If you haven't already tried my Zoodles recipe, you need to so you can pair them with my quick, easy, but oh so juicy homemade meatballs, plump and full of protein. And you all know how I feel about protein... For this recipe all you need is FOUR ingredients, that's less than most recipes I've seen and guess what? They are gluten free, dairy free but still just as delicious as the meatballs your mom used to make.
FIRST, you need to decide your meat base, will you use turkey or beef? I prefer turkey meatballs but different strokes for different folks, so this recipe can be used for either type of ground beef.
TIPS
- When I make meatballs, I don't like to make them just for that night's dinner, I love to make a whole batch, cook them all up and store them in the freezer (with or without sauce), that way, when I get a hankering for some Italian all I need to do is defrost those bad boys, add sauce and I am good to go!
- This recipe is based on 1 pound of chop meat, depending on how large of a batch you want to make, you may need to use more than 1 pound of chop meat.
- You will need to use gluten free bread as part of the recipe, *if you use Udi's or any other frozen bread normally, it is helpful that at the end of a loaf, you save the 'butts' in the crisper of your fridge so you always have defrosted bread on hand. Don't already do this? No worries, you can toast a slice of bread and it works just as well. Be careful with defrosting a slice of bread in the microwave though, I did it for too long once and the bread was not the right consistency to crumble and I had to throw the slice out which is a sacrilege since it's so expensive in the first place!
- You will be using your hands to make the meatballs, if this grosses you out, my suggestion is to put your big girl/boy panties on and get over it ;] it's well worth it!
- Meatballs can be cooked a variety of ways, in a crockpot, in the oven, but my preferred method is in a frying pan, but they are not fried because I use NO oil!
Four Ingredient Homemade Meatballs
1 lb. of defrosted ground chop meat (turkey or beef I prefer turkey)
1.5 slices of gluten free bread* (see above tip) crumbled
1 egg
Sprinkling of Garlic Powder (this is based on your preference taste, I go light with this)
1. Add all ingredients in work bowl
2. Mix up the ingredients with your hands, until egg and bread crumbles are evenly dispersed. (I am usually dying doing this cause it's so cold, it's like brain freeze for your fingers)
3. Form chop meat into circles, make them as big or as small as you would like, I prefer mine on the bigger side so I generally am able to make at least seven meatballs
4. Use a saute or frying pan, place meat balls in pan and cook on medium heat, turning meatballs once a side becomes brown, you want all sides of your meatball, which kind of turns into a meatball/square-ish shape, to be brown. This should take about 20 minutes and gives the meatballs a fried flavor even though no oil is used!
You know the meatball(squares) are cooked when your no longer see any pink if you slice one open or if you press down and the juice run clear. Turkey chop meat CAN NOT be ingested undercooked as a heads up!
Add meatballs to your favorite sauce on top of some zoodles! Not gluten free? Than pair them with some good ol' pasta and revel at how you just made an Italian masterpiece in under 30 minutes!
FIRST, you need to decide your meat base, will you use turkey or beef? I prefer turkey meatballs but different strokes for different folks, so this recipe can be used for either type of ground beef.
TIPS
- When I make meatballs, I don't like to make them just for that night's dinner, I love to make a whole batch, cook them all up and store them in the freezer (with or without sauce), that way, when I get a hankering for some Italian all I need to do is defrost those bad boys, add sauce and I am good to go!
- This recipe is based on 1 pound of chop meat, depending on how large of a batch you want to make, you may need to use more than 1 pound of chop meat.
- You will need to use gluten free bread as part of the recipe, *if you use Udi's or any other frozen bread normally, it is helpful that at the end of a loaf, you save the 'butts' in the crisper of your fridge so you always have defrosted bread on hand. Don't already do this? No worries, you can toast a slice of bread and it works just as well. Be careful with defrosting a slice of bread in the microwave though, I did it for too long once and the bread was not the right consistency to crumble and I had to throw the slice out which is a sacrilege since it's so expensive in the first place!
- You will be using your hands to make the meatballs, if this grosses you out, my suggestion is to put your big girl/boy panties on and get over it ;] it's well worth it!
- Meatballs can be cooked a variety of ways, in a crockpot, in the oven, but my preferred method is in a frying pan, but they are not fried because I use NO oil!
Four Ingredient Homemade Meatballs
1 lb. of defrosted ground chop meat (turkey or beef I prefer turkey)
1.5 slices of gluten free bread* (see above tip) crumbled
1 egg
Sprinkling of Garlic Powder (this is based on your preference taste, I go light with this)
1. Add all ingredients in work bowl
2. Mix up the ingredients with your hands, until egg and bread crumbles are evenly dispersed. (I am usually dying doing this cause it's so cold, it's like brain freeze for your fingers)
3. Form chop meat into circles, make them as big or as small as you would like, I prefer mine on the bigger side so I generally am able to make at least seven meatballs
4. Use a saute or frying pan, place meat balls in pan and cook on medium heat, turning meatballs once a side becomes brown, you want all sides of your meatball, which kind of turns into a meatball/square-ish shape, to be brown. This should take about 20 minutes and gives the meatballs a fried flavor even though no oil is used!
You know the meatball(squares) are cooked when your no longer see any pink if you slice one open or if you press down and the juice run clear. Turkey chop meat CAN NOT be ingested undercooked as a heads up!
Add meatballs to your favorite sauce on top of some zoodles! Not gluten free? Than pair them with some good ol' pasta and revel at how you just made an Italian masterpiece in under 30 minutes!
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