Today’s recipe for a main course with legumes: borlotti bean meatballs with tomato.
Nutritious and versatile, a great source of protein. Beans, chickpeas, lentils…at least three times a week we eat legumes at home and I love preparing them in many ways like, for example, the tasty bean stew, or pasta with chickpeas and fish, or chickpea burgers. One of the favorite ways we enjoy them is in the form of meatballs, a perfect preparation for both adults and children.
In this recipe, I used pre-cooked borlotti beans and blended everything in a mixer to keep it clean and, above all, to be quick, but you can also use dried beans, soaking them first.
To make the borlotti bean meatballs more delicious, I fried them and then simmered them in a tomato sauce, but they are also excellent baked in the oven or in an air fryer, or we can cook them directly in the tomato sauce. Before simmering them in the sauce, I ate one, and it was amazing even like that, maybe accompanied by a yogurt sauce, which always goes well with fried food.
A vegetarian dish that pleases everyone.
Let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: About 25 meatballs
- Cooking methods: Stove, Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients for Borlotti Bean Meatballs
- 18 oz canned borlotti beans (drained)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic (small)
- to taste parsley
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 cups bread (stale, soaked)
- to taste salt
- to taste seed oil (for frying)
- 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt
- to taste oregano
Tools
- 1 Mixer
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pan
- 1 Frying Pan
Let’s Prepare Borlotti Bean Meatballs Together!
To start, soak the stale bread in a bowl of water.
Meanwhile, drain the beans, rinse them and place them in the mixer. Also add the rest of the ingredients, namely the eggs, grated Parmesan, a small garlic clove, a sprig of parsley, salt, and breadcrumbs, activate the mixer and let it run for about thirty seconds, then add the well-squeezed soaked bread. Activate it again to knead.
Let the mixer run at medium speed for three to four minutes until we see that all the ingredients are well combined. We should get a homogeneous, soft, and workable mixture. Pour the obtained mixture into a bowl and form our bean meatballs. Take an amount of dough slightly larger than a walnut and form a ball, proceed until the dough is exhausted, placing them on a plate.
Once all the meatballs are formed, we can cook them, I fried them in a little seed oil. In a pan, pour the seed oil and let it heat up, then place the meatballs and let them brown for a couple of minutes, turn them over, and let the other side cook. When they are well browned on all sides, drain them on an absorbent paper sheet.
While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the tomato sauce. In a non-stick pan, pour olive oil, a garlic clove, and a sprig of fresh oregano, let it slightly heat, and add the tomato sauce. Salt and let it cook for four to five minutes over medium-low heat.
When the sauce is ready, take the meatballs and add them to the pan with the seasoning, let them cook for a couple of minutes over low heat so that they absorb the flavors.
A Curly Suggests
The bean meatballs keep well for a couple of days in the fridge in an airtight container and can be frozen.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How can I cook borlotti bean meatballs?
Besides frying, bean meatballs can be baked (at 430°F for 15 minutes) or cooked in an air fryer, or you can cook them directly in the tomato sauce, being careful when turning them.
