Grandma’s Eggplant Meatballs are easy to make, I loved them at first bite. The eggplant croquettes are perfect if you want to make your kids eat eggplants because they look like classic meatballs. After forming the meatballs with the oven-baked eggplant pulp, I fried them, but you can also bake them or use an air fryer. They are delicious and will disappear quickly. They are great both hot when freshly made and at room temperature. Perfect as an appetizer, excellent for a buffet, or to accompany a drink. The eggplant and ricotta meatballs are very soft inside and crispy outside. If you also love eggplants as much as I do, I recommend checking out QUICK EGGPLANT RECIPES. I’m sure you’ll find some other recipes to try. Now let’s see how to make eggplant meatballs that remain very soft inside and crispy outside, and if you try them, let me know. Barbara

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Frying
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients to prepare Grandma’s eggplant meatballs

2 eggplants
2 cloves garlic
leaves basil
to taste extra virgin olive oil
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1 egg
100 g ricotta
to taste parsley
to taste breadcrumbs
to taste peanut oil

How to prepare Grandma’s eggplant meatballs

Let’s start preparing the Eggplant Meatballs by finely chopping the garlic,
the basil and a few parsley leaves
then pour into a bowl and add some extra virgin oil, mix well and let it infuse.
Wash the eggplants, cut them in half lengthwise, and make crosshatch cuts,
line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the eggplants, pour the oil and minced garlic, parsley, and basil mixture into the eggplants, spreading the cuts so that the seasoning can penetrate inside the cuts in the eggplants.
Drizzle with more oil if needed. Bake in a preheated static oven at 356°F for 40 minutes
When the eggplants are cooked and the pulp is soft, remove them from the oven and let them cool. You can also cook the eggplants the day before. Scoop the pulp from the eggplants with a spoon,
then pour it into a bowl and mash it well with a fork.
Add an egg,
the ricotta,
and mix well until you get a nice homogeneous mixture,
Then add chopped parsley,
and 100 g of breadcrumbs, I
added it in two portions to incorporate it well. You should get a soft mixture that holds its shape.
Take part of the mixture and shape the meatballs, which you will then roll in breadcrumbs.
Heat some peanut oil, and when it reaches temperature, lower the meatballs a few at a time so as not to lower the temperature of the oil too much. This way they won’t absorb too much oil and will stay dry.
Turn the meatballs often until they are golden. When they are ready, remove them from the oil and let them rest on absorbent paper.
Add a pinch of salt and serve them hot or at room temperature.