And here’s what you need for the sauce:
Ingredients in Mexican Meatballs Sauce
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.
Baked Mexican Meatballs
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!
How to make Mexican Meatballs
Blitz corn chips until they become fine crumbs. Obviously skip this if you’re using breadcrumbs instead!
Mix with all the other meatball ingredients. Use your hands for speed and ease, else use a wooden spoon;
Portion the mixture using an ice cream scoop. The perfect meatball scooping device for even portioning and making them semi-round! I use my 3 tablespoon ice cream scoop and filling it about 3/4 full. This makes 20 meatballs;
Roll into meatballs then place onto a rack set over a tray. Why a rack? Keeps the balls round and allows hot air to circulate under the meatballs so they brown nicely underneath too. Without a rack, the underside doesn’t go brown;
Spray generously with oil then bake for just 10 minutes to get some colour on the outside. They will still be raw inside which is what we want because we will finish cooking them in the sauce;
Make sauce while the meatballs are in the oven. We only simmer for 5 minutes to start with;
Simmer meatballs in sauce: Then once the meatballs come out of the oven, transfer them into the sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, rolling them occasionally, to finish cooking the meatballs and to thicken the sauce; and
Sprinkle with fresh coriander/cilantro to finish them off just before serving!
Skillet with simmering Mexican Meatballs
Showing the inside of Mexican Meatballs
Overhead photo of Mexican Meatballs served with guacamole and sour cream over rice
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, Guacamole
Your favourite hot sauce
Jalapeno slices
Coriander/cilantro leaves
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
