I never knew that IKEA sells frozen meatballs until my office mate told me few years ago. As soon as I find out about it, I went to IKEA and got myself 1 bag of frozen meatballs. I find it very convenient to have something stocked in the freezer for days that I don’t have time to make my own meals. It was sort of emergency food for me. I like the taste of it, it’s reasonably priced and the quantity is quite huge. I had been buying it since then until I decided to make my own meatballs at home. Bake, not fried is what I aimed for. 

Perfect Meatballs

A perfect meatballs for me is something that is tender, juicy, flavorful and bake. Yes, it has to be baked, that’s the challenge I put on to myself. If I am going to make it homemade, might as well do it the way I like it. But if you prefer it fried, then do so. Four characteristics, it doesn’t sound that hard, that’s what I thought. I started making it, some came out dry, some came out hard and some came out bland. I had to try several times to get all those 3 characteristic perfect, and now that I finally got it spot on, I want to share the secrets of tender and juicy meatballs. 

Secret 1: Lamb or a mix of beef and pork for more flavorful taste, 80% lean. The pork will give the moisture and tender texture to the meatballs and the beef will give a nice taste texture when mixed with the ground pork. For the lamb it works great even on it’s own, no need to mix it with beef or pork. I used this most of the time because it produces a tender and juicy meatballs on it’s own.

Secret 2: Season generously, nothing’s worst than eating a bland meat balls. The challenge with making meatballs is that you cannot taste it once you mixed it, that’s a big no for the obvious reason its raw meat. I like to saute the spices along with onion and garlic before adding it to the meatballs. This helps extract the flavor of the seasonings better thus giving a more flavorful meatballs. My trick is to fry 1 piece just to get the taste of it and then I can adjust the seasonings accordingly.

Secret 3: Crumbled white bread or panko bread crumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs), to give the soft texture to meatballs. I like using either of these two, but most of the time I used panko bread crumbs. This kind of bread crumb has a lighter flaky texture as compared to regular bread crumbs. The lighter texture gave the meatballs the tender texture, at the same time it acts like a binder when mixed with milk. I did not use any egg in this recipe to bind the ingredients, the combination of panko bread crumbs and milk is what acts as a binder, and it worked.

Secret 4: I find that chilling the mixture in the fridge before shaping it to balls hold better and more stable. I tested both shaping without chilling and chilling before shaping and I find that the later works best. You only need at least 1 hour, or you can even leave it overnight in the refrigerator just make sure to store it a covered container.

Once all the ingredients are mixed together, the mixture should be shapeable and not too sticky in the palm. This is a good sign that you are on a right track when it comes to texture. A sticky meatballs is loose, which means that it is missing a binder and it could easily fall apart and will not hold its shape. If this happens, just a little bit more bread crumbs and gently mix until combined. Do not over worked the meat as it could get tough.

I stuffed these meatballs with cheese but it can be made without it. Although optional, I suggest try it at least once to see the difference. You might not even want to go back to the regular meatballs. The melted cheese never failed to give the “wow” moment when you sliced the meatballs, plus it taste great with it. It’s cheese after all, cheese always makes food better. Now, let’s put this tips in action. Let’s get started!