Recipe Favorites: Greek Meatballs

(Updated March 2008) This recipe for Greek Meatballs was the first thing I tried from the The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook back in 2005, and I'm finally getting around to updating the photo and including it as one of my Recipe Favorites. I love all the Greek flavors like Feta cheese, oregano, and red wine vinegar, and those ingredients really bump up the taste of these meatballs. However, I do want to warn you that the meatballs look like a mess for about 2/3 of the time they're cooking because some of the cheese and vinegar oozes out during the cooking process. If you're patient and keep browning them, all those things nicely carmelize and the finished meatballs are delicious.

The cookbook calls these Mini Greek Meatballs, but I think mine are not-quite-mini Greek Meatballs. I use a plastic tablespoon to scoop up just enough meat to make each meatball, and I get 24 meatballs from a pound of ground beef, not 40 like the recipe says. I'm also cooking mine quite a lot longer. If you like Greek flavors, be open minded about the cooking mess, and give the meatballs a try.

Looks are a bit deceiving in this photo, but each of my meatballs is about 1 1/2 tablespoons of meat. If you'd like them a bit smaller, the recipe says to make each meatball about a tablespoon.

Mini Greek Meatballs
(Makes about 24 small meatballs, recipe adapted slightly from The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook.)

1 pound lean ground beef (I use ground beef with less than 10% fat)
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 cup very finely crumbled feta cheese (measure after crumbling finely with a fork)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2 tsp. minced garlic from a jar)
1 large egg
1 T extra virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish
1 T dried Greek oregano
4 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt (optional, I used a tiny bit of Vege-Sal)
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. Greek seasoning (optional, I used Penzeys)

Preheat oven to 400. Use a food processor to chop the onion very finely, then drain if it seems like there is a lot of liquid. (In the photo I used red onion, but any onion will work.)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then use your hands to mix ingredients.

Lightly oil a 9 X 13 baking dish. Shape meat into 1 tablespoon size meatballs and place on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, after which time you will see some liquid oozing out. Turn meatballs and bake 10 more minutes. Turn again, and bakd 5-10 more minutes, until meatballs are well-browned and cooked through.

Meatballs are delicious served with Tzatziki Sauce.

Printer Friendly Recipe
South Beach Suggestions:
Served with Tzatziki Sauce, and American Greek Salad, this would be a great dish for phase one of the South Beach Diet. Be sure to use lean ground beef for South Beach. For phase two, they would taste great inside 100% whole wheat pita bread.

More Tasty Meatballs to Try:
(Recipes from other blogs may or may not be South Beach Diet friendly, check ingredients.)
Beef and Sausage Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
Baked Swedish Meatballs
Chipotle Meatballs from Simply Recipes
Falafel-Turkey Meatballs with Pasta from The Perfect Pantry
Grilled Chicken Meatballs from Rasa Malaysia
Finnish Meatballs from The Wednesday Chef
Pork and Ricotta Meatballs in Tomato Sauce from What Did You Eat
Greek Meatballs from Nook and Pantry
Turkey Meatballs with Cilantro from FamilyStyle Food
Lamb Meatballs in Curry from Anne's Food

Want even more recipes?
I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.

Things you might want to know:
You can get Kalyn's recipes by e-mail.
There's a great way to print recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen.
It's easy to find out who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week.
There are actual rules for Weekend Herb Blogging.
Here is another place where I write more about food.

Tags:
Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Diabetes Friendly Recipes Weekend Herb Blogging