Perfect for holiday potlucks.
Meatballs were something I had always wanted to try making. I assumed they were a difficult, time-consuming chore. I could not have been more wrong! Not only are meatballs easy to make, they also are great in the slow cooker.
Last weekend I made my first trip to Meatball Land, and it turned out great. Meatballs may be the easiest thing you can make with ground beef. Even meatloaf requires a longer cook time and more ingredients, although you don't have to spend as much time shaping it. (Time spent shaping meatballs: about 2 minutes.)
There are a lot of different meatball variations, depending on what you want to do with them. I was planning to put my meatballs in a delicious sauce in the slow cooker, for an upcoming office party. Therefore, I chose to make my meatballs bland, because the sauce was going to be the real star.
For a basic meatball:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix up about a pound of hamburger with an egg, plus a dash of salt.
- Form them into balls about an inch across, somewhere around the size of a golf ball. Small enough that you can eat it in one bite, in other words.
- Bake the meatballs in a greased 9x13 pan for 20 minutes, until there is no pink in the middle (165 degrees F).
That's it!
An aside: The best way to do the mixing is by hand. Just set aside your squeamishness and get in there - as with creating hamburger patties, it's really the only way to form them right. Be sure to wash your hands well when you are done, though.
If you want a spicy or Italian meatball, just add the spices to the ground beef. Italian meatballs are delicious with spaghetti sauce, of course. A dash of Italian seasonings will really bring out the flavor. Drain the fat from the meatballs, then simmer them in spaghetti sauce for several hours to get the flavor really baked in.
Swedish meatballs just need a cream sauce to become a little taste of Ikea right in your home. Serve with lingonberry sauce and a flat pack Billy bookcase to complete the experience.
Many meatball recipes include bread crumbs to help fill out the form. However, my own test has shown that these are not necessary. If you prefer to go low-carb or gluten free, your meatballs will turn out just fine with egg as a binder.