Description
Savory and full of flavor, these lamb meatballs make a hearty appetizer or cozy dinner served with crusty bread or rice.
Ingredients
Scale
- ¾ cup chopped parsley
- ⅓ cup chopped mint (½ ounce)
- ½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 4 large cloves garlic, grated
- 2 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 pound ground lamb
- ½ pound 96% lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes (20 ounces)
- ¼ cup vinegar (distilled, white wine, red wine or sherry are all great)
- Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, mint and bread for serving
Instructions
- Combine parsley, mint, yogurt, garlic, paprika, fennel seeds, 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.
- Add ground lamb and beef, and mix, using your hands, until combined. Form mixture into 1 ½ inch meatballs (about 2 ½ tablespoons each or #24 scoop (1.5 ounces)); transfer to a plate.
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or braiser over medium. Arrange a few meatballs in an even layer in pot and cook until browned all over, about 5–8 minutes (depending on how hot your stove runs, you may need to lower the heat to avoid splattering). Transfer browned meatballs back to plate and repeat, in batches, with remaining meatballs.
- Drain all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pot. Add shallots to pot; season with salt and cook until starting to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until some start to burst (you can help the tomatoes along by smashing them against the sides of the pan with a spoon), about 5 minutes.
- Deglaze pan with vinegar, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in 1 ½ cups water, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Cook until sauce has slightly thickened but is still loose, 7–8 minutes.
- Add meatballs and any accumulated juices to sauce, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until cooked through, about 8 minutes.
- Sprinkle mint and pecorino over meatballs. Serve with warm crusty bread.
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
- Buying ground beef: an easy way to get ½ pound of ground beef is to buy it at the meat counter (not the pre-packaged section where most ground meat is sold in 1-pound packages).
- This entire dish can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. Store the meatballs and sauce together in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- These spiced lamb meatballs are delicious served over rice or with crusty bread.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of the recipe
- Calories: 324
- Sugar: 3g
- Sodium: 472mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Carbohydrates: 6.5g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 24g
- Cholesterol: 76mg
Keywords: lamb meatballs, spicy lamb meatballs, lamb and beef meatballs
