The meat stuffed onions are a tasty and unusual main course, excellent served either hot or at room temperature. In fact, stuffed vegetables are a great alternative to usual main courses and also a very practical solution if you need to cook in advance. If you find flat white onions for sale, known for their sweet and delicate flavor, one of the best ways to cook them – besides baking them au gratin – is to stuff them with minced meat, flavored with Parmesan and herbs. However, if you don’t have flat onions available, you can prepare meat stuffed onions using common white or golden onions: you will simply need to cut them in half and proceed to stuff them in the same way. Since onions generally take quite a while to cook in the oven, it is necessary to boil them in boiling water for about ten minutes. Meat stuffed onions can be served either as a main course or as an appetizer, and the filling can be customized to your liking: at the end of the recipe, I will leave you some suggestions.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Oven, Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 486.63 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 40.27 (g) of which sugars 15.46 (g)
- Proteins 31.17 (g)
- Fat 23.13 (g) of which saturated 8.97 (g)of which unsaturated 8.74 (g)
- Fibers 6.58 (g)
- Sodium 606.76 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 307 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 for Meat Stuffed Onions
These quantities are meant for an appetizer for 4 people or a main course for 2 people.
- 25 oz onions (flat, or golden)
- 5 oz beef (minced)
- 0.7 oz Parmesan Cheese DOP (grated)
- 0.7 oz breadcrumbs (+ as needed for garnish; gluten-free for me)
- 1 egg (medium)
- as needed salt
- as needed pepper
- 1 drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig parsley
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pot large
- 1 Melon Baller
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Baking Tray
- Parchment Paper
How to Prepare Meat Stuffed Onions
To prepare the meat stuffed onions, start by cleaning the onions: if using flat onions, you need to remove only the part with the filaments (1). If using round onions, remove both ends and the skin; do not cut them in half now, but do it after boiling them, otherwise, they might open during cooking.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the onions (2). Boil them for 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of the onions), then drain and let them cool slightly. If using flat onions, remove the center with a melon baller or a teaspoon, so only a couple of rings remain (3).
If using round onions, cut them in half and position them with the cut side up, then hollow them out, leaving only two or three rings. In both cases, finely chop the part of the onion you removed with a knife, after discarding the core (4).
Place the chopped onion in a bowl and add minced meat, chopped parsley, a good pinch of salt, and a grind of pepper (5). Mix briefly, then also add Parmesan and breadcrumbs (6).
After mixing the ingredients well, add the egg (7) and mix it thoroughly with the filling, until you obtain a homogeneous and fairly compact mixture (8). Use it to stuff the onions, both inside and on top (9).
If you have some filling left over, you can make small meatballs that you can easily add to the baking tray and cook in the oven along with the onions. Sprinkle a little breadcrumbs on the surface of the stuffed onions (10).
Place the onions in a baking tray lined with parchment paper and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil (11). Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (static) for 45-50 minutes. When the onions are slightly golden, take them out of the oven (12) and let them rest for at least 5-10 minutes.
You can serve the meat stuffed onions either hot or at room temperature. With these quantities, I stuffed 4 medium-sized flat onions, which is enough as a main course for two people or as an appetizer for four.
Storage
You can store the meat stuffed onions in the refrigerator, in a glass container, for 3 days.
Tips and Variations
You can enrich the filling with mortadella, sausage, cooked ham, or speck. As mentioned, if you have leftover filling, you can make meatballs to add to the baking tray and cook alongside the onions for the same time.
