Greek Meatballs Recipe | Gimme Some Oven

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This Greek meatballs recipe is straightforward to make, completely moist and tender, and bursting with contemporary and zesty flavors. Serve these meatballs on their very own or in a inexperienced salad, pita, rice bowl…you title it.

Certainly one of my favourite versatile meal prep recipes — Greek meatballs! ♡

Impressed by Greek keftedes, these easy meatball recipe could be made together with your selection of beef or lamb or plant-based “meat.” It’s loaded up with plenty of contemporary herbs (mint, cilantro and/or parsley), seasonings (cumin and oregano), garlic, scallions, a contact of warmth, and contemporary lemon zest. Then a easy panade ensures that these meatballs don’t dry out and bake as much as be completely juicy and tender. You’re going to like them!

I’ve particularly come to like this Greek meatball recipe due to its versatility, since they are often served in so many enjoyable methods. These meatballs are, in fact, scrumptious simply served on their very own as an appetizer or a part of a mezze platter. Or you may add them to a contemporary inexperienced salad (or Greek salad), pita, wrap, grain bowl, casserole, lemony orzo, hummus, or perhaps a easy soup. Recently, I’ve cherished serving these Greek meatballs served over rice with just a few chopped veggies and a easy 4-ingredient lemony tahini yogurt sauce, which all the time tastes so extremely contemporary and flavorful. This meatball recipe additionally freezes fantastically, so it’s superior when you’re seeking to do some meal prep for the months forward too.

Let’s make some Greek meatballs!

Greek Meatball Components

Listed here are just a few notes in regards to the Greek meatball components that you will want for this recipe:

• Floor beef or lamb: Select whichever you favor, or use a 50/50 combination of each. I like to recommend good-quality natural lean meat with a minimum of 15-20% fats content material, to be able to create the juiciest meatballs. For those who want to make these meatballs vegetarian, you can too swap in your favourite plant-based floor “meat.” (We made a batch with Past floor beef and so they turned out nice.)
• Panko breadcrumbs: We’ll soak Panko in plain milk (dairy or plant-based) to create a panade, which is able to assist to maintain these meatballs moist and bind all the components collectively.
• Garlic: I like utilizing a beneficiant quantity of minced garlic in these meatballs.
• Eggs: Eggs will function our major binding agent to assist all the components maintain collectively.
• Scallions: We’ll finely mince each the white and inexperienced elements of the scallions so as to add to the meatballs.
• Recent herbs: Chop up plenty of cilantro, mint, parsley…or use a combination! Recent herbs add a lot nice taste to those meatballs.
• Dried seasonings: We’ll additionally add in a mixture of dried oregano, floor cumin, sea salt, black pepper, and crushed crimson pepper flakes for seasoning.
• Lemon: We’ll use the zest of 1 lemon within the meatball combine, after which I like to recommend utilizing the remaining lemon juice to make the the tahini yogurt sauce (see under).
• Tahini yogurt sauce: This straightforward sauce could be made by whisking collectively plain Greek yogurt (I like to recommend full-fat), tahini, lemon juice, and sea salt.

Ideas For Making These Meatballs

Listed here are just a few ideas for easy methods to take advantage of juicy and flavorful meatballs:

• Make a panade: Don’t skip this step! Soaking the breadcrumbs in milk for 5-10 minutes to create a panade works wonders to assist your meatballs keep moist and juicy and never dry out.
• Don’t overmix: Combine all your meatball components collectively till they’re simply mixed and keep away from over mixing, which might result in overly robust and dried-out meatballs. At all times be mild whereas forming the meatballs too and keep away from packing them forcefully into balls.
• Style check when you’d like: For those who’d wish to style check the meatball combine and alter the seasonings earlier than baking the total batch, merely scoop out a small patty and sauté it in a little bit of oil till cooked by.
• Use a cookie scoop or scale: To make sure that your meatballs are roughly the identical dimension, which is able to assist them to evenly bake, use both a cookie scoop (I scooped out rounded tablespoons with this scoop) or a kitchen scale to measure the meatballs.
• Don’t overbake: Keep watch over the meatballs and take away them from the oven as soon as the inner temperature measures 160°F and the meatballs and are not pink inside.

How To Retailer & Reheat Greek Meatballs

Cooked Greek meatballs could be refrigerated in a sealed container for as much as 4 days or frozen for as much as 3 months.

To freeze meatballs, allow them to cool to room temperature as soon as they’ve been cooked. Place them an inch aside on a parchment-covered baking sheet and freeze till frozen. Then switch the frozen meatballs to a sealed container or freezer bag.

To reheat meatballs, allow them to thaw within the fridge ideally for a minimum of 24 hours. Then reheat both within the microwave (in 30-second intervals), on the stovetop (sauté in a little bit of oil over medium warmth till warmed by), or within the oven (bake at 350°F till warmed by).

Recipe Variations

Listed here are just a few variations on this Greek meatball recipe that you’re welcome to attempt:

• Add feta: Cover a pinch of feta in the course of every meatball, which is able to bake up right into a deliciously tacky middle, or serve the meatballs with whipped feta.
• Pan-fry as an alternative of bake: Pan-fry the meatballs in oil over medium-high warmth till browned and cooked by as an alternative of baking.
• Make it vegetarian: Use your favourite plant-based floor “meat” to make vegetarian meatballs.
• Make it gluten-free: Use gluten-free Panko breadcrumbs to make gluten-free meatballs.

Methods To Serve Greek Meatballs

Listed here are just a few of my favourite methods to serve these Greek meatballs:

• appetizer (with tahini yogurt, hummus, tzaztiki, or one other sauce for dipping)
• inexperienced salad (or Greek salad)
• pita or wrap
• grain or rice bowl
• orzo (or different pasta)
• soup

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