Easy Homemade Meatballs

These juicy, tender, succulent, baked meatballs are so easy to make, they’re packed full of flavour and can make a bulk amount, you’ll thank yourself afterwards for an easy meal, if you pop some into the freezer. If they make it there, that is!!!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE:

• The use of only one bowl to mix the meatballs and then to mix the sauce. Less dishes!!!
• Freezes and thaws beautifully.
• Family-friendly recipe. Our kids love this recipe and devour it every time, so it’s on the meal rotation and gets the tick of approval.

LOOKING FOR MORE DINNER IDEAS?

• Honey soy chicken stir-fry
• Slow-Cooked Silverside
• Broccoli and Cauliflower Bake
• Crustless Quiche
• Egg and Bacon Pie

INGREDIENTS:

Meatballs:

• Mince – ground beef
• Onion, diced
• Salt – sea salt has been used here
• Garlic– freshly crushed, minced from the jar or garlic paste
• Olive oil
• Eggs
• Breadcrumbs – we have used panko here, which works great
• Mixed herbs
• Barbecue sauce

Sauce:

• Tomato soup
• Diced tomatoes
• Salt – sea salt has been used here
• Pepper – ground black

HOW TO MAKE EASY HOMEMADE MEATBALLS:

1. Meatballs – In a large bowl, add mince, onion, salt, garlic, eggs, breadcrumbs, mixed herbs and barbecue sauce. Mix with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are well incorporated.
2. Roll small portions of the meat mixture into balls, using either a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon per ball, a small cookie scoop, or by eyeballing it. Place them into an oiled baking tray/s.
3. Sauce – Using the same mixing bowl and spoon (unwashed to save on washing up, yay!), add the tomato soup, diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and mix until incorporated.
4. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and spread evenly with the back of the wooden spoon.
5. Oven – Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/400 degrees F. Cook the one or two trays (depending on the tray sizes) in the oven for 40 minutes, or until cooked through.

VARIATIONS:

• Make them spicier! Add some red pepper flakes or pepper to give it some kick!
• Gluten-free: Choose some gluten-free breadcrumbs, also double check your BBQ sauce and tomato soup are free from it too.
• Make only a half batch if you’re short on time or not up for making a full batch of meatballs! Simply look below at the recipe card, click on the “scale” button, and press “1/2”; it will adjust quantities, so you can try a smaller batch. If you don’t want to use half a can of each (to which I don’t blame you!) of the diced tomatoes and soup, you could choose what you have on hand and use the whole can of whichever. We personally love both cans, that’s why the quantity makes a decent batch! yum!
• Make them as big or as small as you like! We use a small cookie scoop (1Tbs) to make it super-fast to punch through the mixture, plus you know that they’ll all be ready at the same time, as they are the same size. You can do smaller meatballs of 1 tsp mix per ball, or eyeball it, or make some small and some big as I did here!!! (as above in the rectangle and square baking dish).

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

• Large bowl
• Wooden spoon
• 1-2 large baking dishes
• 1 tablespoon measuring spoon or small cookie scoop (standard size meatball)
• Chopping board
• Sharp knife

TIPS:

• Use wet hands to form meatballs! It will help immensely with how quickly and easily they will come together, rolling them with a little water on your hands!
• Use a small cookie scoop to bulk out a lot of meatballs in a short amount of time! You can place measured portions of the meat mixture altogether, directly in the greased baking dish, then go back in with wet hands and roll the meatballs to make the process much faster. Win-win!
• Freeze the leftover meatballs in souper cubes trays, if you have them, zip lock bags or airtight containers. Then, afterwards, when you need a quick dinner on the table, done!
• Cool completely before freezing to help prevent freezer burn.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR HOMEMADE MEATBALLS

MEAL PREPPING WITH SOUPER CUBES:

I’ve finally got my hands on these viral “LEGO lunch” style silicone freezer trays and wanted to put them to good use!

I trialled my new Souper Cubes silicone trays to see how a complete meal would go, freezing the pasta and meatballs in sauce together. In the 1 cup moulds, I added 1/2c of cooled, slightly undercooked spaghetti and 1/2c of cooled, mini meatballs in sauce to the fill line.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out.

Once frozen, the next day I popped them out of the moulds and was pleasantly surprised, as they came out so easily and in one piece! I put them into a ziplock bag, squeezed out all the air and placed them back in the freezer.

RESULTS:

One busy night, I pulled a couple of meatballs and pasta “Lego bricks” (as they’re known as) out of the freezer, reheated them in the microwave for 1 minute, then mixed them around with a fork, then in 30-second increments until heated through. I added freshly grated Parmesankids’ cheese, and that was the kids dinner! They liked it that much; I heated another one and gave it to them after. They liked the flavour and the texture of the pasta, so a mum win there!!!

Delicious, easy, and filling!

That’s when I realised the value in these souper cubes. I’d been trying to get my hands on them for months, as they’d been out of stock through Amazon for the full set of 4. So, I’ve finally got different-sized trays and am keen to try lots of things in them. Be sure to come back to check out new recipes, as I’m going to be giving these a good workout and filling up the freezer with meals!

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a star review and comment on how it went!

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