Boiled Meatballs, made with the meat used to prepare the broth. During the winter season and especially during the holidays, we often prepare meat broth. Boiled meat is very good and we usually enjoy it simply with a bit of salt and vinegar or with sauces like mustard.
However, with boiled meat, very good fried meatballs can also be made. They remain very soft inside and crunchy on the outside thanks to the breadcrumb coating.
I make boiled meatballs with all types of meat I use for the broth because the more mixed the meat, the tastier they will be. So, do not exclude any cut of meat; beef, veal, chicken, hen, and capon are all fine.
It will be enough to clean the meat, taking only the pulp, put it in a large bowl, add the ingredients we usually use to season the meatballs, such as stale bread, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, egg, and parmesan. Mix everything with your hands, and it will be easy to blend the ingredients because being boiled meat, it will easily mash with the pressure of your fingers.
Personally, we love consuming these meatballs just fried, but they are also delicious passed in a spicy garlic and oil sauce.
For meatballs lovers, I also suggest
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- 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, including stale bread.
- 12 oz mixed ground meat (boiled meat not ground)
- 1 egg
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 1 tbsp parmesan
- 1.4 oz stale bread
- 3/4 cup water (to soften the bread)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bunch parsley
- 3.5 oz breadcrumbs
- as needed seed oil (for frying)
Tools
To prepare the boiled meatballs, you don’t need many tools because you can simply mix them with your hands.
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pan
- 1 Skimmer
Preparation
The preparation of the boiled meatballs takes a few minutes because the meat is already cooked; you just need to mix the ingredients and fry the small meatballs for a few minutes in hot oil.
I propose fried boiled meatballs because it is a very quick fry, and they also remain very dry on the outside after cooking, which challenges anyone to distinguish whether they are fried or baked. However, if you have problems with frying, do not hesitate to prepare the 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, again for about 20 minutes, until golden. In both cases, you need to add a drizzle of extra virgin oil to the meatballs before baking.
The first step is to soak the stale bread in a glass of water. Then proceed to clean the meat from any bones, skin, and tendons, although you can leave a few tendons to make the meatballs even tastier. Place the meat in a glass bowl, add the egg, chopped garlic, chopped parsley leaves, salt, pepper, and parmesan.
Squeeze the bread from the excess water by pressing it well between the palms of your hands, and chop it into the rest of the ingredients. Still using your hands, mix all the ingredients, and being boiled meat, you will get a nice homogeneous dough as you can see in the photo.
Prepare small balls and roll them in breadcrumbs. To facilitate this last operation, I collect the breadcrumbs in a deep plate, making it easy to coat the balls.
When you have prepared most of the small meatballs, heat the seed oil for frying; I use a stone pan not too large but with high edges so that the cooking is more homogeneous and fast. When the oil is hot, start frying the meatballs. You can make sure the oil is hot by immersing the tip of a toothpick in 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 small meatballs fried in hot oil, but you can bake them in the oven or cook them 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 passed in a quick garlic oil and chili pepper sauce.
You can easily prepare them in advance and heat them as needed; they will keep well in the refrigerator covered for a couple of days.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What type 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.
