Meatballs

*My first time making meatballs was a huge hit! I created this recipe after much research and just winged it. So happy I did because they were AHMAZING! I made them to carb-load before my first dirt bike race. I made them in the morning before I drive out and tasted all 4 methods before I did the taste test with our dirt bike club members. This recipe yields about 30 meatballs for 1.5 pounds of meat. I rolled all 30 meatballs and took about half of them and rolled them in additional bread crumbs. I fried about 10 of them in vegetable oil for about ten total minutes. I baked some on foil without breading and 6 I rolled in breading and baked in a mini cupcake pan. My initial thought in tasting all 4 was that the plain meatball, baked without breading was pure heaven and very authentic tasting. When tasting the guys, they enjoyed the two that were baked with and without breading. You can’t go wrong with any of these methods.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. lean ground beef (Claro’s Meat Deli) – you can also substitute 1/2 pound of beef for Italian sausage

1 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese 

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper                     

2 TBSP water 

olive oil (for frying) or vegetable oil (for frying)

½ cup Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Mix all ingredients gently in a large bowl until well combined with your hands.

Roll meatballs 1 and 1/2- 1 and 3/4″ in diameter. You can also roll some in additional bread crumbs.

Heat about 1/4″ of oil over medium heat in a large frying pan or you can bake them. I did these 4 ways to figure out which was the best. Half of them I fried and half I baked. I also rolled some of them in Italian bread crumbs.

Fry meatballs in oil, rolling frequently, until evenly browned and juices run clear.

Drop meatballs in your favorite sauce and let simmer for a while to flavor sauce or just serve with your favorite pasta and sauce or on rolls for meatball sandwiches. First attempt, we served ours over linguini noodles topped with meat marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. Of course a large loaf of French bread.

Tip: You can bake these on 400 for 25-30 minutes. Using a mini cupcake pan to bake them is useful.

Yummy meat sauce recipe: http://neighborchicks.blogspot.com/2012/03/rigatoni-pasta-with-meat-sauce.html

Per serving (1 meatball):

Calories: 86.4

Total Fat: 5.8 grams

Saturated Fat: 2.4grams

Protein: 6.2 grams

Total carbohydrates: 2 grams

Sugar: 0 gram

Fiber: 0.3 grams

Cholesterol: 27.8 milligrams