All Purpose Meatballs

These meatballs have become a quarterly event in my house. My social media friends know that I make these often, well about quarterly to be exact. I make a huge batch and freeze them for easy and delicious BLD (breakfast, lunch or dinner). Breakfast tacos, meatball pizzas, gyros, sweet and sour meatballs, the options are endless and they make it so easy to get creative in the kitchen! They are seriously so easy, and actually cook up quite fast!

The original recipe is from one of my favorite Food Network stars, Ree Drummond. You can find her recipe here: Ree’s All Purpose Meatballs.

I’ve modified to add ground turkey and made a few other swaps. Once you make these, you will always want a stash in your freezer! Have a dairy or gluten intolerance? Swap the milk for unsweetened almond milk, and use gluten free breadcrumbs or almond flour, tastes the same!

Hope you love these All Purpose Meatballs!

all purpose meatballs
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All Purpose Meatballs

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 125 meatballs
Author Laura Doerr

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs ground turkey or pork
  • 3 lbs ground beef
  • 1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
  • 2 tbsp grainy or Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, like really large (I use the giant bowl we hand out Halloween candy in from Party City), mix all ingredients except the olive oil together. The only real good way to mix is with your trusty hands, get in there and mix!

  2. Scoop a heaping tablespoon portion and roll into a ball with your hands. I like use one of those round scoops that portions all of the meatballs equally. Place meatballs onto a large sheet pan.

  3. *To cook the meatballs, heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs in batches, turning every few minutes until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes per batch. Transfer to a new baking sheet lined with paper towels to drain any excess fat. Taste test one…or two…

    *see notes about alternative cooking method

  4. Keep out any portion you plan to use if desired. Divide the rest into freezer bags, and freeze for easy use for your next meal!

Recipe Notes

Meatballs can also be baked on a sheet pan for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

This recipe makes a lot of meatballs! You can easily cut in half, but why would you!? The point is to stock up that freezer for endless meal options!

You can make these with all beef or all turkey, or any combo of meats you like! I’ve also made them with some elk and venison. You can also make them any size that you want. Smaller for appetizer type portions, or larger for meal portions.

I often use almond milk and gluten free breadcrumbs or almond flour, they turn out the same!

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