Boiled meatballs, made with the meat used to prepare the broth. During the winter season and especially during the holiday periods, we often prepare meat broth. Boiled meat is very good and we usually consume it simply with a bit of salt and vinegar or with sauces like mustard.
However, boiled meat also makes excellent fried meatballs that remain very soft inside and crunchy on the outside thanks to breadcrumb coating.
I make boiled meatballs with all types of meat I use for the broth because the more mixed the meat is, the tastier they will be. So you shouldn’t exclude any cuts of meat; beef, veal, chicken, hen, and capon are all great.
Simply clean the meat, recovering only the pulp, put it in a large bowl, add ingredients we normally use to season meatballs like stale bread, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, egg, and parmesan. Mix everything with your hands, and it will be very easy to combine the ingredients because being a boiled meat, it will grind easily with the pressure of your fingers.
Personally, we love to consume these meatballs just fried, but they are also delicious reheated in a spicy garlic and oil sauce.
For meatball lovers, I also suggest
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 20 meatballs
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 118.81 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 3.70 (g) of which sugars 0.20 (g)
- Proteins 3.37 (g)
- Fat 10.08 (g) of which saturated 2.57 (g)of which unsaturated 7.09 (g)
- Fibers 0.22 (g)
- Sodium 293.25 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 30 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
The ingredients added to the boiled meat are the classic ones used to make meatballs, stale bread included.
- 12 oz mixed ground meat (boiled meat not ground)
- 1 egg
- as needed salt
- as needed pepper
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 1.4 oz stale bread
- 0.85 cup water (to soften the bread)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bunch parsley
- 3.5 oz breadcrumbs
- as needed vegetable oil (for frying)
Tools
To prepare boiled meatballs, you don’t need many tools because you can simply mix them with your hands.
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Skimmer
Preparation
The preparation of boiled meatballs takes only a few minutes because the meat is already cooked; just combine the ingredients and fry the meatballs for a few minutes in hot oil.
I suggest fried boiled meatballs because it’s a very quick frying and they remain very dry on the outside after cooking, I challenge anyone to tell if they are fried or baked. However, if you have problems with frying, don’t give up preparing boiled meatballs because you can bake them in a hot oven at 392°F for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Alternatively, you can cook them in the air fryer at the highest temperature for about 20 minutes, or until golden. In both cases, you need to add a drizzle of extra virgin oil on the meatballs before baking.
The first step is to soak the stale bread in a glass containing water. Then proceed to clean the meat from any bones, skin, and cartilages, although you can leave some of the latter to make the meatballs even tastier. Put the meat in a bowl, preferably glass, add the egg, garlic cut into small pieces, parsley leaves chopped, salt, pepper, and parmesan.
Squeeze the bread from excess water by pressing it well between the palms of your hands and crumble it into the rest of the ingredients. Still with your hands, mix all the ingredients, and since it’s boiled meat, you’ll see that you’ll get a nice homogeneous dough as shown in the photo.
Prepare small balls that you will roll in breadcrumbs. To facilitate this last operation, I gather the breadcrumbs in a deep dish so it will be easy to bread the balls.
When you have prepared most of the meatballs, heat the vegetable oil for frying. I use a stone pan that is not too large but with high edges so the cooking will be more even and faster. When the oil is hot, start frying the meatballs. You can check that the oil is hot by dipping the tip of a toothpick into the oil. If you see oil bubbles forming around the toothpick, the oil has reached the correct temperature; otherwise, wait. For a good dry fry, the oil must have reached the right temperature and must maintain it during cooking. I use a lid during cooking and a high flame.
The meatballs will be ready when they have reached a uniform golden color because the inside is already cooked.
NOTES
As already mentioned, I propose fried meatballs in hot oil, but you can cook them either in the oven or in the air fryer. They will be delicious consumed hot accompanied by sauces like green sauce, mustard, or whatever you prefer, but they are also delicious reheated in a quick garlic oil and chili sauce.
You can easily prepare them in advance and heat them when needed; they will keep well in the fridge covered for a couple of days.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of meat should I use?
You can use all the meat you use to prepare the broth, the more mixed it is, the tastier the meatballs will be.
