Jalapeno Popper Meatballs

I love serving meatballs as an appetizer, snack, main meal or of course with any type of pasta. 

These can be made ahead which makes them especially great for larger crowds. I prefer to bake my meatballs, which I feel makes them a bit more healthy and a lot more easy to clean up, with no grease splatters on the counters and floor. These are pretty mild so if you like more heat, add another jalapeno, or two.

* Pricing…I paid $4.99 for the ground beef and the cheese was on sale for $1.99 (8 ounces) at Safeway. 

 

JALAPENO POPPER MEATBALLS

Prep Time: 20 min         Cook Time: 20 min         Makes: 30 1-inch meatballs for approx. $8.00 (or 4 burgers)

INGREDIENTS:

4 ounces cream cheese softened

1 cup shredded spicy cheese like Pepper Jack

1 jalapeno seeded & chopped

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tablespoons ketchup

1 egg

Kosher salt & black pepper to season

DIRECTIONS – 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray large cooking sheet with cooking spray. To make clean up even easier, line with foil and then spray with cooking spray.

Combine cream cheese, shredded cheese and jalapeno in medium bowl. Stir and mash up ingredients with a fork. Make 30 small balls and set aside.

Mix together ground beef, onion, breadcrumbs, garlic, ketchup and egg in large mixing bowl.

Gently form ground beef mixture around cheese balls, making sure no cheese is poking out.

Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until meatballs are browned and cooked through.

• You could also make burgers (4) and grill. Instead of making cheese balls, divide the cheese mixture into 4 portions and form into 3-inch disks. Grill burgers until almost done and then top with cheese disk and continue grilling until cheese starts to melt, about 2 minutes.

For gluten free meatballs/burgers, use gluten free breadcrumbs.