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Almondigas (Filipino Meatball and Noodle Soup)

A meatball and noodle soup, it is quite probable that the Filipino almondigas is an adaptation of the Mexican meatball soup called albondigas.

Filipino almondigas

In Spanish, albondigas means meatballs. The meatballs is made with ground meat and rice. The broth is reddish because of the addition of tomatoes or tomato sauce.

The meatballs in Filipino almondigas contain no rice. Surprisingly, rice is present in the soup albeit in another form. Misua, fine rice noodles that originated in China, is added to the soup toward the end of cooking. Unlike Mexican albondigas, the broth of Filipino almondigas is clear because tomatoes are not included in the ingredients.

This is an old recipe from my grandmother — with a few personal tweaks.

First, bone broth. My grandmother used plain water as a base for the soup and relied heavily on the spice base and the flavors in the meatballs that find their way into the liquid. I use bone broth for my almondigas for a richer flavor.

Second, I added grated carrot to the meatballs for more flavor, texture and color.

Apart from those two, it’s still my grandmother’s almondigas.

Filipino almondigas

Almondigas

Filipino meatball and misua (rice noodles) soup in clear broth
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: Filipino
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Author: Connie

Ingredients

For the meatballs

  • 1/2 kilo ground lean pork
  • 1/2 piece of carrot grated
  • 1 whole onion finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 whole egg lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

To complete the dish

Instructions

  • Mix together all the ingredients for the meat balls, except the flour. Form into balls about 2 inches in diameter.
  • Heat a wok or skillet. Pour in the cooking oil until it starts to smoke. Roll each meat ball in flour and fry in hot oil, rolling the balls around in oil to brown evenly. Once lightly browned, remove from the wok or skillet and drain on paper towels.
  • Heat a large saucepan or casserole. Transfer 1 tbsp. of cooking oil from the skillet or wok. 
  • Saute the garlic and onion until the onion is soft. 
  • Pour in the broth. Bring to a boil. 
  • Add the meat balls. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 
  • Adjust seasonings, as needed. Turn off the heat. 
  • Add the misua and cover for another 5 minutes. 
  • Transfer to a soup tureen and top with sliced scallions. Serve hot.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. zaifie

    thanks for sharing your recipes. they are very straight forward. I’ll try some of them.. :smile:

  2. RhB

    Your “almondigas” may have come from the Spanish “Albondigas” literally meaning “meatballs”… Of course, since they’re so close in pronunciation, someone probably wasn’t reading it and was listening in a far away manner.

    In some countries, albondigas while known as meatballs can also be used as profanity… to describe a rather male part…

    • John

      I’ve been visiting your site for two years now, and frequent it especially when I’m away for school and have no mother to cook Filipino food for me.

      I just want to say that I think almondigas in Spain is actually meatballs simmered in tomatoes, garlic, onion, and herb mixture…more like an appetizer than anything else. I know, I know…traditional foods get bastardized in the colonies, but still…it’s pretty good as an appetizer.

  4. Fan in Saudi

    Yah this one is realy a part of our food lives…
    Si Mother ko super luto ng Almondigas pag wala ng ma-isip na ulam at tamad ng magluto.. Har Har Har!! I can still remember how it was easy for her to prepare this for us…

    Ikaw talaga Mam Sassy, cant help but reminsicin the good old days when I had so much fun with my Mom.. Don’t get me wrong, my mom still alive and healthy, iyon nga lang malayo ako sa kanya at nasa Manila siya…

    God Bless You Mam Sassy!!!

  5. Isabel

    hi ms. connie!…tanong ko lang po kung kelan ia-add yung tomato paste..ty po!

  8. rinz

    It’s raining here in my place, am craving for a hot super yummy soup to keep me warm. Thanks for this recipe. Il try it now.

    • nina

      so this is what is called almondigas. i’ve always wondered what it was. we prepare this at home usually with patola…or instead of meatballs, we make fishballs using fish called bidbid…

  9. John

    When i was visiting my wife’s home town of Guinobatan in Bicol I tried a variation of this theme.

    Stuff the meatball filling into a small chilli quatered lengthwise. Dip in batter and them deep fry gently until golden. Pick up by the stem and eat (with San Mig Light). Truly AWESOME.

    To my own personal shame and disgrace I ate 30 of these in one night ;-)

  10. Sarah

    Hello. I made this for dinner tonight and it’s really yummy. I’ve tried several recipes of almondigas already and this is best among them. But next time, I’ll forgo the tomato paste because I really don’t like the orange look on my soup and I’ll use green onions instead of leeks. Thanks for the recipe!

    P.S. I deglaze the skillet I used for browning the meatballs with some of the broth in this recipe to get the yummy bits left and added it as well in the soup.