Football season has a officially started and my game day fanatic friends are always asking me for new food ideas. Anyone who is a meat eater loves meatballs, so I turned my signature recipe into something a little special. When I don’t feel like eating beef, I make my easy chicken meatballs and they start with all the flavor enhancers because chicken does need a little help in that department. Chopped pancetta is cooked with onions, garlic and tomato paste. The pancetta and onions are then cooled and mixed with the meat of choice, in this case ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan, fresh basil salt and pepper. If you look at the meatballs above as they are ready for the oven, you’ll notice that you can see the green flecks of fresh basil showing. The twist to this recipe is, before I roll the meatballs, I insert a small cube of cheese into the center so when you bite into the meatball you get oozy melted cheese goodness. I love a good sharp cheddar, but you use any you like. These meatballs are baked. I prefer this method over frying. They not only make a great appetizer, last night I mixed them into penne with pasta sauce and made dinner out of them. They also freeze really well. More Meatball Recipes:
Pork Ricotta and Sage Meatballs Mini Indian Meatballs with Curry Coconut Sauce Easy Chicken Meatballs
If you’ve tried these Cheese Stuffed Mini Meatballs or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it turned in the comments below. I love to hear from my readers!
