Greek-Inspired Oven-Baked Meatballs

This recipe is a great weeknight meal. The use of the food processor makes things fast who doesn’t love a meatball??

I adapted this recipe from Laura in the Kitchen and I’ll share the link to her original recipe below. I have made her recipe as is and it is FANTASTIC! However, I modify based on what I have on hand and what I feel like doing. The addition of the zucchini adds a ton of moisture and is an easy way to sneak veggies in for kids (and ourselves - who are we kidding).

https://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/greek-meatballs-with-tzatziki/

Changes I made:
1. I shredded one small zucchini, placed in a colander with a sprinkle of salt, and left in the sink to remove some of the water content. I squeezed the shredded zucchini really well before adding to the meatball mixture.

2. I doubled the recipe and used 1.5 lb of ground turkey and 1.5 lb of ground beef.

3. I only used parsley because that’s what I had on hand and I added Dijon mustard because it felt right.

4. After forming into balls, I put half of the batch on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I put the baking sheet in the freezer. Once the meatballs were frozen, I transferred them from the baking sheet to a freezer ziplock bag for freezer storage. Freezing then first on the baking sheet helps them keep their shape and prevents the meatballs from sticking to each other. Very easy to bake from frozen later; it will just take longer.

5. I baked the not-frozen meatballs in the oven at 450F for 25 min. I have also done the pan fry method and while delicious, it is too time consuming and hands on. The high temp in the oven still provides the nice browning effect.

Let me know if you enjoyed the time-lapse version of this video! Comment if you have any questions and follow for more.

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