Easy but elegant appetizers are always in demand, and this meatball puff pastry recipe is just what you need. It’s quick and convenient to make, but endlessly versatile and impressive on any appetizer table. Let’s make them!
We often think of ground beef as a weeknight rockstar for quick, satisfying meals. But it’s often overlooked for appetizers. This ground beef appetizer, featuring tender mini meatballs set atop buttery, flaky puff pastry is a great way to utilize ground beef for a quick, easy and impressive appetizer.
I’ve got loads of appetizer recipes to choose from—an elegant Salmon Dip or Roasted Tomatillo Salsa. Or try other meatball recipes, I love these Spanish Meatballs and these sweet and tangy Korean Meatballs.
Quick and Easy Ground Beef Appetizer
Aside from being a great way to use ground beef, here’s a few more reasons I love to whip these up for gatherings:
- Convenient: open my freezer at any given time and you’ll find a box of puff pastry and a couple of pounds of ground beef. These two ingredients are insanely versatile—add in a few pantry ingredients, you’ve got yourself an impressive appetizer.
- Versatile: make this recipe a couple of times then use it as a framework and make it your own. Swap out the rosemary for a different herb, try different jams and cheeses, serve these with a creamy dip or tangy drizzle. There are tons of ways to make this appetizer your own.
Key Ingredients
- Ground beef: the meatballs get baked twice in this recipe, so to ensure they stay nice and juicy throughout the cooking process, I recommend using a fattier ground beef—something like 80/20. You can use a leaner ground beef, but I wouldn’t go leaner than 85/15.
- Puff Pastry: you know I love a puff pastry recipe! For all of my puff pastry needs I use Peppridge Farm—it’s consistent and reliable. Find it in the freezer section of your grocery store near the frozen pie crusts.
- Cherry Preserves: this is my preferred flavor since it pairs so beautifully with the other flavors in the recipe (beef, rosemary and brie cheese). You can easily swap in jam instead, though you won’t get those pops of cherry throughout. Also, feel free to try other preserve/jam flavors such as black current, fig, raspberry and orange marmalade.
- Brie Cheese: I love how the brie gets molten and pools all over. For starters it covers the puff pastry with cheese (which cradles the meatball nicely). But secondly, some of the cheese flows onto the baking sheet and bakes up into crisp frico—which gives some of the bites a bonus, savory crunch.
- Herbs and spices: I like to keep it simple so all of the flavors are at the forefront. All you need is fresh rosemary, garlic powder and onion powder.
How to Make Mini Meatball Puff Pastry
- Make the meatball mixture: mix together the ground beef, Panko breadcrumbs, preserves, an egg, minced rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Form the ground beef mixture into meatballs: using a leveled tablespoon measure, portion out the ground beef mixture into about 36 meatballs.
- Bake the meatballs: arrange the meatballs on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake just until they are cooked through (internal temp should be 165ºF). This will take about 10 minutes.
- Prep the pastry: while the meatballs bake, cut each puff pastry into 16 squares. Arrange the puff pastry pieces on parchment-lined baking sheets. Place a chunk of brie cheese in the middle of each pastry then brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle with salt and minced rosemary.
- Bake the pastry: bake the puff pastries until they are puffed and lightly golden, this will take about 12 minutes.
- Top with meatballs and bake again: remove the pastries from the oven and top each with a meatball. Return the pastries to the oven and bake once more until deeply golden brown, about 5 more minutes.
- Serve immediately or soon after baking.
Tips for Making this Meatball Appetizer
- I use a leveled tablespoon to measure out the meat mixture, of which I usually get 36 meatballs. If you’re portioning the mixture into rounded tablespoons you’ll get fewer meatballs. Which is OK. You’ll need 32 meatballs for this recipe. However, I like to err on the side of more meatballs (36) because one, I get to snack on them, and two it allows some quality control (I can test them for doneness and seasoning without being short of the number of meatballs needed).
- To ensure consistency, I recommend using a ruler to measure out and cut 16 even squares from the puff pastry.
Make Ahead & Prep Tips
I do not recommend fully making these meatball puff pastries ahead of time. They are best baked and served soon after. However, you can prep the components ahead of time.
- Bake, cool and store the meatballs in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 days ahead of time.
- Thaw and cut the puff pastry into squares up to 2 days ahead of time. Store them in the fridge in an airtight container.
- Cut and store the cheese in the fridge up to 4 days ahead of time.
More Puff Pastry Appetizers to Try
Appetizers
Mini Beef Wellington Bites
Appetizers
Upside Down Puff Pastry Tarts
Appetizers
Tomato Tarts with Puff Pastry
Appetizers
Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry Bites
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and share it on social—tag me @zestfulkitchen so I can reshare it! And if you have the time, please leave a comment and a star rating! Your reviews are incredibly helpful for other cooks, and for my business.
Mini Meatball Puff Pastries
Description
Easy and elegant ground beef appetizer featuring sweet and savory meatballs baked into puff pastry squares with melty brie cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 pound (80/20) ground beef
- ½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cherry preserves, divided
- 2 large eggs, divided
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoons dried + more for sprinkling
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 (17.3-ounce) box puff pastry, thawed
- 12 ounces brie cheese, cut into 1-inch x ¼-inch-thick squares
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425ºF (218ºC) with rack set in upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 pound ground beef, ½ cup breadcrumbs, ¼ cup jam, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon if using dried), ¾ teaspoon garlic powder, ¾ teaspoon onion powder and 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt (or 1½ teaspoons if using Diamond Crystal) and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Mix until combined.
- Scoop meat mixture, by leveled tablespoon, into 36 portions. Roll into balls and arrange on prepared baking sheet. Bake meatballs until cooked through and an instant-read thermometer registers 165ºF (74ºC), 8–10 minutes.
- When done baking, let meatballs cool slightly then transfer to a medium mixing bowl and toss with remaining 2 tablespoons jam to coat. Remove and replace parchment paper on baking sheet used to cook meatballs.
- Cut 2 sheets of puff pastry into 16 even squares. Arrange evenly on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Cut 12 ounces brie into ¼-inch-thick slices then cut into 1-inch squares. Place a square of brie in center of each pastry square.
- Beat remaining 1 egg in a small bowl with a splash of water. Brush edges of pastry with egg wash then sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and rosemary. Bake until puffed, edges are lightly golden and cheese is melted, 10–13 minutes.
- Remove sheets from oven and place meatball in center of each pastry. Return sheets to oven and continue baking until pastries are deeply golden brown, 3–5 more minutes.
- Optional: brush meatballs with a bit more jam to give them a nice shine. Serve immediately.
Save This Recipe!
We’ll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.
Notes
Fat Percentage of Ground Beef: Since the meatballs get baked twice, I recommend using a fattier ground beef like 80/20. You can use something more lean, just keep in mind the meatballs may be a bit drier.
Preserves vs Jam: I like cherry preserves here, but you can really use any jam or preserves. Raspberry, black currant and orange marmalade would all be good options.
Measuring Meatballs: you’ll need 32 meatballs for this recipe. The ground beef mixture will make 36 meatballs when portioned using a leveled tablespoon. I always portion into 36 because it gives me extra meatballs to test for doneness and seasoning. If you want the meatballs to be slightly larger, simply portion into 32 meatballs.
Nutrition
Serving: 1biteCalories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 5gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 158mgSugar: 0.5g
Like this? Leave a comment below!I love hearing from you and I want to hear how it went with this recipe! Leave a comment and rating below, then share on social media @zestfulkitchen and #zestfulkitchen!
This post is written and created in partnership with the Iowa Beef Council. As always the thoughts, opinions, recipe, photos and content are all my own.
