Meatball Muffins

Look at that! Isn't it fun?!!

  Last week I saw a picture of Spaghetti and Meatball Cups from www.emilybites.com on Pinterest. Emily's blog tag line says "Lightened up recipes from my kitchen to yours!" She works on recipes that work well for a Weight Watchers diet.  I encourage you to check out her site. That said, I used Emily's idea as a jumping off point for a recipe I thought my grankids would enjoy. My version is not as low calorie, or as low fat at Emily's

  I made these Meatball Muffins last weekend when GoodMan and I were babysitting 5 of our grandchildren. Kids really enjoy a fun presentation! Our 7-year-old grandson, Ayden, really was impressed. As he saw me bringing in the platter of Meatball Muffins he smiled so big and said, "Gramma, those are GREAT!" I laughed and said, "I guess I'll be getting a thumbs-up for this recipe." And without skipping a beat his face turned serious and he said, "You'll have to wait until I TASTE them before I can give it a thumbs-up!" I guess he takes his job as taste tester very seriously!!

Join me as I make Meatball Muffins and see what my taste testers had to say...

These are the ingredients I gathered to make the meatballs for the Meatball Muffins: 2 pounds lean ground beef, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup french fried onions (like you use for green bean casserole ~ I had leftovers of the fried onions and needed to use them up. You could just finely chop an onion or use onion seasoning.), 3/4 cup oats, 1 tablespoon Tastefully Simple's Garlic-Garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt. You could use other brands of seasoning ~ probably use less garlic if you're using garlic powder, like about a teaspoon.

This is a basic meatball or meatloaf recipe. I didn't take pictures of all the steps. I just mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl until everything was evenly distributed.

I made the meatballs a little smaller than the size of a large egg (notice how I put an egg on there to give you some reference? ~ Don't cook an egg with the meatballs!) and I put them on a baking sheet lined with my favorite silicone sheet. If you don't use silicone I would suggest a light spray of PAM or a parchment paper. I put them in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.

This is how half of the meatballs looked when I took them out of the oven...I forgot to take a picture of the meatballs until after I started taking them off the pan...Oops! The other half looked just like 'em.

While the meatballs were baking I gathered the ingredients for the spaghetti muffins: 7 oz spaghetti, 2 eggs, grated Parmesan cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, and my family's favorite spaghetti sauce ~ Ragu Chunky Garden Style sauce.

I put the spaghetti sauce into a large saucepan and added the cooked meatballs. I turned the stove on low, just to simmer the meatballs with the spaghetti sauce.

I cooked the spaghetti and drained it. I also rinsed it with cold water to make the spaghetti easier to handle.

In a large bowl, I mixed the 2 beaten eggs, spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese.

I turned the oven up to 400 degrees. Then I sprayed a regular size muffin tin with PAM and put about 1/2 of a cup of the spaghetti mixture in each muffin space. I formed a cup by pushing the spaghetti up the sides. I put them in the oven and baked them for about 20 minutes. I kept checking on them to make sure the edges were not getting too crispy because I didn't think my taste testers would like their spaghetti crispy. Mine did not become too dark on the edges, but I had decided if they seemed to be getting too dark on the edges before the centers seemed cooked I would cover them with foil part way through. It is important not to reduce the cooking time because you want the eggs to be thoroughly cooked.

I waited about 3 minutes before I popped them out of the muffin tin. I was surprised at how nicely they held together!

I then filled each spaghetti muffin with one meatball and a spoonful of spaghetti sauce. I sprinkled shredded Parmesan cheese on top and they looked so cool! I kept extra spaghetti sauce on the table for those who prefer more sauce.

Recipe for Meatball Muffins

(Makes 24 muffins ~ this recipe can easily be cut in half, but the leftovers were really good!!)

For the meatballs:

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 cup french fried onions, crumbled

1 cup quick oats

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 Tablespoon Tastefully Simple's Garlic-Garlic (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)

1 1/2 teaspoon Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt

Large jar Ragu Chunky Garden style spaghetti sauce



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with PAM or silicone sheet. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Roll mixture into 24 large meatballs. Bake for 35 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

Put the spaghetti sauce into a large saucepan and add the cooked meatballs. Simmer the sauce and meatballs while the spaghetti muffins are baking.

For the spaghetti muffins:

7 oz box of spaghetti; broken into thirds, cooked, drained, and cooled

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare muffins tins by spraying with PAM.

When the meatballs are out of the oven, turn the oven temperature up to 400 degrees. 

In a large bowl, combine the muffin ingredients.

Use about 1/2 cup of spaghetti mixture per muffin. Push spaghetti against the sides of the muffin tin to form a cup shape.

Bake 20 minutes. Watch for excessive browning. Cover with foil part way through if they brown too quickly.

Serve by placing one large meatball in each muffin cup and spoon spaghetti sauce over the top. I added a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese just for an added garnish.

What is the taste tester's bottom line?

This was a big hit with my taste testers, the little ones and the big ones!

The kids had fun eating them with their fingers like a muffin (Hey! They're at Gramma's house ~ they can get away with it!) and even Goodman got in on the act!

Here are just a few of my testers!

This is Ayden. I earned the thumb's-up after all!!

The bottom line: This goes on to the menu rotation for days when the grandkids will be over. It would also be good in mini muffin tins with smaller meatballs for an appetizer.