BBQ Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs. Two of my favorite things ever combined into a mouthwatering appetizer! This is a perfect appetizer for your next party or tailgate. Lean ground beef wrapped around extra sharp cheddar cheese, basted with sweet and tangy BBQ sauce and baked to awesome finger-food perfection?
Yes! Am I excited about these?! YES!
Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs. Game changer.
I am always browsing cookbooks, Pinterest, and magazines looking for new ways to cook with ground beef, aren’t you? After finding a few meatball recipes, I was still thinking of something new. Nothing was reaching out to me, nothing said “cook me”!
I recently made a delicious Italian Style Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf, so why not take this idea and turn it into appetizers?
My first thought? Why haven’t I ever put cheese in my meatballs? Major “Aha!” Moment, people.
Ingredients Needed for this Meatball Recipe:
- Lean ground beef
- Extra sharp cheddar cheese
- Egg
- Bread crumbs
- BBQ sauce
- Milk
- Garlic
- Salt & pepper
I combined lean ground beef with my favorite meatball ingredients (be sure to scroll down for the recipe).
In the center of each meatball, gently press a cube of extra sharp cheddar cheese. You could also use Velveeta (wouldn’t that be yummy?). We went with extra sharp because we love the flavor, and thought it would go well with the meatballs.
More Meatball Recipes You Might Like:
Italian Alfredo Meatballs
Cranberry Chili Crockpot Cocktail Meatballs
Marinara Meatball Skillet
How to Make Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs:
- First spray a broiler pan with non stick spray and set aside.
- Next, cut cheese into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Pour milk over bread crumbs and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, crumb and milk mixture, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, and half of the BBQ sauce. With your hands, mix the meatballs until combined.
- Evenly roll a section of the meat mixture into an approximately 1 inch sized meat ball. Press 1 cube of cheese into the center. Gently form the meat around the cheese cube so it is in the center.
- Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees while cooling.
- Place the meat balls onto the prepared broiler pan. Use the kind with a drip pan so the hamburger grease drips into a catch pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and baste on all sides with the remaining BBQ sauce.
- Finally, return to the oven and bake another 10-12 minutes until the meat is no longer pink inside. Let cool slightly and serve.
Keep rolling and stuffing your cheddar meatballs until you run out of meat or cheese.
This will depend on the size of your meatballs. We stuck with 1/2 inch cubes of cheddar and our total meatball size was a little over 1 inch. The recipe for BBQ Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs at the end of this post worked out just right!
Place the cheddar stuffed meatballs onto a greased broiler pan, and bake.
Halfway through the baking, baste each meatball with your favorite BBQ sauce. Be sure to flip them over to get all sides.
These can be made ahead by freezing them before cooking. If you do this, you can pop them right in the oven with no defrosting. You will have to adjust your cooking time just a little.
One more note: these Cheddar Meatballs are VERY filling. So yummy! Guess who is going to be the tailgate hero this football season?
Cheddar Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs lean ground beef
- 6 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese about 3/4 of a block
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce divided
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 TB minced garlic
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Spray a broiler pan with non stick spray and set aside.
- Cut cheese into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Pour milk over the crumbs and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, crumb and milk mixture, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, and half of the BBQ sauce. With your hands, mix the meatballs until combined.
- Evenly roll a section of the meat mixture into an approximately 1 inch sized meat ball. Press 1 cube of cheese into the center. Gently form the meat around the cheese cube so it is in the center.
- Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees while cooling.
- Place the meat balls onto the prepared broiler pan. Use the kind with a drip pan so the hamburger grease drips into a catch pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and baste on all sides with the remaining BBQ sauce.
- Return to the oven and bake another 10-12 minutes until the meat is no longer pink inside. Let cool slightly and serve.
These meatballs
with cheese in the middle were as fun to make as they are going be to eat! The recipe was simple to understand and prep time went quicker than I thought (me being a man in the kitchen) it took me a little time to catch on. Well time to preheat the oven so I will return and let y’all know how they taste! My tounge is slappin around in my mouth just waiting!!! Well just as I figured they are delicious. Thank you Teri these are delicious and I’m enjoying them with some fries! Again Thanks!!
Thanks, Uncle Dennis. 🙂