You’re Not Eating Enough Mini Meatballs
The miniature meatballs are undeniably adorable. Whether it’s beef, turkey, Impossible meat or grape jelly tops , I love them all. They come in big, great batches and it’s highly recommended to eat a few at a time. In fact, the portions are pleasantly deceiving. Eating eight ounces of Swedish meatballs is much less intimidating than if you gave me one large meatball of the same weight. When not standing alone as a stellar snack, adding them to any savory dish will almost certainly enhance it. Let’s put more mini meatballs in everything.
I emphasize minis not only because of how nice it is to see a mountain of them on my plate, but also because they are logistically better than standard or large meatballs. The big ones can look impressive, but you’ll have to break them up into small pieces to fit in your mouth.
An example of meatball perversions that piss me off are meatball sandwiches or pizza, where the balls are cut in half or sliced to prevent them from rolling away. They’re not even spherical anymore! Mini works better. We can skip the slicing and dicing middleman because the miniature variety doesn’t require toys to sit nicely on a cheeky, cheesy sandwich and go straight into my mouth. You might argue that they take longer to prepare. Is it worth shaping so many meatballs? Absolutely. The extra time you spend cooking is the equivalent of ridiculously quick cooking on the stovetop or in the oven.
Where can I add mini meatballs?
At the risk of sounding like an Olive Orchard voice-over, mini meatballs are a great addition to soups, salads, and pastas. As for soups, think Italian wedding soup and more. Try adding them to chowder, creamy broccoli soup, or topping French onion soup. Add baby meatballs to salads for a twist on regular sliced grilled chicken. Pasta sounds obvious, but when you make marble-sized meatballs, a regular serving looks like a huge amount and it feels like you’ve thrown the traditional conservative meat-to-pasta ratio right out the window. Casseroles, French fries, and tacos are also great for mini meatball dishes.
They are good even for breakfast. My boyfriend makes fantastic turkey meatballs and we do our best to save some for the next morning. If you can resist snacking on them, make this recipe and add some to your cheese omelet. Garnish the side with a few avocado slices.
Mini Turkey Meatballs by Carmine
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces ground turkey
- ½ teaspoon olive oil (optional for coating the pan)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon umami seasoning
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- A pinch of dried rosemary
- A pinch of dried sage
* Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly oil.
Use ½ teaspoon olive oil to thinly coat the bottom of a medium bowl. Add all seasonings and turkey to a bowl. Lightly toss with a fork to distribute all the seasonings evenly over the meat.
Shape into mini meatballs with a teaspoon, or pinch off pieces if you can tell the size by eye. Roll them lightly in your hands and place them on a greased baking sheet lined with foil. Teaspoon-sized meatballs should be about an inch in diameter, about a quarter of a US dollar.
Bake at 375°F for 10 minutes. They will look cooked but have almost no color. Turn them over and bake for another 10 minutes. Enjoy adding them to everything. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to five days or freeze for up to four months.
(They also cook well on the stovetop. Simply brush the bottom of a large saucepan or frying pan with a thin layer of oil and drop the shaped mini meatballs directly into them. Cook over medium heat and stir occasionally to brown them evenly for five minutes.)