Easy chilli garlic meatballs
A delicious and incredibly easy way to make meatballs in a gorgeous sauce!
10 mins
11 mins
351 kcals
serves 1
EASY CHILLI GARLIC MEATBALLS
There’s nothing more satisfying than a big plate of meatballs! I’ve always loved them ever since watching Lady and the Tramp share a romantic plateful. Equally it can be a bit of a faff to make and I’m all for the easy life, so I’ve come up with this version which is so so quick to prepare, but tastes so good every time! The key to this is that the sauce doesn’t involve any chopping or standing over the cooker, it’s just blended and then left to simmer. It’s also a real lesson in how sometimes going back to real basics produces some of the best tasting food. This only has 3 ingredients in the sauce (if I’m doing it for the kids I leave the chilli out), but it tastes amazing. I think one of the reasons for this is that you whizz the garlic raw into the tomatoes rather than pre-frying it, so that flavour just spreads sweetly throughout all of the sauce.
I have kept the meatballs here as basic as they get, as the sauce has so much flavour that you really don’t need to mess fiddle around making fancy meatballs!
You can use any type of mince, pork, beef (or a mix), or turkey. Equally I keep meaning to try this with veggie balls make from either courgette or aubergine- watch this space!
I like to serve with a mix of courgetti and spaghetti to get some extra veg in.
Fresh herbs blended in the with sauce also work beautifully.
Easy chilli garlic meatballs
Ingredients
- 500 g 5% fat beef mince
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 whole green chilli stalk removed (leave seeds in if you like extra hot, I do)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Make up the meatballs by simply rolling the mince into walnut -sized balls. Pop onto an oil or Frylight sprayed baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
- To make the sauce, use a hand-blender or a food processor to whizz up the tomatoes, garlic and chilli Blend until completely smooth and then season.
- Transfer to a l pan, bring up to a simmer and then bubble gently for 30 minutes. (When the meatballs have cooked for 20 mins, remove them from the oven and add to the sauce)
- I serve with a mix of spaghetti and courgetti, sprinkled with parmesan and torn basil or chopped parsley
