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Baked Meatballs with Sneaky Veggies
These delicious healthy meatballs are packed with sneaky nutrition and kids love them. Makes for a flavorful dinner or freezer meal in 45 minutes or less!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (here’s how to make your own)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons minced chives
- 1/2 cup finely shredded carrot
- 1/2 cup finely shredded zucchini (squeeze out the excess moisture)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3 tablespoons ketchup (preferably organic)
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (sub: ground turkey)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
*Note: After retesting, this recipe was updated on 3/2/23. Changes are in the notes below.
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F. Cover a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper or foil for easy clean-up. Optional: Place a cooking rack on top of the sheet pan to let the fat drip below.
- Combine Meat Mixture: In a large bowl, use a fork to stir together the breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, parsley, chives, carrot, zucchini, beaten egg, and ketchup. Add in the ground beef by pinches (to break it up a bit) and then sprinkle the salt, pepper, and garlic powder evenly over the top of the beef. Use your hands to combine the mixture but do not over mix.
- Roll Meatballs: Using a heaping tablespoon of mixture per meatball, roll into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Place them on the sheet pan (either directly on it or on top of the rack), leaving a little room between each one.
- Bake in the Oven: Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cooked through. (If your meatballs are on a rack, they may take a few extra minutes.) Cut one open and make sure there is no pink in the middle to assure doneness. Internal temp should be 160°F.
- Serve: Serve with Marinara Sauce or Pesto over pasta or on Meatball Subs.
Freeze For Later:
Option 1 (Uncooked Meatballs): Follow steps 1-3. Place sheet pan of meatballs in the freezer until frozen and then place the frozen meatballs in a freezer bag. Seal and freeze.
Option 2 (Fully Cooked Meatballs): Follow steps 1-4. Let cool completely. Freeze the cooked meatballs in a freezer bag or container. Tip: Freeze the meatballs in marinara sauce to help keep them moist.
Prepare From Frozen:
Option 1 (Uncooked Meatballs): Thaw the uncooked meatballs overnight in the fridge. Place the meatballs on a rimmed sheet pan and follow Steps 4-5.
Option 2 (Fully Cooked Meatballs): When ready to warm up the fully-cooked meatballs, thaw in the refrigerator. Warm up using one of these methods: 1) Warm in a pot with marinara sauce over low to medium-low heat on the stove. 2) Another option, although not the preferred method, is to defrost and warm them in the microwave. 3) Lastly, you can warm up the meatballs in marinara sauce in the slow cooker over low heat for about 2-3 hours.
Notes/Tips
Changes to Recipes on 2/18/23: Changed 2 lb of beef to 1 1/2 lbs, 1 cup breadcrumbs to 1/2 cup, 2 eggs to 1 egg, 1 1/4 teaspoon salt to 1 teaspoon, 3/4 teaspoon pepper to 1/2 tsp, 1/2 cup grated onion to zucchini, 2 garlic cloves to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.
Gluten-Free Version: Use almond meal or gluten-free bread crumbs in place of the whole wheat bread crumbs. (Tip: I make my own bread crumbs by toasted gluten-free bread and then tosses pieces into my high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until they are fairly fine bread crumbs.)
Dairy-Free Version: Use more bread crumbs in place of the Parmesan cheese, plus add 1/4 teaspoon more of salt.
Where We Get Our Beef: We get our beef from ButcherBox. The beef is grass-fed and curated from trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, chicken, and wild salmon–and have used it for years ourselves.
Find it online: https://thrivinghomeblog.com/meatballs-with-sneaky-veggies/