Cooking for Kids: Meatball Madness

I've been on a meatball kick ever since I tried Trader Joe's turkey meatballs a few months ago. I'm pretty sure we've purchased (and consumed) about 20 bags since then. I can't help it. I love them.

I knew that I could probably make my own meatballs at home for less so I decided to give it a try last week. I started by searching for a recipe for the world's best meatballs. Not surprisingly there were loads of recipes to choose from. Am I the only one that suffers from recipe overload? I never know which one to choose. So I just took two recipes and combined them. And they turned out pretty darn good. My husband even said they might be better than Trader Joe's! What a compliment!

I thought I'd share my recipe on here mainly for selfish reasons. I know I'll never remember this marvelous meatball recipe 3 weeks from now when I'm down to 6 balls in my freezer and desperate for more. So here it is...

World's Best Meatballs

• 16 oz. ground italian sausage
• 20 oz. ground turkey
• 12 oz. ground pork
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk add milk to 1 tbsp. lemon juice to make 1 1/2 cups and let sit for 10 minutes)
• 3 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 4 tbsp. italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
• 4 cloves garlic minced or pressed
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place wire rack on foiled lined baking sheet. Spray wire rack with cooking spray. (Very important step. I forgot to do this on the first batch and they were glued to the rack! Whoopsie!)
2. Mix buttermilk and bread crumbs together. Let sit for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to mash the bread crumbs into a smooth paste.
3. While the bread crumbs are resting, put the meat in a large bowl and add the salt, garlic salt, italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
4. Stir the bread crumb mixture and add to the seasoned meat. Add the eggs and mix until smooth.
5. Form into 1 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place on wire rack.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes until browned and cooked through.

The two recipes I combined are from America's Test Kitchen and All Recipes. I didn't have all the fancy ingredients for the America's Test Kitchen recipe (prosciutto and gelatin) and I wanted more of the spices from the All Recipes meatball recipe. So I put the two together and came up with this one.

This recipe made about 75 meatballs. It was hard to keep track because my husband and I devoured more than a few before the second batch was finished cooking. After they cooled I placed them on a baking sheet in the oven and let them freeze for a few hours (or I should have done but I forgot about them and they stayed in there overnight - whoops again!). When I remembered the next morning I put them in a freezer bag for later consumption. I pulled a few out today and microwaved them for 2 minutes and they were still delicious. I hope you try the recipe and enjoy them!