
Others buy ground beef every week and remake spaghetti bolognese. but you? You make plump jalapeno meatballs, brush them with chipotle ketchup, and serve them over rice with a dollop of guacamole and sour cream.
How proud are you? (Answer: a lot!

Mexican Meatballs
I probably shouldn’t admit it because I run a recipe site and I feel like I should be positive about all things food. In fact, I really don’t have the patience to roll meatballs. I’ve complained before that someone really needs to invent a meatball rolling device. I imagined a kind of tube stuffed with meat and at the other end perfectly formed meatballs.
Not the best image, perhaps! But imagine how fast you can make 100 meatballs with a device like this! ! !
Anyway, in the absence of such equipment, the purpose of sharing this idea is to let you know that any meatball recipe you see on this site exists, because I believe that totally worth it! 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 flavors and your favorite meatballs rolled into one, all bathed in a smoky Mexican-flavored tomato sauce and with chilli.
Ingredients in Mexican Meatballs
That’s what these Mexican meatballs are made of. There are “secret recipes”!
The “secret ingredient” of these meatballs is:
Corn flakes instead of the usual breadcrumbs! They add extra flavor to meatballs, unique corn flavor and salt. Replace with breadcrumbs;
Ground Beef AND Pork (ground) – delicious and flavorful chewy meatballs. Feel free to use only whole beef. Super tasty, only they’re not as soft.
If you use all the pork, the meatballs will taste like, well, pork; and
Chipotle Powder – this is a smoky, sun-dried, ground jalapeño with a bit of a spicy, smoky flavor. Unfortunately, it is not yet widely available in Australia, but you can find it at Harris Farm (Sydney) and wherever there is a variety of spices. Substitute with more smoked paprika and a pinch of paprika or plain cayenne pepper.
Also used in: Shrimp/Shrimp Tacos, Chipotle Lime Roasted Cauliflower (so good!), Cowboy Bean Salad, Fish Tacos, Beef Carnitas, Chicken Tacos, Cowboy Rice Salad.
INGREDIENTS FOR SAUCE FOR MEXICAN MEATBALLS
Here is the sauce you will need:
Adobo’s Chipotles – now available in the Mexican food section of major Australian grocery stores (Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farms), are the key element to the flavor of the sauce. We don’t use a lot – the meatballs have enough flavor on their own, so we only add a small amount to the sauce.
Chipotles are dried and smoked chipotle peppers. In canned form, they often come with a hot, spicy red sauce called adobo, hence the name Chipotles en adobo. You’ll get the smoke and heat of chipotle and the spices, garlic, and other seasonings of adobo.
In this recipe, we use both jalapeños and sauce.
Freeze leftover cookies: Using a small zip-top bag, arrange the peppers in a single layer to easily break some apart if needed. Use in Barbacoa Beef, Mexican Shredded Chicken, Mexican Corn.
How to make Mexican Meatballs
To make your life easier and keep your meatballs handy, I like to bake them and finish them in a sauce. Good flavor exchange – the delicious juices from the meatballs soak into the sauce which keeps the meatballs nice and juicy!
- Lighten the nachos until they are reduced to fine crumbs. Of course, if you’re using breadcrumbs instead, go your way!
- Mix with all the other meatball ingredients. For quick and easy use with your hands, otherwise use a wooden spoon;
- Use an ice cream scoop to distribute the mixture. The perfect meatball scoop for evenly dividing and making half rounds!
I filled my 3 tablespoons of ice cream about 3/4 full. This makes 20 meatballs; - Roll into meatballs and place on a wire rack above the tray. Why take air? Place the meatballs around and let the hot air circulate under the meatballs so that they also brown well underneath. Without a grid, the bottom will not brown;
- was generously sprayed with oil and baked for 10 minutes to lighten the color on the outside.
They’re still raw inside, which is exactly what we want since we’re going to finish cooking them in the sauce; - Make the sauce while the meatballs are in the oven. At first we only simmered for 5 minutes;
- Meatballs simmered in sauce: As soon as the meatballs come out of the oven, put them in the sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to cook the meatballs and thicken the sauce; and
- Sprinkle with fresh cilantro just before serving to finish!
What to serve with Mexican Meatballs
These meatballs are delicious and easy to make straight from the heat and served over a bowl of rice or as a topping/drain (that’s a technical term!) with warm tortillas. However, as with anything Mexican, the toppings are a bonus. Here are some options.
TOPPING OPTIONS
- Sour cream (or yogurt)
- Grated cheese
- Avocado in any form – diced, sliced, mashed, or if you want gold, guacamole
- Your favorite hot sauce
- Jalapeños /
444 Coriander leaf
RICE OPTIONS
Note: Mexican green rice is buried in Mexican steak recipes. I’ll take it out and add a video one of these days!