Slow Cooker Meatballs

Meatballs can be cooked in a variety of methods such as frying, baking, steaming, braising, and with gravy, but the most popular form of the dish is slow cooker meatballs.

Ground meat rolled into small balls are called meatballs. The meatball mixture which ultimately rolled into balls usually consists of meat (of course!), bread crumbs, eggs, minced onion, butter, and other relishes.

Here’s the delicious, easy slow cooker meatballs recipe for you to try.

Health Facts:

Calories per serving: 179 cal

Fats per serving: 17.2 grams

Carbohydrates per serving: 18.2 grams

Vitamins, protein, magnesium, potassium, fiber, folate etc are essential to keep humans hale and hearty and the dish has it all for you. The beef in meatballs also is an affluent source of micronutrients, such as zinc, iron and vitamin B12.

Ingredients

pounds ground beef: 1 1/2

cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs: 1 1/4

cup chopped fresh parsley: 1/4

cloves minced garlic: 2

medium chopped, yellow onion: 1

beaten egg: 1

jar spaghetti sauce: 1 (28 ounces)

can crushed tomatoes: 1 (16 ounces)

can tomato puree: 1 (14.25 ounces)

How To Make Slow Cooker Meatballs

1. Mix ground beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, onion, garlic, and egg in an appropriately-sized bowl.
2. Mix well and once the ingredients have blended thoroughly forming a thick mixture, shape the mixture into 16 meatballs.
3. Mix the spaghetti sauce with crushed tomatoes and tomato puree in a slow cooker.
4. Transfer the meatballs into the spaghetti sauce mixture. Make sure the balls don’t break.
5. Cover and cook to 6 to 8 hours. You can stir or check on it occasionally if you feel the need to do so.
6. Once cooked, top it with fresh coriander leaves or a garnish of your choice and serve/devour!

Trivia:

A Chinese recipe called ‘Four Joy Meatballs’ was introduced from Shandong cuisine which itself was introduced in the local cooking styles of Shandong. The origin of the dish dates from the Qin dynasty i.e from 221 B.C to 207 B.C.

The recipe book named Apicius which was produced in the ancient Roman age also included several meatball recipes. Initial dishes that were a part of the earliest known books called Arabic cookbooks include seasoned lamb shaped into meatballs which are the size of an orange coated with egg yolk and occasionally saffron.

This technique was then introduced to the West and was/is referred to as ‘gliding’. Although there are variations depending upon the region, kuffeh Tabrizi is a prominent type of dish with unusually large meatballs. A glided meatball dish called Poume d’oranges is also popular from the Middle Ages.

Meatballs today have a number of variants which differ with the use of different types of spices and meats used in making them. Several recipes of meatballs are found in Asia and Europe. From India to Spain and other countries, there is a wide range of meatballs in the ‘kofta’ family.