Baked Veggie Loaded Meatballs
Veggie Loaded Meatballs are the ultimate kid-friendly meal and meal prep must!
Searching for a quick meal to add to your weekly menu? Here’s the perfect one! With just a few ingredients and about 20 minutes you’ll have another meal prepped and ready for the week. We almost always have meatballs added to the menu, or at least a batch of them stashed away in the freezer. They freeze great and are literally a lifesaver when something comes up and we need to stray from the menu plan! Because lets face it, that will happen from time to time. And it’s best to be prepared!
I don’t know about you, but I love hiding vegetables in food. Let’s just say it’s one of my hidden talents! As a mom to little ones sometimes we have to get creative. Creative with hiding veggies so the built-in radars kids seem to have at some point in their early childhood that scopes out ANY form of vegetable doesn’t go off when you serve meals. Now, don’t get me wrong, at times the boys love eating their broccoli or carrots or corn or whatnot. But picky eaters happen. And if you have one Veggie Loaded Meatballs is the recipe for you. If you don’t have picky eaters (pat on the back to you mom!!) Veggie Loaded Meatballs is STILL the recipe for you! Extra veggies is always a great way to add more nutrients for you and your family!
Grab your food processor and a mixing bowl and have a big batch of meatballs ready in a flash. For this recipe I chose to add carrots and spinach and a little onion and garlic for flavor. Process the vegetables with the onion and garlic, add to the ground meat of your choice (I personally love beef and bison or beef and pork) and mix it all together. It is possible to use a big fork and mix it all together, but I just dig right in with clean hands and mix it all together. After that roll a small handful (about golf ball size) into a round ball and line them up in a 9×13 baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the center of the meatball is no longer pink. They’ll have a beautiful golden brown color from baking in the oven. Enjoy them for a nice dinner gathered around the table served with mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries.
Original recipe was shared on The Real Food RDs
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork, turkey or bison
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
- 2 handfuls spinach
- 1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep 9x13 baking dish with lining with parchment paper.
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Place the carrots, spinach, onion and garlic in food processor and process for 1-2 minutes or until everything is in very small pieces.
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Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
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Scoop out a small handful of mixture (golf-ball sized) and roll into a ball. Place in the prepared baking dish.
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Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
