These tasty Italian Meatballs are just 5 Smart Points per serving on Weight Watchers Flex / Freestyle program.The recipe for these Italian Meatballs has been adapted from a Gordon Ramsey recipe. It’s extremely tasty, filling and is now Weight Watchers friendly. Yay!I have never really been a big meatball fan! Well, that was until I tried these ones!They are by far the best meatballs that I have ever tried.The meatballs are succulent and flavourful and the sauce is thick and rich with just a hint of chilli.The recipe is adapted from a Gordon Ramsey meatball recipe. He makes them with milk soaked breadcrumbs, and then dusts them with flour.In my opinion this technique has elevated meatballs from ‘meh’ to ‘yeah’! Tips for making these meatballsTo make the breadcrumbs, I blitzed half a Warburton thin in a food processor. Alternatively, you could use a slice of low point bread. This makes approx 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs.Put the breadcrumbs into a small bowl and cover with the milk. Set aside to allow the bread to soak up the milk (pic 2).I used shallots in this recipe (pic 3). Shallots have a more delicate taste than onions. They also break down quicker than onions, leaving you with a smooth, delicate tasting tomato sauce.Place the beef, chopped parsley, crushed garlic and the milk soaked bread into a bowl (pic 4). Use your hands to really ‘squidge’ it all together so that it is thoroughly combined.The meatballs should to be roughly the size of a large walnut. Make up all the meatballs before moving on to the next step.
- Toss each of the meatballs in the flour so that they are covered with a light dusting. This will help them turn a rich golden brown colour when frying.
- When frying the meatballs, you want them to brown all over but it is not necessary for them to be cooked through. They will finish cooking when they are added to the tomato sauce (pic 1) and baked in the oven.
Ingredients:
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 egg
1 cup water
1 package stove top stuffing mix (any flavour)
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PREPARATION:
Mix all ingredients together
Roll into 20 meat balls
Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray, add meatballs over med heat until fully cooked
Makes 20 meatballs, 3 points+ for 2 meatballs, 1 smartpoints for 1 meatball
I made these last week but used ground turkey instead of beef. I also baked them in the oven for 20 minutes instead of pan frying them. They came out nice and soft and absolutely delicious. Made a light tomato sauce and served my family whole grain spaghetti with the meatballs while I made myself “zoodles” and meatballs. You should get 20 meatballs ( golf ball size) out of this recipe. It’s a keeper!
Enjoy !