You can reduce the fat and sodium drastically in meatballs by simply not adding cheese. You also can reduce the fat by using lean beef……These meatballs don’t have cheese in them and were made with lean beef. All the fat was cut off the lean side of a brisket and then it was ground. You can purchase lean ground beef since nobody likes grounding beef. Salt was reduced again by substituting vegetable base that is less salt but salty with flavor. You can splurge and add some Italian hard cheese at serving time. The rest is just figuring out how to flavor them and to get them to a good texture. I was going to add fresh parsley but forgot to add it…..The meatballs still came out delicious and good so I left the fresh parsley out of the recipe. I recommend using a small scoop for the meatballs. This time I got 18 servings that was a total of 85 meatballs that happen to freeze and reheat very well. Use with your favorite pasta sauce or use winter tomato sauce recipe from The Forking Truth.

Ingredients for about 18 servings

3 lbs ground beef – lean is recommended

1 medium sized sweet onion (around 8oz) fine chopped

8 cherry peppers – minced (I used Sprouts Brand – Spicy/Sweet jarred)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 Tablespoon ground black pepper

4 Tablespoons vegetable base (instead of salt)

6 eggs – lightly beaten

8oz whole wheat panko (Japanese Bread Crumbs) (Walmart, Asiana Market and Whole Foods sells Whole Wheat Panko)

Three Tablespoons dried basil

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Before you add water do a small tester meatball in the oven for about 6 minutes and see how you like it. Add up to 3 Tablespoons water for a moister meatball but don’t add so much water it’s mushy. If you think it’s a little dry then add up to three tablespoons of water. Adjust seasoning to your liking but it’s probably about right with seasoning.

neutral non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F and spray baking sheets with non stick spray.

In a medium sized fry pan on medium high heat add the oil. When hot add the onions, cherry pepper, black pepper and vegetable base. Cook till onions are clear. Shut off heat but leave on burner and add the garlic, basil, thyme and white pepper. Stir and leave to the side too cool.

I a very large mixing bowl or maybe two bowls add the beef, eggs and panko and mix well. The fry pan mixture is probably cool by now so add that in and mix well.

Make a small tester meatball so you can test seasoning and texture. Usually when you use lean beef you need to add a little water so it comes out moist (but not mushy) Test before adding water and see what you think. A half size ball will take about 6 minutes in the oven.

Once you are happy with meatball mixture use a small scoop and roll slightly and place you meatballs on the sprayed baking sheets with a little room around the meatballs. I used 6 small sheet pans that filled up my oven. In my oven the meatballs were done in 15 minutes.

Serve with tomato sauce and offer hard Italian Cheese. Enjoy!