These Mediterranean meatballs are a variation of my almost Mum’s Swedish meatballs. To get the Mediterranean flavour, I add sun-dried tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese and oregano to the mince mix. For full details and all the measurements, make sure to look at my recipe card below.
I often go to mince when I crave something meaty, as it is easy to work with, easy to batch make and it is relatively cheap compared to other cuts of meat. It is not often that I fail on my mince recipes and the variations are endless.
Substitutes
You can make these meatballs with any kind of mince meat you have at home. At home, I would make this with a mix of pork and beef mince, as this is common in Sweden. However I have made this with turkey mince as well.
If you do not have black olives, you can use green olives.
It is difficult to exchange the sun dried tomatoes for fresh tomatoes as their water content is much higher and will make the meatballs to watery and too difficult to form. Then it is better to omit the sun dried tomatoes.
Freezable
These meatballs freeze very well, perfect for a big batch cooking day. If you have the space in your freezer, freeze the meatballs first on a tray and once frozen you can then put them into an airtight container or freezer bag. This will make it easier to take out just as many as you need, rather than getting one big lump of meatballs. I do not really have the space in my freezer to freeze them individually first so I make sure I freeze them in portion size boxes and then take out as many portions I need.
To reheat and also get a golden coating on the meatballs, quickly fry the meatballs in a frying pan with some butter or oil a few minutes on each side. You will get the best result if you have defrosted the meatballs in the fridge during the day, but it will work straight from the freezer too. Make sure you then fry them on a low heat so that the meatballs do not burn.
Variations
As mentioned above, you can try my mum’s Swedish meatballs, the original or try my fragrant Moroccan version.
Why not try some of my hamburger variations, this Mediterranean hamburger which is very similar to these meatballs. Put the patty in a hamburger bun and you have a totally new dish with the same basic ingredients.
I have also made these meatballs into small patties and served with a bowl of Tzatziki, perfect to bring to a picnic. Or make it a proper dinner with a fragrant sheet bake vegetable side dish with aubergine, green beans and lots of herbs.
Mediterranean meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 200 ml milk
- 40 g breadcrumbs
- 500 g mince meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 100 g sun dried tomatoes
- 100 g black olives
- 200 g feta cheese
- 2 tbsp oregano
Instructions
- Take mince meat out of the fridge and let come close to room temperature.
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
- Mix onion, garlic, milk and breadcrumbs in a bowl and let sit for at least 5 minutes.
- In the mean time, roughly chop the sun dried tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese.
- Once the mixture has come together in to a sludge add the mince, egg, salt and pepper.
- Add in the chopped sun dried tomatoes, black olives and feta cheese.
- Stir it all together. I use my hands but feel free to use a spoon, make sure everything comes together in a batter.
- Wet your hands with cold water and roll the mince batter into round meatballs. Place on a cooking tray, space apart.
- Oven cook for 10 mins in the middle of the oven 180 °C fan (360 °F).
- If using a frying pan, add some butter in the bottom of the pan and fry the meatballs on all sides until golden in colour.
Leave a Reply