Fed & Frugal: Meatball Recipe

Meatballs are an easy, delicious, affordable, and time-saving dish you can make at any time. Make extra and freeze the remaining meatballs for future meals or for meal planning.

Meatballs
8-12 servings 60 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 ½ cups bread crumbs
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup parsley, minced
• ½ cup thyme, minced
• 10 cloves of garlic confit
• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425º.
2. Place the ground beef and pork into a large bowl.
3. Sauté the yellow onion in avocado oil until translucent.
4. While sautéing the onions, make the garlic confit. Visit Million Stories for the garlic confit recipe.

Assembling the meatball mixture

1. Pour the milk into the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and combine. Let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Whisk the eggs and add them to the large bowl with the ground beef and pork.
3. Then add the sautéed onions to the large bowl.
4. Sprinkle mixture with salt and pepper.
5. Add the thyme, parsley, and about 10 cloves of the garlic confit.
6. Combine the mixture by hand. Make sure you are breaking down the garlic and combining everything well.
7. After, add the breadcrumbs and milk to the mixture and combine well.

Roll the meatballs

1. Take a small hand scoop and roll it into a ball about 2 inches around.
2. Make sure you are making uniform sizes so they all cook evenly.
3. Place the meatballs on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet with about ½ an inch between each.
4. Drizzle a high heat oil (avocado) on top to cover the meatballs and place in the middle rack of the oven.
5. Bake the meatballs for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through. You want them to be nice and golden brown.
6. Pull the meatballs out of the oven and allow them to cool down and rest for about 5 minutes, then serve.

Notes

• This recipe was accompanied by polenta and sautéed kale.
• Polenta Instructions: Follow the recipe on the back of the box. Once it’s done cooking, add in the mascarpone cheese, or any cheese you like.
• Sautéed kale instructions: Add the kale to the pan that you sauteed the onions in earlier and let cook down. Remove once cooked and wilted but still green. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Homemade or any jarred red sauce will do.
• If freezing: Let the meatballs cool down completely and place them in an airtight bag. The meatballs should last up to 4-6 months.
• If making or using garlic confit, make sure to keep it refrigerated after preparing and use within 7 days. (See this USDA article for more.)