I love the portobello mushrooms in these mini meatballs. They stop the meatballs from being dry without the need for breadcrumbs and also add a lovely flavour. If you can’t get orecchiette pasta, you can serve with any pasta of your choice including gluten free.
This recipe is gluten free, Slimming World and Weight Watchers friendly
Slimming Eats Recipe
Extra Easy - syn free per serving

Mini Beef and Portobello Meatballs with Roasted Vegetables and Orecchiette
Delicious lean tender beef meatballs in a light tomato sauce stirred into orecchiette pasta for a perfect. family meal for any night of the week.
Ingredients
- 450g (1lb) of uncooked extra lean ground beef (mince)
- 200g (7oz) of baby portobello mushrooms (or similar type mushroom)
- salt and black pepper
- low calorie spray
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- ½ cup (120ml) of chicken stock
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- pinch of mixed herbs
- splash of balsamic vinegar
- 250g (9oz) of uncooked orecchiette (or another pasta of your choice)
- fresh chopped Italian parsley or basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c fan, 200c or 400f (gas mark 6)
- Place the mushrooms in a mini food processor and do a couple of spins of the blade to finely chop the mushrooms (be careful not to over do it, as you do not want the mushrooms pureed, you just want small pieces of mushroom)
- Place in a bowl with the ground beef and season with salt and black pepper.
- Combine it all together and form into mini meatballs.
- Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, spray over the top with spray oil and bake in the oven for 10 mins.
- Spray a frying pan over a medium high heat with some low calorie spray
- Add the onion and fry to soften
- Add the garlic and yellow pepper and fry for a further 5 mins.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, meatballs, stock, mixed herbs and splash of balsamic vinegar, bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer until sauce reduces down and thickens (approx 15-20 mins)
- Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil, then add the orecchiette pasta and cook until al dente.
- Add the orecchiette pasta and gently mix it all together.
- Divide among 4 plates, and sprinkle with some fresh chopped Italian parsley or basil.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
Please see below for details about recipe:
- WW Personal Points: add ingredients to your WW diary for points value - as this may vary depending on your personal points zero foods)
- Gluten Free Friendly - use gluten free stock and pasta
- Dairy Free Friendly - omit cheese
- Extras: add a little sprinkle of parmesan or cheddar
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The recipe above has been calculated for Slimming World, however for those of you following the Weight Watchers plan or another calorie controlled type diet. Below is the approx. nutritional information (using calorie count recipe analysis)
Approx. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION |
|
per serving |
|
Calories |
521 |
Fat |
9.3g |
Saturated Fat |
3.4g |
Total Carbohydrate |
68.6g |
Dietary Fibre |
4.9g |
Sugars |
6.4g |
Protein |
40.7g |
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