriander/cilantro leaves , whole
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream
- Guacamole (or just diced, sliced or mashed plain avocado)
- Rice, for serving (Note
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/390°F (200°C fan). Place a rack over a tray. Spray rack with oil.
- Blitz corn chips: Place corn chips in a Nutribullet or food processor. Blitz until they become fine crumbs. (Else put in a ziplock bag and bash!)
- Meatball mixture: Place meatball ingredients and meatball Mexican spices in a bowl and mix well with your hands.
- Roll meatballs: Roll into 3 – 3.5cm / 1.2 – 1.4" balls. Place on rack. Should make around 20 – 24 meatballs.
- Bake 10 minutes: Spray meatballs generously with oil. Bake 10 minutes until browned (they will still be raw inside, we finish cooking them in the sauce).
- While the meatballs are in the oven, start the sauce.
- Sauté garlic and chipotle: Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add chopped Adobo Chile and sauté for 20 seconds.
- Simmer 5 minutes: Add tomato, Adobo sauce and sugar. Bring to simmer, then turn heat down to low and cook, stirring every now and then, for 5 minutes.
- Cook meatballs in sauce: Remove meatballs from oven and transfer into sauce. Continue to cook the sauce for another 10 minutes, rolling meatballs every now and then, until the sauce is thickened and the meatballs are cooked.
- Fresh coriander: Sprinkle with chopped coriander/cilantro.
- Serving: Serve over rice or stuff into tortillas with toppings of choice!
Notes
1. Beef/pork mixture yields softer, juicier meatballs. You can just use all beef, but the meatballs will be a bit firmer.
2. Corn chips – Crushed cornchips instead of the usual breadcrumbs really adds something special to these meatballs! You can definitely taste the hint of corn flavour and the salt adds seasoning.
Sub: panko breadcrumbs (1 cup) or ordinary plain bread crumbs (3/4 cup – finer than panko so you need less for equivalent weight) PLUS 1/4 tsp salt (because corn chips have salt in them).
3. Chipotle powder is ground dried jalapeños and it’s an ingredient used in Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking. Find it at Harris Farms (Syd), delis, spice stores, bulk-bin health food stores. Everywhere, it seems, other than Australian major grocery stores!
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.
4. Chipotles in adobo – These are chipotles (dried, smoked jalapneos) in a flavoured, tangy red sauce that is quite spicy. Great Mexican shortcut ingredient that adds a ton of flavour! Usually found in cans (sometimes jars). Widely available in the US, and nowadays in Australia too. Check the Mexican section of large grocery stores like Coles & Woolies.
Substitute in place of the chipotles in adobo: 1 1/2 tsp chipotle powder + 1/2 tsp SMOKED paprika powder + 1 tbsp sriracha (YES, really, it’s pretty close to Adobo 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.
5. Rice options!
Plain white rice
Green Mexican Rice (coriander/cilantro rice)
Mexican Red Rice
6. Leftovers – will keep in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days in the fridge, or freeze in sauce for up to 3 months.
7. Nutrition per serving, meatballs and sauce only, assuming 5 servings.
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