These baked meatballs made from ground lamb are a tasty substitute for regular meatballs.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ cup dry bread crumbs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ¼ pounds ground lamb
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 3 cups tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil; oil lightly.
- Combine bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl. Soak bread crumbs until milk is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
- Combine bread crumb mixture, lamb, egg, garlic, olive oil, tomato paste, rosemary, cumin, salt, oregano, black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl.
- Form lamb mixture into 2-inch meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Cook meatballs in the preheated oven until they are slightly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Combine meatballs, tomato sauce, chicken stock, fresh mint, and red pepper flakes in a large sauce pan over medium heat until meatballs are no longer pink inside, about 45 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 610 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 24 g |
| Cholesterol | 154 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 31 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Sodium | 2323 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 44 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I liked the taste very much but found the meatballs a little on the dry side. That could have been because i used left over roast lamb from sunday roast. I only used a quater teaspoon of Cumin as I think one tablespoons would have overpowered everything. I will certainly try again with raw lamb. I think this is promising!
Very good combination of seasonings in this recipe. I made a large amount of meatballs, since I was planning for Easter Brunch for 15 guests. I used 2 lbs of ground lamb and 2 lbs of ground chuck, then adjusted amounts of the other ingredients for the 4 lbs of meat. I also added Penzey’s Lamb Seasoning. The tomato sauce mixture is tangy; to sweeten it I added cinnamon sugar to taste (1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar).
This is one of those recipes that will eventually have over 1000 5 stars. Absolutely excellent as is, I know the spice combination may seem odd but I pinky swear, it’s so yummy! This is my new go to recipe
Mmmm, so delicious!!! I will definitely do it again! Next time I will cut down 75% of the salt. I already cut down half but felt still a bit salty. I will bake the meatballs at 400 instead of 450 and flip the balls half way to get the colors more balanced. I made rice pilaf as a side dish, it was a great success. Thank you!
Followed this recipe exactly! I even found a lemon couscous on this site. Perfect! Thank you!
I made some substitutions and minor additions and Omg, best meatballs we ever had (hubby attested to this)! Served with my version of lemon couscous and fresh homemade salad. Saved extra ground meat as hamburger patties for later.
I’ve never made meatballs before. Oh, these were excellent and my husband was so impressed!
The meatballs were tasty but for me the sauce was underwhelming.
I really like this recipe but the mixture was too wet. I was still able to make the meatballs but a lot of the mixture was on my hands. When I make this again, I would either remove the milk or add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup more breadcrumbs. Overall the flavor is amazing. With these small changes, I think the meatballs would come out better next time.
I loved these meatballs tasted great i served over spaghetti. the kids loved it
Very flavorful! Not spicy hot. Made the lamb tasty even though no other meat was combined with it. I often find ground lamb strong and mix it with beef or pork. My kids liked it too.
Dang. This recipe is good. I’m almost always missing stuff when I make this but the flavors are so solid, there’s a ton of room for interpretation. The meatballs I keep pretty close to the recipe. To the sauce, I add an onion, green bell pepper, zucchini, black olives, and sometimes kale. My husband is crazy for this meal. I don’t even care that it takes and hour and a half to make. #worthit
These were absolutely amazing! Actually, my husband used the word “divine.” I followed the recipe exactly except for the fresh mint, which I couldn’t find at our local store. The meatballs were moist and bursting with flavor., and the house smelled incredible, lika a l
I followed the recipe and thought these were good. I will make again.
Fabulous! Flavorful! Great change from “the usual” balls of meat. Easy recipe that can be easily augmented based on what you’ve got in the cupboard. Gourmet taste.
Loved this. The salt was a bit much for me personally, but that’s an easy thing to adjust. When in doubt, rein in the salt a bit – it’s always easy to add more later.
This is a very simple but very amazing dish, the taste is spectacular and I will definitely make again.
Ok, I loved these, but for some reason my kids and husband did not. I will definitely make them for dinner guests sometime.
Great recipe as always
AMAZING! Minutes into starting this recipe I realized my eggplant was rotten so I was forced to omit it, I thought my meatballs might not turn out the same as others but the recipe held up well and turned out DELICIOUS. The spice was perfect, and the lamb so tender. This was my 1st time making lamb and I am so happy I did!
This was delicious. While I didn’t have any mint on hand I did have everything else that the recipe called for and followed the directions as written. This recipe is a keeper and I will make it again.