Make Ahead Meatballs!

We're all busy. We're all frazzled. I KNOW we all make it to 4pm, look around and think 'what the heck am I going to make for dinner!?!' The answer? Meatballs!

But not from scratch. Not this time at least. One hour of hard core meatball making can save you numerous hours later in the month, it does me! Doing all the baking in one go also means you won't have to heat your kitchen up during the summer, especially if you reheat in the crockpot!

I originally found this recipe on Freeze Happy and have adapted slightly since then. Let's get started!

Mini Meatballs

1 large onion, grated
1&1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan
9 garlic cloves, minced - I've never used more than 2-3 though!
3 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup dried Italian style bread crumbs - I use homemade
3 pounds ground meat - I use 1/2 beef 1/2 pork
1/4 c. ketchup
3/4 c. chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley leaves - never have, never use
6 leaves fresh basil, chopped - never have, never use

Let's start with the breadcrumbs; I have yet to find a store bought, premade container of breadcrumbs that do not contain high fructose corn syrup. Well, the $5 organic panko breadcrumbs at Whole Foods don't but that's not realistic. So we make our own! 

Breadcrumbs

~ Heat oven to 350. 

~ Take a few slices of bread; I keep all my loave heels in the freezer for this very purpose. Grind them up. You can use a food processor, blender... I use an unused coffee grinder

~Throw whatever dried or fresh herbs you like in there until it looks like enough. I'm real helpful, huh? I love to use lots of oregano, rosemary, basil and thyme. Process/shred/grind until you have breadcrumbs

~Take a pyrex dish or similar, lightly grease with olive oil and spread breadcrumbs out into the dish in a thin layer

~Pop them into the oven checking every few minutes until they are golden brown then mix and repeat until they all seem to be lightly toasted

~Remove dish from oven, measure out your 3/4C needed for the meatballs and set the rest aside. I usually put mine in a jar and refrigerate, they will keep for a while

Making The Meatballs 

~Lightly grease a cooking sheet with olive oil and keep close by

~Heat oven to 400F

~In a large bowl blend the onion, garlic, eggs, breadcrumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, salt and pepper

~Mix in your grown meat. We like to do 1/2 grass fed ground beef and 1/2 pastured pork. Delicious and just a little bit naughty. You can use turkey if you care about your arteries

~Shape into 1-2" diameter meatballs and place them on the cookie sheet you have ready. Saves you from getting meat juices allover your olive oil!

~Bake at 400F for 15-25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160F

~Remove cooked meatballs and place on a clean, cool cookie sheet

~Repeat previous steps with the rest of your meatball mixture until you've used all the meat mix.  I usually end up with 80+ meatballs

 

To Freeze

~'Flash freeze' - place the clean cookie sheet(s) of meatballs into the freezer for 1-3 hours

~When frozen remove all of the meatballs from the cookie sheets and store in a large Pyrex container

To Serve

~Remove meatballs from freezer as soon as you remember you have people to feed. We usually end up using 12 each meal so we get 6-8 meals out of one batch of meatballs! 

~Use them in whatever recipe you like thawed or frozen, just be sure to check a meatball for doneness - you don't want the middle to still be cold!

Freeze Happy has a bunch of different meatball recipes to make using these meatballs and I also have a favorite recipe that I will share soon! How do you like your meatballs?