When you’re looking for a fairly easy meatball recipe, look no further than this one. Sure, it takes a bit of work before you start cooking, including searing the meatballs, but in the end, it’s worth it.
Also, Paula Deen wasn’t known for healthy cooking back when this recipe was posted, so… take that as you will.
Slow Cooker Cheese Stuffed Meatballs (and sauce)
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1/2 to 1 1/2 c Italian breadcrumbs
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped (or 1 tsp dried basil)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella, divided into 12 pieces (this is about half a container of mozzarella pearls)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 28-oz jars of your favorite marinara sauce
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, parsley and oregano. Add breadcrumbs 1/2 cup at a time until mixture is not too wet and can be formed into balls easily. Form mixture into 12 balls, and using your thumb, press a hole in the center. Insert the mozzarella cheese into the hole, and close it by pushing the meatball mixture around it.
Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and drizzle olive oil into it. Add meatballs and cook until just browned (you may want to do this in batches). Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs into a slow cooker. Pour marinara sauce over them, and cook on low for 5 hours.
Serve with noodles.
The recipe calls for fresh basil, but my plant was looking a bit peaked, so I had to use dried. Irritating, but not the end of the world (also made it a bit easier, prep-wise, as I didn’t have to chop the herb up).
Take your jewelry off, ladies, as you’re going to get your hands dirty. If there’s someone who knows an easier way of mixing two meats, herbs, salt and eggs together than by using the tools at the ends of your arms, please share!
Now, you’re supposed to make 12 meatballs, but there was a bit more meat than 1 lb in each package, so I upped it to 14. In addition, I held the amount of breadcrumbs to a little over half a cup. The first time I made this, I used a little over a cup, and they were way, way too dense.
These were being made in order to supply MM and myself with an easily reheatable meal for the full week, as I’m going to be running to appointments for three of the four nights that we’ll be in our house this week.
Using the slow cooker after browning the meatballs is super easy, and frees up the rest of the kitchen to make fun things, like bread, and two types of cookies (both of which I made the same day).
I forgot to take a picture once the cooker was done, but trust me when I say that the smell was fantastic, and they looked awesome. I’ll also say that while I know for a fact that they are stuffed with cheese (mozzarella pearls work wonders here – about three of them per ball), the cheese seems to either ooze out due to poorly sealed pockets, or kind of blend into the meat mixture itself, making it next to impossible to see the cheese when you cut into them. Still, the cheese adds taste and I love it.
Pair these wonderful things with any noodles! We like Penne Rigate, but really, the sky’s the limit!
Enjoy!