Buy Now → Baked Greek Meatballs
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 16 meatballs 1x
Ingredients
Scale
For the sauce:
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml extra virgin olive oil
- ½ a medium red onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ lb / 225 g carrots
- ½ cup / 120 ml red wine
- 1 ½ cups / 360 ml chicken or beef broth, divided
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- ½ cup / 120 g butternut squash puree
- 4 oz / 115 g drained small whole beets (reserve the beet juice)
- 5 or 6 pitted kalamata olives
- 2 tbsp / 30 ml red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp / 30 ml fresh lemon juice, or preservative free bottled lemon juice
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground mace
- 1 bay leaf
- Optional, for color: additional reserved beet juice from the can (see notes)
For the meatballs:
- 1/2 medium red onion
- 1 lb / 454 g ground lamb or beef
- 2 tbsp / 30 g butternut squash puree, optional
- 1 tbsp / 15 ml avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil, if your meat is less than 20% fat
- 1 tsp / 1 g dried mint
- 1 tsp / 1 g dried oregano
- 1 tsp / 1 g dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- CARAMELIZE: Add the oil or fat of choice to a 4.5 quart dutch oven or oven safe skillet on the stove top over low-medium heat. While the oil is heating up, peel and dice the onion finely. Smash the garlic cloves with the back of a heavy knife and discard the skin. Add the sliced onions and garlic cloves to the hot oil. Cook, stirring often, until the onions begin to take on a light golden color, about 10 minutes or so.
- SOFTEN: Coarsely grate the carrots. Add them to the pan, along with the red wine, 1 cups / 240 ml of the broth and the salt. Bring the wine and broth mixture to a simmer, then partly cover the pan with a lid, leaving space for steam to escape. Cook the carrots until they soften, about 15 minutes or so.
- BLEND: Carefully transfer the cooked vegetables and cooking liquid to a blender, along with the last 1/2 cup / 120 ml of the broth, butternut squash puree, small whole beets, Kalamata olives, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, cinnamon and mace. (Make sure to reserve the beet juice when you’re draining the beets). Blend – making sure to leave space for steam to escape the pitcher – until completely smooth.
- SIMMER: Return the blended liquid to the dutch oven, over low heat. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a gentle simmer, enough to keep warm but not high enough for the sauce to thicken or evaporate too much, stirring often while the flavors develop, about 15 – 20 minutes. Taste and add additional seasoning if you like. Remove and discard the bay leaf and take the dutch oven off the heat. If the sauce has thickened too much, you can thin with additional broth: you’ll need about 3 cups / 720 ml of finished sauce in total. If you like, you can add additional beet juice for color.
- ROLL: Make the meatballs while the sauce is simmering. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 175 C. Peel and coarsely grate the red onion, then add it to a mixing bowl. Add the ground meat, butternut squash puree (if using), oil (if using), mint, oregano, parsley, salt and cinnamon. Use your hands to mix all the ingredients evenly throughout the meat. Use a 2 tablespoon scoop to divide the meat mixture and then roll into approximately 16 meatballs, tapering them into the traditional oval shape if you like.
- BAKE: Drop the shaped meatballs into the sauce in the dutch oven you used earlier or an oven safe skillet, spreading them out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes, then use tongs to flip the meatballs over onto their other side before returning them to the oven and baking for another 15 minutes. Let the meatballs rest for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
The sauce will look marinara-like after simmering on the stove, but will lighten up to a browner color once the meatballs are baked in it. If you’d like a redder sauce that looks closer to the traditional tomato sauce, you can add extra beet juice (reserved from the can) a little at a time until the color is deeper. Please note that the more beet juice you add, the stronger the beet flavor will become. Personally, I prefer a less pretty color with less of the beet flavor, but the choice is yours!
You can also fry or bake the meatballs completely through, but separate from the sauce, then add them at the last minute to warm through and for the flavors to meld. That will yield a redder overall dish because the sauce won’t be diluted down by the extra liquid and fat that the Greek Baked Meatballs release as they cook.
Find it online: https://meatified.com/baked-greek-meatballs/