Sometimes when my husband decides to venture into the kitchen I get scared, I think my children do too. To be fair, the man can cook. It’s just not always a hit with everyone, he likes way more salt than us for example. These mozzarella stuffed meatballs, however, were a hit.
It helps that my kids love cheese so of course they would love mozzarella meatballs right?
Crockpot Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
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What you need:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup bread crumbs panko or regular, Italian seasoned or plain
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- block of mozzarella cheese
How to make Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs:
Take your block of mozzarella cheese and cut it into small pieces. Put them in the freezer until your ready to use them.
Mix together the bread crumbs, egg, spices, and ground beef. Use your hands (there is a reason that I don’t make meatballs, and this is it).
Get your cheese out of the freezer and start rolling small amounts of the meat mixture, about 4 tablespoons worth. Form a ball, push a piece of cheese in to the meat, roll into a ball so the cheese is completely covered.
Amazon also sells a meatball maker that you can use to make stuffed meatballs.
Place into a greased slow cooker, or on a baking sheet if baking.
Hubby choose to pour our favorite pasta sauce over the meatballs in to your crock pot.
These smell amazing while their cooking! And of course they smell great once they are finished and you’re digging into them.
With the holidays, maybe you’re looking for something you can make ahead and freeze, these work! Instead of putting in a slow cooker or in the oven, place them evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze. Once frozen through you can put them in a freezer bag. Perfect for Christmas Eve evening as an appetizer.
You can serve with your choose of dips, for dipping: Alfredo, marinara sauce, pasta sauce, or even a variety for your guests.
Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup bread crumbs, panko or regular, Italian seasoned or plain
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- block of mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Chop each cheese stick into half inch pieces (about 6-8 pieces for each cheese stick). Place on a plate and chill in the freezer until ready to use.
- Add ground beef, bread crumbs, egg and egg yolk, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to a bowl. Mush the ingredients together with your hands until everything comes together.
- Remove cheese from freezer. Scoop out about 4 tablespoons of meat mixture and roll into a ball. Gently push a piece of chilled mozzarella into the middle of the meatball. Roll the ball in your hands to cover the hole where the mozzarella cheese was pushed in. Place inside a greased slow cooker and repeat with remaining meat and cheese.
- When all meatballs are in the slow cooker, cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low 3-4 hours until meat it cooked through (no longer pink). The cheese may start melting out of the meatballs, that's okay. OR Place meatballs 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until browned and cheese is melty.
- If desired, when using your slow cooker you can pour your favorite pasta sauce over them as we did.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Can you freeze mozzarella cheese?
The answer to your question is, yes you can freeze mozzarella cheese. You can freeze the whole block, or you can grate or shred it before freezing it. The block of cheese that you freeze, when you take it out, will be more crumbly. The crumbliness is great for topping your pizza.
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