Simple, delicious and very family friendly, these Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce are perfect for a busy weeknight.
So, did you hear my exciting news last week? I have been asked to become a Lambassador for LAMB Tasty Easy Fun campaign. All this year I will be sharing delicious lamb recipes and interesting and fun facts about lamb, as well as reviewing some of the fab recipes from the LAMB Tasty Easy Fun website.
Last week I shared with you a fun post: 7 myths about lamb and why they are not true, aiming to dispel some of the commonly held myths around lamb – do check it out if you haven’t already!
Today I am sharing with you my review of one of the delicious recipes from the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ website: Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.
Whilst I usually cook with lamb on a regular basis, I’m not sure I’ve ever made lamb meatballs before, so I was keen to give these a go.
Making the meatballs was really easy peasy, and I loved the idea of blitzing up the onion, parsley and garlic that go in to flavour the meatballs. It’s much easier than trying to chop the onion up finely and means no nasty chunks of uncooked onion in the finished result – just great tasting meatballs! I’ll definitely be using that tip again.
The tomato sauce that accompanied the meatballs was simple yet flavoursome and I loved the fact that it had carrot and courgette in it to help with getting those 5 a day. My kids really love those veggies too, so it was a great choice for us. If yours don’t, you could easily whizz up the sauce with a hand blender to hide the veggies.
I loved that the recipe was simple, easy to follow and the timing was accurate, but the best bit was the flavour. The meatballs tasted wonderful and so did the sauce. I particularly liked the texture of these meatballs, which is a little softer and less chewy than beef meatballs.
But the best thing about these meatballs was the reaction my kids gave them. My kids are not usually big on compliments when it comes to food (they either say nothing or moan that they don’t like it), so I was completely bowled over by the number of nice things they had to say about the meatballs – my little boy even said at one point ‘this is the best lunch ever’. Seriously high praise from a 6 year old!
My daughter meanwhile wanted to know if she could make these meatballs with me next time (unusual as she normally only ever wants to make cake!) – but stipulated: ‘these exact meatballs, just like this, with this sauce and this pasta’.
These meatballs take less than an hour to make – meaning they are doable on all but the busiest of weeknights.
Better still, it is just as easy to make a double quantity of them, meaning you can freeze the leftovers to have on a really busy night when you just don’t have time to cook. And believe me, once you’ve tried these lovely meatballs you are going to want to have them again!
If you like my Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce…
…you might also like:
- Easy Homemade Meatballs with Tomato Sauce
- Spicy Persian-Style Lamb Meatballs
- Turkey Tikka Masala Meatballs with Bombay New Potatoes
- Easy Homemade Swedish Meatballs (IKEA Copycat)
Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- 2 carrots finely diced
- 1 small courgette finely diced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 litre passata
- 1 small onion peeled
- 2 tablespoons parsley plus extra for granish
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper
- 700 g lamb mince
- 300 g pasta, to serve (rice or couscous would also work well)
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 160C fan/ gas mark 4 / 350F.
- Heat the oil in a large pan or hob-proof, casserole dish. Add the large onion, half the garlic, carrots and courgette and soften for 3-4 minutes on a low heat. Sprinkle the oregano over the top, then pour in the passata and stir. Allow to simmer gently on a very low heat.
- Meanwhile, roughly chop the small onion, then place in a food processor. Add the parsley, remaining garlic, egg and seasoning. Blitz until smooth.
- Pour this mixture onto the mince, mix well with your hands. Roll into balls roughly the size of a £2 coin and place on a baking sheet covered in baking parchment or foil (or just greased with a little olive oil). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Five minutes before the meatballs are due to come out of the oven, put the pasta on to cook. Cook according to packet instructions / your own preferences.
- When the meatballs are cooked, add them to the sauce and stir gently. Allow to simmer for 5 more minutes or until your pasta is ready.
- Serve the meatballs and sauce with pasta and an extra sprinkle of parsley.
Notes
This is a collaborative post with the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ campaign. ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ is an EU funded campaign which aims to increase the use of lamb in everyday cooking. Lamb is often considered difficult to cook, expensive, or something to be saved for Sunday roasts. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate just how tasty, easy and fun lamb is to cook with every day of the week!
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Corina says
These sound gorgeous – I love lamb meatballs and it’s always great when the rest of the family gives such high praise. I often add mint and feta to lamb meatballs and yes, they are always a great #CookOnceEatTwice meal! Thank you so much for sharing x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Corina 🙂 I nearly fell off my chair when my kids started praising my food – that never happens unless it’s cake!! We will definitely be making these again very soon!! Yum – mint and feta in meatballs sound amazing – I can just imagine that with a lovely north african inspired tomato sauce, featuring lots of cumin…goodness I am feeling hungry now! Is it nearly lunchtime? 🙂 Eb x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Mmmmmm yes please Eb! I love lamb but don’t have it enough but these meatballs sound delicious! I need to add minced lamb to my shopping list xx
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Kirsty – I can’t recommend these meatballs highly enough – the kids absolutely adored them and they were so simple to make 🙂 Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
I’d spotted this recipe on their site and thought it looked delicious, I’m really going to have to give it a try sometime.
Eb Gargano says
It’s a really good one – went down a storm with my kids (and I loved it too!!) Lovely and easy peasy too – great for making extra to eat at a later date too – made a lovely lunch the next day 🙂 Eb x
Midge says
Do you know I have never thought of using lamb in meatballs – Definitely going to now as the Peachicks LOVE lamb. Their favourite is a slow cooked lamb breast but I think the tomato sauce & pasta of this might just sway them! LOL!
Eb Gargano says
No me neither, until I tried this recipe! Now I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it before!! And the texture of lamb meatballs is really nice – much softer than beef meatballs and so full of flavour! Haha – yes I find tomato sauce and pasta seems to sway most children!! Mine went absolutely mad for these meatballs – I was totally bowled over, they never normally compliment my savoury food, EVER! Eb x
Ali says
Sadly I found this recipe lacking. Despite adding more garlic and some fresh mint I felt the recipe lacked any wow factor, even with grated strong cheese sprinkled on. Wish I could find the first lamb meatball recipe I tried as that was super tasty! Won’t be using this one again.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Ali, I am sorry to hear you did not enjoy this recipe as much as you had hoped. It’s a big favourite in this house – my kids love it! But I guess we all have different tastes! Eb 🙂