Who doesn’t like meatballs? Not anyone in my family, anyway. Wrap ‘em in bacon and well, they practically get inhaled. With football season in full swing, and the holiday party season just around the corner, make these fresh, or make-ahead a double batch of these awesome meatballs and make your entertaining a little less stressful.
I cook these meatballs up ahead of time, flash freeze them and then stock my freezer. When you’re ready to make them on party day, simply thaw them on a cookie sheet and then either wrap them in bacon, or bake them plain. I like to serve them with warm Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce for dipping. If you are really ambitious, you can make your own sauce, but I’ll skip that step and stick with the meatballs.
- 1 pound ground chuck (80/20)
- 1 pound center cut thin bacon, sliced down the middle to form 4-1/2” strips
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup finely chopped yellow onion
- ¼ cup plain dry bread crumbs
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 TBS milk
- 1-1/2 tsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried parsley
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp unsalted butter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the meatballs except oil and butter.
- Mix well with a spoon, or just dig in and use your hands.
- Form into balls about 1” in size. I like to use a 1” ice cream scooper to keep size uniform.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil and the butter over medium high heat. Using butter and oil, gives the meatballs their nice brown color.
- When heated, and butter is melted add the meatballs and cook until nicely browned on all sides.
- Place meatballs on baking rack covered with paper towels to absorb any excess grease/oil.
- Wrap meatballs with bacon strips and place seam side down on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes until meatballs are cooked through and bacon is crisp.
TTFN,
The Baroness