Skip to main content
Main

Albóndigas I

A Spanish meatball dish with chicken or turkey, bacon, herbs, and a tomato-based sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 20 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Albóndigas I

Timeabout half an hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meatballs

  1. Mix the minced chicken or turkey with the minced bacon.

  2. Grate one onion and chop or crush one clove of garlic.

  3. Add the grated onion, chopped garlic, soy sauce, oregano, pine nuts and breadcrumbs to the meat, and mix all ingredients together very very well.

  4. Make small balls with the mixture - about the size of a large marble.

  5. Coat them lightly in the flour (get a bowl, put some flour in and roll each ball around) and put all the balls on a large plate until you are ready to fry them.

Make the sauce

  1. Now make the sauce.

  2. Cut up the other onion and chop the other garlic, and put both of them in a non‑stick pan with a little olive oil, the fresh parsley and some salt and pepper.

  3. Fry gently until they are soft, and then chop the 2 tomatoes and add them.

  4. Finally grate the carrot and add that too.

  5. Add the white wine and the cloves, half a stock cube dissolved in half a cup of water, the peas, a bay leaf and a bit of tomato purée (or tomate frito if you live in Spain).

  6. Stir well and put on a low heat.

Fry and simmer

  1. Put some olive oil in a non‑stick frying pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan, and fry the meatballs until they are brown all over.

  2. You don't have to use lots of oil - turn them over so that they cook on all sides, and make sure the heat isn't too strong, otherwise they might burn.

  3. You will probably need to fry them in two or three batches, depending on the size of your frying pan.

  4. As each batch is ready, put the meatballs straight into the pan with the sauce and when they are all done and in the pan, leave them to simmer in the sauce for about half an hour.

  5. You can serve the meatballs on their own as a tapas dish, or as a main course accompanied by a green leafy salad and/or a red pepper salad.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1185Calories
60 gProtein
42 gFat
138 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Minced chicken or turkey
Provides the main meat structure and bulk of the meatballs.
Minced bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that keeps the meatballs moist.
Breadcrumbs (in the method)
Absorb moisture and help the meatballs hold together and stay tender.
Onions
Add moisture and sweetness to the meatballs and sauce as they soften.
Tomatoes
Provide acidity and body to the sauce.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the sauce as it simmers.

The step that matters

Frying the meatballs gently. Too much heat can scorch the outside before the centre is cooked, and little oil with frequent turning gives even browning. Browning adds flavour that carries into the sauce.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, white wine, flour, pepper, carrot, tomato):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, white wine, flour, pepper, carrot, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesChicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesGreen PeasGreen Peas229 recipes