Cheddar 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!
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Cheddar Meatballs…this might be the perfect meatball recipe.
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 kept browsing and saw an amazing looking recipe on Yummly for Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf. (Yeah, I know, right?!!?)
My first thought? Why haven’t I ever put cheese in my meatballs? Major “Aha!” Moment, people.
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.
Cheese makes me happy.
Just 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 Cheddar Meatballs at the end of this post worked out just right!
Place the cheddar meatballs onto a greased broiler pan
Halfway through the baking, baste each meatball with your favorite BBQ sauce. Be sure to flip them over to get all sides.
Continue baking until done.
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?
Save RecipeBuy This:
- 2 lbs lean ground beef
- 6 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese (about 3/4 of a block)
- 1 egg
- 1 slice white bread (or 2/3 cup of bread crumbs)
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, divided
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 TB minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Cook That:
Spray a broiler pan with non stick spray and set aside.
Cut cheese into 1/2 inch cubes.
Cut the slice of bread in half. Over a small bowl, rub the two halves of bread together to make crumbs. 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.
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