Easy Skillet Meatballs

Easy Skillet Meatballs are savory bites of beef, onion, caraway seeds and spices that you can add to pasta, soups or sandwiches for an easy meal. Great for making ahead and freezing.

Meatballs really can make cooking quick dinners a breeze. Kid’s just seem to love meatballs. I mean, tell em’ you are having spaghetti…yawn. Then tell em’ it’s spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and the kid’s start cheering! Really, true story. Try it yourself!!

Anyway,  you just make a couple batches of these babies to keep in the freezer and you are good to go! When you are short on time,  whip up some pasta with a sauce, throw in the meatballs and you have a complete meal in minutes! Just like that, too easy!

Today I am sharing a super recipe for moist, flavorful meatballs that you can use now or freeze for later. This recipe takes 30 minutes to make, and yields about 40 super yummy meatballs. Sound good?

Most of the ingredients you need to get started are probably already in your pantry….

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE EASY SKILLET MEATBALLS

• Olive oil
• Yellow onion
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Caraway seeds
• Garlic
• Bread crumbs
• Ground beef
• Eggs

Hiding The Onion Kitchen Hack

If you love to add onions to your recipes to give them flavor, but have eaters (usually children) that suspiciously eye up every dish to see if it has onion in it then pick every last piece out because they don’t like them…the only thing to do is hide the onions. How to do that you ask? Throw the onions into a food processor and grind them into an onion slush. They’ll melt into your recipes during cooking and no one will be the wiser. All of the flavor, non of the nonsense.

I smile every time the guys check my meatballs or whatever else I cook for onion, and when they don’t find any, dig in and tell me how good it tastes. Hmm???.

HOW TO MAKE SKILLET MEATBALLS

In a large mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients except the olive oil.Use your hands or a big spoon to combine everything.

Grab about a golf ball size amount of the beef mixture, about 1 TBSP, and roll it into a ball with your palms. You will get a real workout by doing this 39 more times!  Have a baking pan lined with parchment ready to set all of the rolled meatballs onto before frying. Now it’s time to cook the meatballs.

Heat the oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. When hot and the oil is shimmering, work in batches to add the meatballs and cook on all sides until fully browned thru and have reached 160°F on an instant read meat thermometer. Remove the meatballs from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Use the meatballs for a recipe right away, or freeze them for future meals.

How To Freeze Skillet Meatballs

1. To freeze, arrange the meatballs in a single layer on baking sheet or tray and allow each meatball to freeze into a hard ball. This will keep them from sticking together. Package in freezer bags or freezer containers and add a label.
2. The frozen meatballs should be used within 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before using.

Recipe and photos updated 2/11/2020.