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Mini Meatball Stew is the epitome of comforting! Tender, seasoned meatballs in a velvety tomato-based sauce. Serve with a bowlful of vermicelli rice!
Meat the mini meatball stew.
Okay, I apologize for that horrible pun, but let me tell you about this amazing stew that I wish was bubbling away in my dutch oven as I write this.
Tender seasoned meatballs loaded with seven spice, tomato paste, and a few other ingredients. Lightly golden around the outside once we brown the meatballs in a little oil. The secret to tender meatballs is the grated onion we use. They sort of just melt away as the meatballs stew in the tomato gravy and leave little pockets of tender bites.
These have to be the juiciest meatballs I’ve ever eaten.
A note about this recipe is that it was heavily inspired by Iranian Kalleh Gonjeshki, which is a meatball and potato stew. I opted to leave the potatoes out and probably took the liberty of going a bit heavier with the spices. All this to say, that if you wanted to air fry some potatoes are serve them on the side, or add them to the stew towards the end with a little more water, you could totally do that.
But I digress, let’s talk gravy! It’s spiced with seven spice, a little turmeric and coriander, a splash of beef broth and a can of tomato sauce. Once golden, place meatballs in the stew and let them simmer and gather all that tomato gravy. Then we’ll temper some garlic and cilantro and add that in right at the end. The flavors all meld together and it’s one of those dishes we’re leftovers are truly welcome.
You’ll be begging for the leftovers in the fridge.
Ingredients for meatball stew
- Ground Beef: I like to use 93-95% leaven ground beef so that there isn’t much fat that renders off.
- Onions: we’ll need a couple of onions. Grate the first ones for the meatballs and then use the second onion to make the stew base.
- Tomato Paste: we’ll use a squeeze in the meatballs to give them some color and to another tablespoon in the stew to help get a thicker consistency. Tomato paste lends plenty of color and flavor to the batches of fried meatballs.
- Seasonings: we’ll use kosher salt, black pepper, ground turmeric, ground coriander, a pinch of saffron, and some seven spice. Seven spice is an aromatic Middle eastern spice blend that contains, black pepper, nutmeg, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. It works beautifully on lamb, ground beef and more. Seven spice and baharat seasoning can be used interchangeably in this recipe.
- Olive Oil: we’ll need this to brown the meatballs and then create the base of the stew.
- Beef Broth: a splash so that the meatballs have plenty of liquid to boil in. Or you can use cold water and bouillon.
- Tomato Sauce: I use a can of tomato sauce – whatever brand you like works here.
- Butter: a small knob of butter is needed to cook down the cilantro and garlic in so that we can stir that in right at the end.
- Cilantro: chopped cilantro or parsley works too! cilantro does give this a much better flavor though!
- Garlic: we’re adding a whopping 10 cloves of minced garlic at the end. The good thing about the garlic is that the taste mellows out when you cook it down in the butter. So you won’t get a harsh bite in the stew.
How to make meatball stew recipe
- make the meatball mixture. start by squeezing out the water from the grated onion for the meatballs. you’ll want to do this a cheesecloth in a fine mesh strainer. Then add this to a large bowl along with the ground beed tomato paste, thermic, seven spice, kosher salt, black pepper, and ground saffron. Give this all good mix. Notice we don’t use eggs in our meatball mixture – the meatballs are so tiny that they don’t actually require much binding to hold together. Thenuse a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon to portion out your mini meatballs. Play them on a baking sheet and continue to roll the remaining meat mixture the same way.
- Sear them in a hot pan. Place a dutch oven or a small stock pot over medium heat. Add a glug of oil and allow to heat through. Then add a single layer of meatballs and allow them to brown for a couple minutes, flipping them so that they brown evenly. Remove the meatballs a plate and continue cooking the remaining meatballs the same way.
- Saute the aromatics. Then kick the stove up to medium-high heat and add another splash of olive oil to cook the onions in. They will pick up all the browned bits left behind from brown meatballs. Once softened, season with ground turmeric, seven spice, coriander and the tomato paste. The paste will bloom in the oil and allow the flavor to carry through the oil. It also helps thicken the stew so you don’t need any all purpose flour or a cornstarch slurry. Then add the tomato sauce and beef broth. Bring to a boil, then add the meatballs and let them simmer in the stew. The cooking time is minimum because the meatballs are so tiny!
- Simmer. Drop the heat to medium low and let the meatballs stew in the mixture.
- Saute the garlic. When there’s a few minutes left, heat the butter in a small skillet. Once melted add the garlic and allow it to cook in the oil for about a minute. Then add the cilantro and stir. Remove from heat before the cilantro browns.
- Finish the stew. Add the garlic and cilantro the stew and stir to combine. Taste the stew and adjust with kosher salt and black pepper as needed. You can serve the stew immediately, but it’s one of those dishes that taste better with time. So sometimes I’ll make it in the morning and serve it in the evening. Other times, I’ll make it the day before and serve the next day to get the most out of it.
Serving suggestions
- I love serving this with Lebanese rice pilaf
- maybe some roasted carrots or other vegetables on the side
- A Everyday House Salad, Shirazi salad, red cabbage salad, or Fattoush would be yummy
- Batata Harra if you need potatoes on the side (or just add air fried potatoes to the stew)
Other meatball recipes to try:
- Mini Moroccan Meatball Couscous Soup
- Salisbury Steak Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy
- Greek Chicken Meatballs in Lemon Cream Sauce
- Greek Meatballs (Keftedes)
- Chipotle Butter Chicken Meatballs
Comforting Mini Meatball Stew
Mini Meatball Stew is the epitome of comforting! Tender, seasoned meatballs in a velvety tomato-based sauce. Serve with a bowlful of vermicelli rice!
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 1 lb. lean ground beef or lamb 93-95%
- 1 medium onion grated
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon seven spice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground saffron optional
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon seven spice
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½-1 cup chicken or beef broth see notes
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Saute:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- 10 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
- SQUEEZE: out the water from the grated onions by adding it to a cheesecloth and wringing out the liquid. Add the onions to a medium bowl along with the beef, tomato paste, turmeric, seven spice, salt, pepper and saffron.
- ROLL: Mix with a spoon or your hands until *just* combined. Scoop 1 teaspoon of the mixture and roll between your palms to form a ball. Place on a plate or baking sheet. Continue rolling the remaining meatballs.
- SEAR: Heat a medium dutch oven or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan. When the oil starts to shimmer, add a single layer of the meatballs to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, flipping to cook evenly on all sides. Remove to a plate; don’t worry if the meatballs aren’t done, we will finish cooking them in the sauce. Add more oil as needed and sear the remaining meatballs.
- SAUTE: With about 2 tablespoon of oil in the pan add the chopped onions and saute them for 5-7 minutes or until they soften. Season with the turmeric, seven spice, coriander, and tomato paste. Cook for 30-60 seconds or until the tomato paste starts to brown. Then add the beef broth and tomato sauce to the pan. Bring the pot to simmer, then add the browned meatballs.
- SIMMER: allow the broth to come back to a simmer, then cover and let cook on medium-low heat until the meatballs cook through and the sauce reduces a little, about 20-25 minutes.
- SAUTE: Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once melted, add the garlic and sauté it for 40-50 seconds, then add the cilantro and stir to combine.
- FINISH: Add the garlic and cilantro mixture to the meatballs and stir to combine. Taste and adjust with kosher salt and black pepper as needed. Serve with vermicelli rice.
Notes
- Broth: the amount of broth you can use in this recipe varies. I like to use ½ cup but we also don’t need a ton of gravy with the Lebanese rice pilaf, you can use 1- 1¼ cup of broth if you like a bit more sauce to go with the meatballs or if you’re planning on adding potatoes!
- Potatoes: To add potatoes to this recipe, I recommend using about ½ pound of yukon gold potatoes. Cube the ptoatoes, toss in a little bit or oil and a big spinkle of kosher salt. Air fry them at 350ºF for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Then add them to the stew for the last 10 minutes to simmering before adding the garlic mixture. If you use the potatoes, you definitely need to up the broth as they’ll soak up some of the sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 279kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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