The Pioneer Woman’s Tex-Mex Meatball Soup Has Just Enough Spice To Keep off the Chill & It Feeds a Crowd

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There’s a lot going on this time of year. For one thing, winter is officially here, which means our nighttime cooking has moved firmly into hearty comfort food territory. For another, many of us have guests and family in town to celebrate the holidays, so if you’re used to cooking for just two, three, or even four people, it might be hard to figure out how you’re going to keep everyone well-fed. That’s where The Pioneer Woman, also known as Ree Drummond, comes in. The author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime knows a thing or two about feeding a large family, and a hungry one, at that — after all, her husband works on a cattle ranch, which definitely works up an appetite. If you’re looking for a meal that you can whip up easily for a big group, but that’s a little more comfy-cozy than just ordering a few pizzas, Drummond’s Tex-Mex Meatball Soup is the recipe for you.

Drummond’s meatball soup recipe is loaded with Tex-Mex flavors, but sopa de albóndigas, sometimes also called caldo de albóndigas, is a popular Mexican meatball soup that features many of the same flavors. While the Mexican version of this soup features a light, gently seasoned broth and veggies like potatoes, carrots, and celery, Drummond’s Tex-Mex version stars ingredients like ancho chile powder, poblano peppers, green chiles, and the smoky, spicy adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers.

Another big difference is that while many home cooks make their meatballs from scratch, using beef, pork, or a mixture of both, Drummond keeps things easy by calling for a bag of frozen meatballs instead. This definitely helps save time if you’re cooking for a big crowd, and since this soup serves eight, you’d have to roll a lot of meatballs by hand if you want enough for everyone.

Drummond’s soup also includes pasta. She calls for ditalini, but any small pasta will do. Perhaps our favorite trick of the recipe is that Drummond cooks the pasta separately from the soup, then adds it to individual bowls before ladling in the soup. This ensures that the pasta doesn’t become a mushy mess, especially if there is leftover soup you want to serve the next day.

The veggies and seasonings are sautéed, then the tomatoes and canned chiles are added. Finally, Drummond pours in the meatballs and some store-bought stock, simmering everything together until the meatballs are warmed through and the veggies are tender.

You can garnish the bowls of soup with sour cream, lime wedges, cotija cheese, and fresh herbs, and we think it would taste great with a side of Giada De Laurentiis’ buttermilk cornbread. Thanks to Ree Drummond, this Pioneer Woman soup is just the thing to feed your big family this winter.

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